Kings of Leon makes triumphant comeback

Carson Metcalf October 3, 2013

The Nashville quartet returns to form with signature hard rock rhythms. (Photo provided by rcarecordspress.com)

The Kings of Leon’s new album, “Mechanical Bull,” released Sept. 24 has gotten mixed reviews, though more often than not they are positive. This type of successful follow-up album became a necessity after “Come Around Sundown,” released in 2010 to almost universal negative reviews.

“Mechanical Bull” is a more up-beat follow-up, using catchy tunes without losing the band’s rock essence and rugged rock lyrics.

Their debut single “Supersoaker” is quite the comeback song. It makes you want to get in the car, roll down the windows and blast the song, shouting to the chorus.

“Rock City,” has comparable guitar lines has comparable sounds to The Rolling Stones. This is one of the ragged rock tracks on the album.

“Rock City” is followed by “Don’t Matter,” which continues the ragged sound. While up-beat, it relays a “I-don’t-give-a-crap” attitude. Maybe the type of song we will hear playing loud throughout the dorms during finals when everyone is up to their ears in work.

The song “Temple” is probably one of the most radio-friendly songs on the album, and it would not be far fetched to say that this could be the single that generates a lot of positive reviews. Not taking away from the rest of the album, but, this being a more of a radio-friendly song, it will probably reach a lot of people who do not listen to Kings of Leon regularly, in turn resulting in a lot of positive feedback. It would not be a surprise if “Temple” generated as much success as “Use Somebody” and “Sex On Fire” from their album “Only By The Night,” released in 2008.

All in all, “Mechanical Bull” is primed to be a huge success. It has a range of songs with great beats and well-written lyrics. It would be worthwhile to compare the success of “Mechanical Bull” and “Only By The Night” as opposed to the album that came out between the two, “Come Around Sundown.” The reason being, with the sound “Mechanical Bull” has, it will appeal to more people like “Only By The Night.” It is a lot more similar to it in its sound that it will be interesting to see how it plays out in comparison.