Reviews
Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night
The rule is simple. Make a few good records and if you then follow it with a shit one you get a free pass. Kings Of Leon's last album, Because of the Times, was the 2007 musical equivalent of the torturous ordeals described in detail at the start of the Wu-Tang Clan's classic M.E.T.H.O.D Man track or (more accurately?) a decent band with a unique sound trying to sound like a bad U2 cover band, mixed with horse manure and a thick Southern accent.
But we let it slide. Most bands eventually wander off course and/or start to try and move their sound to bigger places: entertainment centres, stadiums, the car park of K-mart. On this album the band once again attempt to create a grand, theatrical, epic album and once again they fail. Dismally. Ok, no more chances.
It's hard to find anything to like about this record. The musical transitions are predictable to the point of being painfully dull, the lyrics are clichéd enough to make the least talented 90's boy band shudder, and the overall creativity found across the 42 minutes of over-produced, top 40 aimed tripe is pretty much non existent.
This record is so terrible that the amount of 'shit energy' (shitnergy) created from playing it just once is enough to create an enormous black hole that engulfs the planet, folds time and space on top of each other and completely erases the memory of the group's first two fantastic albums from the annals of music history.
Comments
AaaaronI think 0.4 is a bit harsh. Sure its a little over produced and their sound has changed over their last 4 albums, but as a band like this releases more & more albums they're going to be thrown into the 'Top 40 aimed tripe' at some point with a catchy tune that appeals to the masses (i.e 'On Call'. I think people Kareoke that).
Some of the songs on this new album are not that bad.
I'm not saying it's a great album or anything like that but come on, I would rather listen to this than Van She's new one (1.0) Operator Please 'Yes, Yes Vindictive' (2.0) and in some cases Black Kids debut (4.2).
Posted at 23:18 on Wednesday, September 17, 2008.
Seymour
Wow, I knew this record was gonna be bad, but 0.4-bad.
At least they still have their looks.
Posted at 23:19 on Wednesday, September 17, 2008.
quackWhat was the 0.4 for? A nice symbol once or something?
Kings of Leon have turned into the worst kind of band - the one that invokes indifference.
Posted at 23:44 on Wednesday, September 17, 2008.
Jonny Yes Yesnice symbol..? you say lower quack?
Aaron.. without delving too much into the complicated Al Gore Rhythm that governs our rating system I believe that this record is worse than the others mentioned because of:
a) the group's obvious talent - the first 2 albums.. b) their continual attempts to become the world's biggest band
don't knock Operator Please - they are only 12 and 13 - they don't know what they are doing.
Posted at 00:39 on Thursday, September 18, 2008.
kidkymBut it has that song about having sex with STDs.
Posted at 00:41 on Thursday, September 18, 2008.
quackwoah that was meant to be 'nice cymbal'...
I got really into KOL when I could relate to their lyrics. they were top of my playlist in my misogynist 19 yr old dreams.
Posted at 02:02 on Thursday, September 18, 2008.
Jonny Yes Yes4 times better than Young Modern
Posted at 18:58 on Thursday, September 18, 2008.
angus12mcWorst fucking record of the year.
It's almost laughable. You can picture all of KOL Google image searching themselves in the studio and masturbating for inspiration.
Circle jerk.
Posted at 17:05 on Friday, September 19, 2008.
quack"4 times better than Young Modern "
That would sell records.
Posted at 14:50 on Saturday, September 20, 2008.
saimagery
Alright, so... Crawl was pretty fucking awesome. I heard that song first and thought 'Shit! If the bass is like this the whole album, I may need a new penis by the end of it!'. I saw the review and thought 'Surely not?! Are Polaroids going down the road of Pitchfork and being too cool for school on anything remotely mainstream?'
Alas, no. Shit, shit, shit album. Crawl is the only 60w light bulb in a room full of darkness. Every song from 5 onwards sounds EXACTLY THE FUCKING SAME! The least they could have done was switch the delayed/reverb guitar from left to right channel with each song. It's called variety! Jesus fucking hell. Deserves the .4 rating. Good call.
Posted at 16:00 on Monday, September 22, 2008.
kidkymPosted By: saimageryEvery song from 5 onwards sounds EXACTLY THE FUCKING SAME!
The only difference I noted was that one had cowbell. I was stuck in a perpetual KoL coma of repetition.
I think we may have a (an?) unanimous decision on this one.
Friend says "that album can go fuck itself off into obscurity".
Posted at 13:03 on Thursday, September 25, 2008.
gemdilemI like cowbells. This album sucks though. Not even a cowbell can save them.
I heard the other day that alot of the inspiration came while the dude that writes the songs (is it Caleb?) was sick and taking perscription drugs. Clearly they need to start taking harder drugs.
Posted at 13:46 on Thursday, September 25, 2008.
kidkymOkay this is getting beyond a joke. Almost every day for the past 2 weeks I've had someone tell me they love this album. Even people whose opinions in music actually held some respect with me previously. Is there some SonyBMG brainwashing scheme going on?
Posted at 11:47 on Monday, October 20, 2008.
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Posted at 22:21 on Wednesday, September 17, 2008.