Kings of Leon’s fourth album, Only By The Night represents a shift in not just the sound of the Tennessee foursome, but its philosophy.
Known for its back-to-basics, stripped-down rock the group has turned its sights from clubs and amphitheaters towards the new horizon: arenas.
While sonically, the album is refined and better produced than the band’s previous work, with Caleb Folliwill’s voice raised above the instrumentation, but lyrically the album seems to fall short.
The album contains too many mid-tempo songs that ease and build which seems more like a rocking ship than emotional and intense.
The lead-off single, “Sex on Fire,” combines a toe-tapping tempo with Caleb’s strained but in tune singing backed by a crying guitar riff.
On the track the band captures what it does best; combining a sense of unbridled passion, with its unique combination of southern roots-rock and alternative.
Unfortunately, the album seems to miss too many opportunities where gems like “Revelry,” “17,” “Cold Desert” and “Be Somebody” lose their impact because of their similarities.
While anthemic albums have become a recent trend, Only by the Night shows a band caught looking too far ahead into its own future and not enough into it’s promising past.