Kings of Leon Still Rule in "Only by the Night"

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Kings of Leon Still Rule in "Only by the Night"
by Nick Law - November 6, 2008

Kings of Leon

Like many Americans today, I decided to wait until the very last minute to cast my vote in the 2008 election. It’s a characteristic flaw that’s seemed to haunt me my entire life. I also prefer to wait until the last minute to do my taxes, leave the house for work and shop for Christmas presents.

Being no stranger to long lines, I knew I was in for a treat today as this historic election was sure to bring out voters in record numbers. Since I would have to wait a while to cast my ballot, I decided to pick up an album that was sure to make my time in the line go by in a flash.

That album was none other than “Only by the Night” by Kings of Leon, a Tennessee based rock band made up of three brothers - Nathan Followill (lead singer/rhythm guitar), Caleb Followill (drums), Jared Followill (bass guitar/synthesizer) - and their first cousin Matthew Followill (lead guitar/backup vocals). Although they’ve been around since 2000 and have been a huge success in the UK, the band is somewhat still unknown to the mainstream American public

Kings of Leon’s sound derives from southern rock, garage rock, hard rock and blues. The band got their name from Nathan, Caleb and Jared’s father and grandfather, who are both named Leon.

“Only by the Night” is the fourth album to be released by Kings of Leon in the past eight years and is the follow up to their 2007 album “Because of the Times,” which debuted at number 1 in the UK and Ireland and entered the US at number 25, selling approximately 70,000 copies in it’s first week of release. Fans praised “Because of the Times” for showing a clear evolution from the band’s earlier work, so it was known that “Only by the Night” would have a lot to live up to.

The album doesn’t disappoint. In fact, with tracks like “Closer” and “Sex on Fire,” it could even be that spark that the band needs to become as famous at home in America as they are abroad. It should also be noted that lead singer Caleb Followill is quoted as saying that the medication he was taking while writing lyrics for the album and following surgery that he had on his shoulder caused him to write “The best songs of his career.”

Only time will tell whether or not Kings of Leon will become as popular in America as they have in the UK, Ireland, Australia and other countries around the world. For the fans in America that have already discovered the band, however, “Only by the Night” will be that album that people will look at years from now as a real turning point in the career of the Followill boys. If “Because of the Times” is viewed as the band’s collective passing of the awkward stage of puberty and into adulthood, “Only by the Night” is sure to be viewed as the college years where the band left home and started to experiment.

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