I love Kings of Leon! :) Does anybody knows if they're doing their next album soon? Its been too long :(

After reading the pitchfork review of their new album, I had to listen to it. Thankfully I got in a brawl with my fiance, which meant I got left alone for awhile and decided to try the album out to see if it was as bad as this review said.

No, it wasn't. It was fairly mediocre. Almost like an album full of non-singles. This record, When You See Yourself, sounds like Kings of Leon re-recorded Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and Vampire Weekend produced it.

It can occasionally hove into that "Use Somebody" territory which is some of the worst modern rock has to offer, but most of the time it almost sounds like they went for a lo-fi feel - it isn't lo-fi - but it feels like that's that's the style they're cribbing from.

I'll give it a 6/10. Not great. But far from the depths of dreck this band is capable of.

Actually, if you look at the history of their reviews of KoL albums, that one ranks as one of their best apparently! :laughing:

Giving it a listen now. Your description seems pretty accurate, listenable but not remarkable.

I should listen to their post Only by the night output, not sure I followed it. Still love the first two albums (which Pitchfork thoroughly disliked).

Any time you see a band get heat from something that isn't the music, you should be worried.

Secret albums
Multimedia releases
This crypto bull****

There's honestly in labor, there's a value in artists who are serious about their work. We pay you to make music, not to be the ****ing marketing department.

Ok so I forced myself to go through their whole discography and just to record my impressions:

Youth & Young Manhood (2003) - 4.5/5 - Just because they put a version of California waiting I think isn't as good as the one from the Holly Roller Novocaine EP. Also, I prefer the acoustic version of Talihina sky.
Aha Shake Heartbreak (2004) - 4.5/5
Because of the Times (2007) - 4/5
Only by the Night (2008) - 4/5
Come Around Sundown (2010) - 2/5
Mechanical Bull (2013) - 2.5/5
Walls (2016) - 2/5
When You See Yourself (2021) - 3/5

Basically I think they kind of lost it after Only by the night. And not because they radically changed directions, they just didn't produce any memorable songs, mostly it's just filler. Something you can put in the background and forget about as soon as you've heard it.

Btw, Golden restless age from WYSY sounds like Future islands.

Yeah the Come Around Sundown album was a mashup of Creed and Foo Fights. I remember hearing "Use Somebody" and thinking "jesus, if they only had 1 honest friend."