Kings Of Leon- Mechanical Bull Album Review

 Over the past couple of years, it hasn’t looked like that much fun being in Kings Of Leon. The incident-ridden plagued that accompanied their last album, 2010’s under-performing ‘Come Around Sundown’, felt like a miserable and clichéd final chapter for a band that, you suspected, were struggling to cope with the gigantic success that had been thrust upon them and, though the people that cried “sell out” after ‘Sex On Fire’ and ‘Use Somebody’ were being too harsh, it was clear that something special had been lost on their journey from bars to arenas. Nevertheless, they return after a short hiatus with their sixth album, ‘Mechanical Bull’. Early whispers surrounding the record have suggested that the band have returned to the rough and ready sound that made their first few albums such a joy to listen to, but can they deliver on this promise?

 Initially, ‘Mechanical Bull’ feels like their second coming. Lead single ‘Supersoaker’ is fantastic, taking the thrilling southern rock of their past and reinventing it to fit with their current stadium style to great effect, with Caleb Followill’s proving that his vocals still have the power to blow people away. ‘Rock City’ is a boozy mid-tempo track that seems custom built to soundtrack bar room brawls, while ‘Don’t Matter’ is a Queens Of The Stone Age track if they grew up by the Nashville swamp instead of the California desert. They save their best for ‘Temple’, which is easily the best song they’ve recorded since ‘Only By The Night’ took them to the big time. Boasting riffs that feel like they’ve jumped straight from a classic Bruce Springsteen song and a chorus that won’t leave your head for days, it’s the perfect example of what Kings Of Leon do best.

 Unfortunately, the band can’t keep up their early momentum. ‘Wait For Me’ aims for epic but just feels uninspired and hollow. Similarly, the majority of the quieter tracks on the album feel like a little bit of a chore to get through, with ‘On The Chin’ in particular sounding too middle of the road for it’s own good. Kings Of Leon have usually excelled at slowing the tempo down and still being brilliant, but here, these songs simply weigh the album down. The almost laughably cheesy lyrics that accompany ‘Comeback Story’ seem to prove that their old spark won’t be making a full return anytime time soon.

 Maybe it was unfair to expect so much from ‘Mechanical Bull’. After all, Kings Of Leon have been in ‘stadium mode’ for five years, longer than they spent in their supposed ‘classic period’ (between 2003’s ‘Youth And Young Manhood’ and 2007’s ‘Because Of The Times’) and, after multiple marriages and births within the band since then, they’re vastly different people from that time, but even with its strong opening tracks, ‘Mechanical Bull’ doesn’t quite live up to the massive expectations surrounding it.

 Verdict: While there are moments of their old brilliance on ‘Mechanical Bull,’ the first part of the title of Kings Of Leon’s sixth album might be a little bit too apt, with much of it’s second half feeling slightly soulless. Its best moments are worth treasuring, but aren’t enough push it from ‘good’ to ‘great’.

Click here to Buy Mechanical Bull Now. 

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