In a nutshell: we’ve pretty much heard this Kings Of Leon album before, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
With the Nashville foursome there is something commendable about their ability to reproduce the same sound over and over. But it’s still infuriating. Either because you want to hear something new from them, or just down to how annoying it is that they can still pull it off, sixteen years on.
With pretty much every release the band have written since they left the Noughties we have been greeted with a few stand out singles, that one “new” and “diverse” sound for them, and then the rest are loved-up fillers, and this doesn’t change here. Aside from already released singles, ‘Walls’ and ‘Reverend’, it’s safe to say ‘Around the World’ and ‘Find Me’ can join that list. Luckily their stand out track, ‘Muchacho’ is a good one. And, well, the rest just pad the album out a bit.
Staying true to their signature, Stateside vocal and equally as recognisable, predictable lyrics, this album is definitely “samesy”, yes, but what exactly would they need to change? Although this album does replicate almost everything they’ve created it has that sense of maturity about it, showing that over the sixteen years they’ve moved on from their rebellious teen stage.
And within the album the tracks are good. The predicted, future singles are infectious, and simply sound like the soundtrack of your adolescent indie phase. The “nice” tracks on the album, such as ‘Conversation Place’, remind us of ‘Revelry’ days, whilst still lying dormant amongst the rest. But ‘Muchacho’ is the real saver of the bands seventh release, presenting itself as an almost instrumental three-minute foreign visitor, it brings the originality into the LP six tracks in.
The main positive to draw from this release is that someone is still sticking to the ever-slipping talent that is classic guitar rock. With many new genres coming into play it’s nice to know that Kings Of Leon haven’t gone off on a dream-psych tangent that most indie bands of the past tend to do. 'Walls' is one for the day-one Kings Of Leon fan and the fresh-faced new-to-indie one alike.
6/10
Words: Mollie Mansfield
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