Kings Of Leon
Only By The Night
RCA


Once derided with faint praise as "the Southern Strokes", Kings Of Leon have grown and developed over the course of four albums to the point where they are now capable of topping charts the world over...except for in America.

Kings Of Leon blazed out of the South with a blend of southern rock 'n roll mixed with insouciant cool that would, at least on the surface, have seemed wholly appropriate for the hordes. Yet it was in the United Kingdom where the band were feted as heroes with their first two albums, 'Youth & Young Manhood' and 'Aha Shake Heartbreak', increasing their popularity slowly but surely before 'Because Of The Times' exploded them into a 'stadium band'.

On 'Only By The Night', Kings Of Leon have embraced that perception; instead of looking to Lynyrd Skynyrd, this fourth album embraces the epic grandeur of a U2 in their prime. It's got big, echoing guitars, clipped drums, supple but fully malleable bass runs, and - best of all - clear and powerful singing from frontman Caleb Followill, who belts out blasting choruses with an arching yelp that sounds like he's giving his all.

It helps that the band have songs made for stadia too. Singles Crawl, Use Somebody, and especially Sex On Fire are brazenly up-front in their hook-laden nature, while album opener Closer may be the best thing the band have ever done. Ballads such as Revelry no longer sound forced but instead are fully realised, while the tightness and compact nature of the songs makes the album a positive joy to behold - there's nary a wasted moment on 'Only By The Night', with everything tightly brought together to create an album that seems certain to propel them into even greater stardom. Who knows, America might even wake up to their own!

Andrew Weaver