Kings of Leon - Only by The Night

The opener ‘Closer’ provides for a calm, almost meditative start into ‘Only By The Night’ where alienated and refrained guitars fall into line with the deliberately slow drum parts just to be drowned by Caleb’s suffering vocals. But Robert Smith is still better. With ‘Crawl’ the tone gets a little more raw, distorted riffs sneak in and also the dry bass play is much more present than before. ‘Sex on Fire’ being also the first single wakes the irresistible urge to move to the groove. Melancholy sweeps in again on ‘Use Somebody’, the feeling of being lonely and the unquenchable wish to find that very person drip out of every pore of this song, but one shouldn’t stay in n the depths of melancholy for too long, that’s what the band must have thought when putting the rather uplifting ‘Manhattan’ that comprise balladry just as rocking elements, right afterwards. Friends of a skilful bass play will surely dig the harmonies of ‘Revelry’; here he’s calling the tune and additionally we get to hear a stirring chorus in a song that rather invites to dream than dance. ‘17’ is the kind of song you would expect to hear in some older screen romances and has a touch of BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN as well. The title ‘I Want You’ actually says it all and I’ll eat my hat if that isn’t a song for the girls. Calm, almost ponderously, it floods the room with partly ambient-like sounds and bass lines reminisce of good old wave gems and as for the clear-cut lyrics and languishing vocals, I think this is what makes it the girl’s song in the end. With ‘Cold Desert’, the album ends with the oppressive soundscapes of a ballad whose most striking attributes are its craving guitars, seemingly carried by the wind and a chant that couldn’t be more emotional.