Kings of Leon was the band that truly inspired me to look at music differently from the first time I heard Aha Shake Heartbreak back when I was a sophomore in high school. I fell in love with them immediately.
It seemed like I was on a mission from then on. I quickly began buying any CD I could find with their name on it. In 2008 they released Only By the Night, arguably their most successful album commercially. However, after the initial shock over the Kings new album had died, many fans, who had loved their youthful sound, quickly went back to previous albums.Many felt like the Oklahoma natives had sold out to become mainstream in the states with a new sound that KoL alums weren’t sure how to handle.
Two years later they released Come Around Sundown. Capitalizing on their southern-rock roots, the album had a fresh feel but still wasn’t the same. Then, when they announced in early 2011 that they would be taking a hiatus from music, abruptly ending their tour just months after it began, many fans thought that the KoL were no more. That is, until earlier this year they announced they were working on another album — one they felt they needed to create not just for their fans, but also for themselves. The band held high hopes and promises they would touch back to their earlier roots, combining the sounds of their debut album Youth and Young Manhood and their third album Because of the Times.
I was able to see them perform live in Gulf Shores, Ala., in May when they started their new 24-month-long tour to promote and display their new album. They played a few singles from their new album but mainly stuck to the classics. The sound was vaguely familiar and I wanted to hear more. Even as I was screaming the lyrics to my favorites, “California Waiting,” “The Bucket” and “King of the Rodeo,” I wanted to hear the songs I didn’t know and dive into another Kings-induced coma.
Now, almost two months after the sixth album release, I still find myself listening to the new album. They had a comeback from what seemed to be the dead. They have successfully combined element through their maturity as musicians and lived up to the promise of their return to their youthful sound. From the fast-paced distorted sound of “Supersoaker” to the bass filled “Beautiful War” and the catchy guitar riff in “Comeback Story” while still touching on their southern rock feel in the closing track “On the Chin”.
They reminded me what it was like to be a new Kings of Leon fan again. In every song they take you on a new journey. Each one was different from the last, but with a feeling that is familiar and comforting. After throwing the album on, I rested on my bed staring at the ceiling focusing on the soothing sound that encapsulated me in rhythmic bliss. The moment was perfect, reunited to a long lost part of me. This album is not just another shock of a new album. Mechanical Bull is one for the records and is here filling the place in all of our hearts that Kings of Leon has created.
About Zach Adair
