Only By The Night - Kings Of Leon

...and their cousin Matthew Followill. Only By The Night is the album which has made the band known, however it is not their first album, they have released four albums.

The band is named after their father and grandfather who are both called Leon.

==Track 1-Closer- 7/10==

When I first listened to the album, the only song I had heard before was Sex On Fire, so I had no idea to expect. The album starts with ...
...but to be honest the only thing I really like in this track in the vocals.

I am not too keen on the production of the song, they use a lot of effects throughout this track, including an almost synthesiser, which does sound very good, but it's not something that catches me straight away. I'm not sure if it'll be a grower track, but at the moment, I'm hoping the rest of the album is not like this.

==Track 2- Crawl- 7/10==
more

It is really amazing how many words; the lyrics I used to put in take up so many words. I have condenced my reviews as most of you know, as the extras or fillers, took way to long to find etc, and to get moaned every now and then about them, just wasn't worth my time. So here it is, the 2nd condenced review I have written. Enjoy.

Who are Kings Of Leon?

The band is from Columbia, Tennessee, the band is made up of Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill and their cousin Matthew Followill. Only By The Night is the album which has made the band known, however it is not their first album, they have released four albums.

The band is named after their father and grandfather who are both called Leon.

Track 1-Closer- 7/10

When I first listened to the album, the only song I had heard before was Sex On Fire, so I had no idea to expect. The album starts with Closer, a weird kind of song. The first thing that stood out for me, has to be Caleb Followill's vocals which are very unique. This is what attracted me to the band in the first place with their first song, but to be honest the only thing I really like in this track in the vocals.

I am not too keen on the production of the song, they use a lot of effects throughout this track, including an almost synthesiser, which does sound very good, but it's not something that catches me straight away. I'm not sure if it'll be a grower track, but at the moment, I'm hoping the rest of the album is not like this.

Track 2- Crawl- 7/10

Damn I know this track will sound great when I get some great speakers behind it, instead of the lame ones I have on my laptop. The track starts off very heavy and very rocky, and then Caleb's voice joins in, and I have to say his voice actually disappoints me within the verse.

I think it's probably because of the heavy beat behind the song, but his voice does seem to be drowned out and is nowhere near as powerful as it is on the previous track or Sex On Fire. I have to say this is probably the weakest track that I have heard so far, I would love the midi file, but with his voice, it really just doesn't all fit together nicely like I would expect it to.

Track 3- Sex On Fire- 10/10

This is the first song I heard buy this band and I soley brought the album cause I loved this song. The song starts off with a great beat, with drums and a guitar, this great beat stays throughout the whole song and really makes the song stick in your head. About 20 seconds in Caleb's voice joins in and really shows us all what I fell in love with in the first place.

Caleb's voice is one of the uniquest vocals I have ever heard, it has a very unique tone to it, but is still raw and rocky at the same time. He really delivers each lyric with so much emotion and he manages to convey that emotion through his amazing voice.

This song is one of the best of 2008 and it became a great talking point between me and a few mates, well arguing point over what he actually says in the chorus. Such a great song, and if you love rock and unique voices, you'll love this track.

Track 4- Use Somebody- 10/10

I believe this is another track that the Kings Of Leon have realeased and again it's another great track. It was straight onto my Ipod as soon as I heard it. Every time I hear the start of the song, I go what the hell am I listening to because the hard rock bit at the start is not through the verse, and it only builds up during the bridge and chorus, bus never gets too heavy.

I really love this song, because of his amazing vocals, especially in the verse. In the chorus, with the heaviness of the instruments it doesn't sound as good, but during the verses, his voice is powerful, raw and unique as always. The lyrics are amazing and as always Caleb manages to deliver them brilliantly, and in such a way that they stick in side of your head.

A beautiful song by Kings Of Leon and they really have made me think so far that it is going to be a brilliant album. Brilliant.

Track 5- Manhattan- 10/10

The track as most of them do, starts out with a great beat, and then Caleb's voice joins in and just makes it magical. I really love this song, due to the subtle guitar in the background throughout, it just adds so much hidden emotion into the track that you don't even realise that it's there.

My god is Caleb's voice amazing in this track, this is his best so far my a mile, he has such a unique voice and when he gets into the high notes, where most would hit their falsetto, Caleb doesn't, but still manages to make his voice sound very different.

A gorgeous song, probably the best so far. Very powerful and memorable, and such a joy to listen to. A great addition to the album and if the rest of the album is like the previous three tracks I'll be very happy.

Track 6- Revelry- 10/10

The track starts with Caleb and a guitar singing and this is pretty much it throughout the song. The drums and other effects come in near the end of the song, but it focuses more on his vocals with this and again he shines and the song is beautifully preformed.

I really like the lyrics in this song and think they are gorgeous and are preformed by such a good singer who manages to do a lot with them. So far I'm really happy with the album, not only is this song an other brilliant track, but most of hte others have been as well.

A gorgeous song, a great addition to the album and well worth checking out.

Track 7- 17- 5/10

I don't know why but I had a feeling I wouldn't like this track, and I don't. The main thing that is different from this track to other tracks on the album is the fact that his vocals are not amazing, you can barely hear them over the heavy instrumentals that they are using throughout, when you hear his voice, it's nothing special and the lyrics don't seem to convey anything.

This track really disappointed me, I have enjoyed this album so far and this track, well it doesn't ruin the album really but it is not on the same level as the rest of the tracks on the album, which is such a shame.

Track 8- Notion- 10/10

Another gorgeous vocal by Caleb, this is a beautiful song and one that I didn't think I would like when I first heard it. The song is quite heavy like the rest of the tracks on the album, and really fits in well. The main thing for me with this track is his voice and how he delivers each lyric. He really has a talent and when he gets good lyrics in front of him, he sings his heart out and produces songs like this and most of the others on the album.

A gorgeous track, and well worth checking out. Such a great addition to the album, a gorgeous song.

Track 9- I Want You- 4/10

I don't like the start to this track, is does sound like something you would expect of a Nirvana track. It almost seems like Caleb is trying to rap in this track, and it really just doesn't work. Probably the weakest song on the album, it's not very rocky, but it's almost like they are trying a different genre and are failing, disastrously.

Not a good track at all, if another band had tried it, maybe it would have worked but with Caleb's style of singing, it's just more painful that anything. The worst song on the album.

Track 10- Be Someday- 10/10

Only two more tracks to go and can this song make up for the disaster that was I Want You. Yes, a gorgeous song, Caleb's vocals are back and at their best and they perform one of the best tracks on the album. This is a great song, with some beautiful lyrics and the thing that makes this track brilliant for me, is that you can hear every word. If I was looking for bad points to say about Kings Of Leon, they don't pronounce the words brilliantly, but that's all about their style of singing.

In this track you can hear each word perfectly, he performs this song to the best of his ability and the bands have produced something gorgeous. This song is still quite soft for the style that they usually do but they have kept all of the powerful and heavy guitar beats as well as the strong drum beats within it. A gorgeous track one to check out

Track 11- Cold Desert- 10/10

This track starts off soft and builds up as the song goes along, gradually getting louder and louder. Different instruments come in at different points, until Caleb's voice joins. The song is probably one of their slowest, but again one of their best. Like Be Somebody, this is very different from a lot of the tracks, and these two songs have ruined my plans of moaning about the fact that they don't pronounce their words brilliantly, but on these two they really do, and you can hear every word perfectly.

Caleb's vocals again are strong and raw and unique and are nothing like anything else I've heard of before. They manage to do so much in each song, and they really are some great pieces of music. I really like this track as it fits into my 'genre' of music. It's slow, but still falls into the 'rock' category. I love this style of music and the Kings Of Leon have done this brilliantly and have pulled of some amazing tracks.

For the last track on the album, they haven't gone out on a bang, but they sure as hell do end on a high note. A gorgeous song and one of the best on the album.

My Opinion

I have to say it, but this is possibly the best album of 2008, there have been some great contenders this year. Katy Perry, Pink and Nickelback have all released albums, but this album surpasses them. So far Pink's album was my favourite of 2008, but I think this may just beat it slightly.

First things first, I know a lot of people moan about this album because it's not like the original 'Kings Of Leon'. I can't go with that, as I haven't heard there other albums, but I have to stay I love this style of music and I adore his voice.

The album itself is brilliant, I really wasn't expecting much, after the last CD I brought was a bomb, so I assumed this one would be as well. I sat down last night after writing the other review, and decided to get a bit started on this one, and I was amazed at how many songs was 10/10. What I have found with this band is, when the songs are good, they are amazing, and when they are bad, they are pretty awful.

For the next part of the review I'm going to cut it down into sections to make it easier to read and understand.

The Band

I have never heard of the band before Sex On Fire, and at one point my college decided to finally turn the TV that we had on in the cafe onto a music channel and Sex On Fire and Pink's So What were so over played it was ridiculous, but I fell in love with both of those songs and immediately started doing some digging into Kings Of Leon. When I had some money in the bank, I decided to buy the album of Amazon, and I have to say I am not disappointed.

The band's members are all related in some way, they all have different talents, and I think this is what makes them so good. The lead singer, Caleb is just awesome. I fell in love with his vocals in Sex On Fire, but his voice is so much better in a lot of other tracks on the album. He really does have a unique voice and together with the rest of the band it all comes together and they create some brilliant pieces of music, which are some of the best released this year.

The Lead Singer- Caleb Followill

One word can describe this guy, Wow. His vocals are just so unique and so powerful and so raw that you almost feel yourself being pulled into each song, his voice is something which I have never heard before, and it s so good so unique and something you find yourself really listening to.

The review I did before this review, was on the 17 year old runner up of American Idol Season 7, and what I found with his voice was that it could be playing and I would never even notice, it's great background music, but Caleb's voice brings their songs to the foreground and makes people listen to it.

A very talented guy and he is what draws you into the band, but he is not the only talented one in the band by far.

The Music

The songs pretty much all have heavy guitars and a very strong beat, this is something that you hear usually in heavy rock bands, but not in alternative rock bands like the Kings. I think the music is what drew me into the band in the first place, with Sex On Fire especially. The beat in the background gets under your skin and as soon as you hear the fast drum beat with the guitars over it, you'll know immediately that its' a Kings song.

The music that the band has produced in this album is just amazing. Even when they are using less instrumental like in Revelry, you still feel like they spent hours working out what beat would go with it. Especially in that song, it starts off with a few strums of the guitar, then it hits the chorus and a great drum beat joins the song, once that has happened, I believe a bass comes into play and the song manages to stay in a 'rock' genre but at the same time being slow and memorable, and this is like most of the album for me.

Despite the fact that the band are very original, they do find themselves falling into many genres from rock, soft rock, alternative rock and even pop sometimes, but I think each song will always fit into a different genre but they'll be a heart, always some kind of rock.

The Lyrics

For once I'm not searching through the lyrics like a mad woman and checking to see how good they are, because with this band, I really don't care. They could sing the yellow pages and I would love it, the lyrics that I have heard however sound very good and very well written, it looks like they took their time writing and producing all of the songs.

Final Opinion

Should you buy the Kings Of Leon- Only By the Night, yes I think you should. I ordered my copy off Amazon for around £6.99 but I'm sure you can buy it off EBay for much less.

The album itself is one of my favourite albums ever not just of 2008. I was a bit hesitant with buying the album, but I'm so glad I have and it will be a permanent fixture in my CD player for a long time I think. I am actually thinking about buying the other three albums, due to the fact people are saying their better than Only By The Night, but am worried that I won't like them due to the fact that they are not in the same style that these songs are in, and I adore this style.

Back to the review, I don't believe I've ever given an album so many 10/10's before, the songs are just amazing. I was shocked to say the least, I have been buying a few albums recently, with the likes of Nickelback- Dark Horse and David Archuleta and both of them have been great disappointments. So I wasn't expecting much and when I first put it in, I thought what the hell have I wasted £7 on, but it was probably one of the best albums I have ever heard and it'll be one I'll be raving about to my friends.

If you want a good album to listen to this and I can't believe I'm actually going to use the C word, but Christmas, then Kings Of Leon- Only By The Night is just pure brilliant. If you want to buy it for a friend, make sure they like 'heavy music' and then it'll be a perfect gift. It's a gorgeous album, with some amazing tracks, which only grow on you.

Check out some of the tracks I have recommended on Youtube, you'll see what I mean. A fantastic band and a fantastic album, and if anyone knows if the other albums are good, please tell me.

Hoped this helps.

(C) Kirsty. 

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