Ok so this is the first weekly event thingy on my blog, and I've decided to go with Album of the Week so let's get to it!
Alright, I've known about this band for about 3 years now. I first heard them at school while setting up the cameras for a production and they had some music playing in the background to keep us entertained while we worked. I remember liking them immediately and asking someone who the band was. Their response: Kings of Leon.
Fast forward to about a year and a half later, "Only by the Night" is a best-selling album on iTunes and on the Billboard Top 100. It's one of those phenomenons where a band comes out of nowhere and then overnight everyone is talking about them. I've had some songs from this album for a while now but in the past two weeks I've been sort of obsessed with Kings of Leon (I have no idea why) and decided to download the remaining songs that I didn't have from the album. Let's just say that it has been on repeat for about a week now.
I don't know what it is about this album in particular, and a lot of die-hard KOL fans would agree that it is too mainstream and prefer "Because of the Times" but there is something about the songs on this album that is so catchy (and yes, dare I say it "mainstream") and yet so freaking original, and that's a rare find. There were times when I found myself saying "Woah, woah, what the hell was that?" and rewinding the song because I was so taken back by a riff or a chord or just felt something weird. I don't know if you've ever experienced that when you hear a really good song for the first time.
One of the many things that I love about Kings of Leon is their prominent bass line in almost every song. The bass and bass players are most of the time so passive in bands, you can barely tell they're playing. Every once in a while you find a genius (like Flea from the Chili Peppers) but like I said, most of the time the bass just blends into the background. The Kings of Leon bassist, Jared Followill, is an amazing bassist and I'm not sure how their writing process goes but I'm sure he writes his own bass line. Something that really strikes me is that the bass has such a strong influence in almost all of their songs, a lot of times even more than the guitar, and "Only by the Night" takes full advantage of that. "17" and "Manhattan" in particular have amazing bass lines and I often found myself playing air bass instead of air guitar.
The album of course has the songs that most of us know from their constant air-time on the radio: "Sex on Fire", "Use Somebody", and "Notion". They are great to sing along to and are the most mainstream of all the songs because they were, of course, the three singles off the album. But two of my favorite songs off the album that are seriously underrated are "Cold Desert" and "Revelry". They are two songs that are the more chilled-out from the group (surprise, surprise) and have amazing hooks. I don't know, for me, song should always take you somewhere, whether it's somewhere you've already been, somewhere you want to go, somewhere where you have no idea where you are. Those two songs take me somewhere, and it's a really good place. The funny thing is that, for all its magic and mastery, "Cold Desert" uses 4 main chords throughout the whole song, and "Revelry" uses about 3 throughout. Some of the greatest songs ever written are the easiest and simplest to play history has shown us, and "Only by the Night", a groundbreaking album in my opinion, stays in the chord of E for most of its duration. I think that's saying something all on its own.
All in all, "Only by the Night" is something spectacular, I don't care how mainstream you think it is. Songs are supposed to make us feel; what that feeling is is up to you. This album is not just something that appeals to the masses, but leaves you with a feeling of awe and even admiration. An album that millions like is one thing. An album that millions like and feel a strong connection to is another. That's what this album is for me, and I can't wait for their fifth to see what else they throw our way.
Song of the day: Revelry- Kings of Leon
Until next time
Sary
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