Album Review: Kings Of Leon - Come Around Sundown

‘Fans’ of earlier Kings Of Leon material, those who believed the band went commercial with their fourth album, Only By The Night, look away now. Come Around Sundown sold 183,000 copies in its first week, including 49,000 downloads - an all-time record for digital sales in any album's opening week. So, with figures like that, I think it’s safe to say that the four boys from Tennessee are well and truly mainstream.

Yet, too much emphasis has been placed on the ‘commercial’ sound of Only By The Night. Music should not be judged on how many people like it. It should be judged on whether it’s any good. Even the band has reacted negatively towards the otherwise hugely successful fourth album, suggesting weren’t ready for the attention it garnered. Further comments from the band implying that they had let the success get to them only served to exasperate the problem.


The fifth album, Come Around Sundown, was always going to be as, if not, more successful than the Followill’s previous effort. However, does it recapture the raw, unrestrained southern rock of the Kings earlier material? Well, no, not really. The album often feels caught between trying to please both old and new fans. The opening song, ironically named ‘The End’, demonstrates everything that is bad about the album. Kings Of Leon have traditionally picked opening songs with substance. There was the fast-paced rock of ‘Red Morning Light’ and ‘Slow Night, So Long’, that graced the opening of the first two albums. And the simmering tension of ‘Knocked Up’ and ‘Closer’ from the third and fourth albums, respectively. Yet, ‘The End’ is a slow burner that doesn’t really go anywhere. The fuzzy sound of expanding guitars would fill the biggest stadium, but the song lacks any real kick.

The rest of the album is engulfed by the same problems that plague the opening song. Songs such as ‘The Face’, ‘Mary’ and ‘Pony Up’ are all perfectly good, but they have no back-bone. They sort of sound like a diet version of Kings Of Leon. Then there is the random ‘Beach Side’, a song that shows a completely different side to the band, with its simplistic arrangement and relaxed, beach-y sound. Maybe, the point of this album has just missed me; perhaps the boys were after a more chilled, back-ground music sounding album. Unfortunately, the majority of Come Around Sundown sounds safe. With the success of the previous album, and the virtual guarantee of more success with whatever they decided to do with the new album, they could have really experimented. But instead of moving forward, they decided to stand still.

That is not to say that there is no evidence of the unquestionable talent of the four southern-rockers. ‘Pyro’ is one particular highlight from the album, a beautiful song with its slippery guitar and Caleb’s aching vocals over the chorus.



'The Immortals’ is another song that displays very quick tempo shifts, and a cascading guitar that backs one of Caleb’s strongest lyrical choruses. The next song ‘Back Down South’ is more reminiscent of the effective simplicity of the Kings slower songs. It is very much a back-to-roots affair, which really harks back to ‘Day Old Blues’ from the second album, Aha Shake Heartbreak. ‘Mi Amigo’ further captures the better side of Kings Of Leon, a mid-tempo rocker, with a repetitive chugging guitar and lyrics about getting drunk. And the closing song, ‘Pickup Truck’, with its minimalistic bass and simple guitar riff, closes the album nicely.

Come Around Sundown is a nice album, and that is fundamentally the problem. The Kings Of Leon that burst on to the scene with furious rock songs such as ‘Molly's Chambers’, ‘Four Kicks’, and ‘The Bucket’, could never have been described as ‘nice’. There are some great songs on the album, but there are no real rock songs other than ‘No Money’ and ‘Radioactive’, both of which pale in comparison to earlier material. Come Around Sundown doesn’t have any songs that smack you in the face, like ‘Charmer’ for example, from Because Of The Times. And this is ultimately detrimental to an album, which in many ways, is quite promising. Where Kings Of Leon will go from here is anybody’s guess. Hopefully, their next album will ditch the empty atmospheric rock that has been all too prevalent on their recent efforts, and we will see the return of the raw, gritty southern swagger that they made their name with.

3/5