We got a little more info about this this morning so let's get the conversation going! The time has come for the big album reveal! See what it took to get here. Pre-order #WALLS starting September 9th on iTunes and get the single "Waste A Moment." Video: Facebook
Loving the new song. Very pumped for the new album. Mechanical Bull was a step in the right direction.
Listened to this today on my way in to work. The whole album was pretty enjoyable. I definitely liked a few of the songs much more on the back half where they mix up the sound a little bit. There's a really cool drum sound with the sticks on one and some whistling. Musically they seem to have their heads back in the game and be enjoying themselves. The songs themselves I'm not so sure about but I definitely want to give them some time. I don't really remember any stand-outs, and no songs that blew me away. It's very clean and pristine sounding. I can't lie, I was kinda looking forward to at least one track where they cut loose and go crazy like they used to, and that is definitely not what they were going for here at all.
Just hit play! Starting off with three of the songs we have already heard seems to be happening more and more.
'Walls' is a funny old name to christen your latest album and this is hardly a robust effort from the Kings. It seems as though the band has put its image on a pedestal and discarded the music that shaped them as an original, innovative group of bolshy yobs. This brash edginess was what separated them from the rest of the industry and it's painful to wonder if they will ever recapture it. Walls, Reverend and Waste a Moment do show glimpses of their forgotten glory but tired lyrics don't hold this album together. 'You know we sit just right / Let's run away from the night' from Eyes on You cannot stand up to Milk's 'She saw my comeover / Her hourglass body / She had problems with drinking milk and being school tardy'. It is sad to see that KOL are sitting pretty on the cement and mortar of stadium music whilst they fail to realise that the foundations of their creativity are slowly crumbling to dust.
I've been enjoying it still but it obviously doesn't compare to KoL in their heyday and when I first got into them. I'll enjoy it for what it is and I'm pumped more tour dates are to follow.
People have been complaining about wanting their "old sound" back since Only By The Night came out in what, 2008? I think it's pretty clear that they (like countless other bands in the history of music) have no interest in returning to that. The hand wringing over Kings of Leon has always baffled me.
I still listen to every one of these guys' albums very regularly, with the exceptions of WALLS, which I haven't really listened to since around the time it came out. If I'm being honest, I usually skip the singles when I listen to Only By The Night though, just down to a little bit of overexposure, but that's still a damn good album and it's got a couple fantastic bonus tracks too. I remember catching a pretty great and epic live version of the songs "Walls" on YouTube and really wishing the actual album version of the song was anywhere near as good as that version. I don't really have any desire to go back to WALLS even though I remember thinking it had at least a handful of solid songs on it. I still think they would have blown up in popularity one album sooner if they had gone with "Fans" as a single for Because of the Times as I believe the label and record co wanted, albeit maybe not to quite such high heights as they did with Only By The Night. PS - Arizona is a fucking amazing song. That is all.
Supposedly that live version of WALLS was supposed to be how the song was going to be and they changed it. No idea why. There are some fun songs on there, but I agree it’s pretty forgettable. I will say that Mechanical Bull has truly grown on me. Come Around Sundown is definitely my favorite album as a whole from them.