On The Chin then rounds things off in slow, comfortable and safe style, with the instrumental break providing the only respite. Ĭomeback Story is one of the weakest songs here, a slow country-tinged effort formed around a chorus containing some baffling lyrics: “I’ll walk a mile in your shoes, now I’m a mile away, and I’ve got your shoes.” Tonight carries on in the same vein, albeit with a stronger, more passionate chorus, before Coming Back Again provides another bouncing moment for gig-goers with its catchy riff. The blues-tinged rocker Family Tree is built on a repetitive descending guitar riff, with the able rhythm section and vocal components creating a sound more reminiscent of the band’s earlier stylings. The album’s second single, Wait For Me, is another gem of a ballad in the same vein as Use Somebody. The pace picks up again for Temple but altogether it’s a rather uneventful radio-friendly number. The quite excellent slowie Beautiful War is a clear highlight, with a galloping drumbeat and ringing guitars that evoke comparisons with U2’s The Edge. Upbeat rocker Don’t Matter appears next, recalling the guitar pattern of T.Rex’s ‘Get It On’ during the chorus before another mind-bending solo places heavy reliance on Matthew’s noodlings once again. Rock City, by contrast, opens with an excellent guitar solo alongside a ticking beat, its stop-start construction highlighting the superb guitar work. The rather average single Supersoaker kicks things off in traditional rocking style, but it’s fairly unremarkable and leans towards the radio rock of the ‘Only By The Night’ album. This freedom occasionally shows in the music itself, the result being an album that sits somewhere between those giddy heights of commercial success and the band’s rootsy beginnings. In contrast to its predecessor, ‘Mechanical Bull’ was apparently a fun record to make, with practical jokes aplenty in the studio as the band relaxed a little. It finally took its toll when singer Caleb Followill walked off stage during a disastrous Dallas gig and was later diagnosed with throat problems, resulting in a complete rest under doctor’s orders and the cancellation of the remaining tour dates. The double whammy of commercially friendly hits launched the parent album, ‘Only By The Night’, towards a double platinum certification on home soil.īut the subsequent stratospheric heights they scaled came at a price, as pressure mounted to repeat that success with ‘Come Around Sundown’, a disappointing follow-up that emerged from a fog of rumours about its recording and the band’s exhaustion. The band’s profile exploded on both sides of the Atlantic in 2008 when Sex On Fire landed, reaching the summit of the UK singles chart and paving the way for Use Somebody to become a mega hit in its own right. Arriving three years after ‘Come Around Sundown’, ‘Mechanical Bull’ is Kings Of Leon’s sixth studio album, but following various setbacks, fall-outs and tour cancellations it’s a wonder that it’s here at all.
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