Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #98 in Digital Music Album
• Released on: 2008-09-22
• Running time: 2554 seconds

Customer Reviews

The Kings
Firstly, I feel I should say that after years of buying from Amazon, and hundreds of purchases later, I have never felt compelled to leave a review. With this album, that changes. It irritates me slightly that many of the previous reviews seem to be negative, mostly written by the 'die hard fans' that believe their opinion rocks, and seemingly that the KOL should in fact, produce albums to simply suit them, and them alone. I've got all the KOL albums, yes, they are all very different in style but so they should be - i wouldn't be too happy if a group released album after album of the same old. In fact, if the albums were all along the same lines, I would imagine people will be moaning about that too. Perhaps, the critics should open their minds to the fact that the KOL have evolved. They've grown up, had a change of style, produced something different, and also probably gained a whole new set of fans in the long run. That's what a successful band does. So, to all the die hard fans who believe they've been personally ripped off and done over - the world doesn't revolve around you.

Rant over. This album is possibly the most influencial, easy on the ears, moving, inspiring, and just genuinely awesome piece of work i have ever c ome across. It's been playing in every single aspect of my life since the day it arrived. Caleb's vocals are unbelieveable. There isn't a remotely bad track on the album, although some are by far stand out winners. My personal faves are Manhattan, I Want You, and above all, Sex on Fire. It's an amazing track - sometimes you just find a song that does funny things to you...If you've read any of the reviews, and you're in any doubt at all as to if to buy this album or not, just buy it.

Best yet
I simply believe that this is their most musically accomplished album to date. I haven't been overly keen on their previous efforts, feeling that their sound was a little contrived.

I'm a fan of progressive rock and metal, Tool, The Mars Volta, Sigur Ros, Exlosions in the Sky etc...I am not a pop fan and thoroughly disagree that this is some sort of pop/rock 'sellout' album. It is beautifully written, expressive and emotional.

Well done KOL, this is the first one I've actually bought! The music also stands out live compared with their old music, this is a really positive progression for the band.

Kings of the stadium
This is probably my most anticipated album of 2008. 'Because of the Times' sent Kings of Leon deservedly into the big league and is one of my albums of the decade so far, and after seeing them storm through their Glastonbury set this year, they really were looking like a world beating band. I even got to hear Crawl and Manhatten during their set and knew that if the rest of the album lived up to these two songs it was going to be something very special indeed.

Unfortunately the rest of the album doesn't quite live up to this, but its still a corker. If you listen to 'Youth and Young Manhood' you would think that they had been written by two seperate bands. Gone is the Rolling Stone-esque grooves of their first two outings, and in comes the stadium filling epics.

They do rock out on a couple of songs, 'Crawl' and 'Sex is on Fire' have plenty of energy, however this is about as uptempo as the album gets, the rest is about atmosphere, big choruses and epic guitars. Unfortuntately it seems they might have forgotten how young they still are and are affraid to let it all hang out, because thats what Kings do best. They are a pure rock'n'roll band. No frills. If their next album returns to a more rockier feel then this album will be a gem amongst their back catalogue, however if they stick with this direction they will lose a lot of fans.

Basically, the songs are amazing, the production is sublime, the musicianship is awesome, the album is brilliantly crafted, but it ain't the Kings of Leon we all have come to know and love.