By ERIKA P. PIERSON

CONTRIBUTING WRITER



“I liked their old stuff better.” Cue the eye roll as hipsters sit drinking their soy lattes at some obscure coffee house, bemoaning the downfall of their favorite little-known band at the hands of the corporate music machine. But is this nostalgia for the good ole days the annoying mark of a pretentious music “connoisseur” or simply the truth?

On their fourth album, “Only by the Night,” Kings of Leon have shaved off their scruffy beards and revealed a new, much more polished sound to their fans. But the question is, have they strayed too far?

The Followill clan, consisting of three brothers and a first cousin, began their journey as the Kings of Leon in 2003. With the release of their debut album, “Youth & Young Manhood,” they were hailed for creating a unique brand of southern 70s style rock ‘n’ roll that was raw and gritty. Despite their raspy vocals and unpolished tunes, their songs were still strangely catchy, and were built on a raw and genuine vitality.

Only a hint of this earlier sound remains in “Night.” It’s the furthest the Kings of Leon have ventured from their roots, and it lands them in the territory of dozens of other mediocre commercial rock bands. Perhaps this shift is the result of their 2005 tour with U2 and their 2008 tour with Pearl Jam. Whatever the case, it’s evident that “Only by the Night” is crafted with much more of an arena-rock feel than anything else the band has released.

Many of the songs defy the Kings’ old garage rock sound with a new emphasis on veneer. A gimmicky guitar riff drives album opener “Closer,” and it’s far from enough to get the listener through its dragging four minutes of heartbreak, which feature lyrics like, “You shimmy-shook my boat / Leaving me stranded all in love on my own.” Further signs of overproduction and underwhelming originality can also be heard on “17,” where church bells provide the intro and outro for a song not too different in subject matter from Winger’s track of the same slightly-seedy title.

The album does have a few remnants of Kings of Leon’s former feel, however. It can be heard in the pulsing, scratchy bass hook of “Crawl” and the heavily distorted and musically simple “Sex on Fire.” Lead singer Caleb’s strained southern drawl is still (mostly) present throughout, and there are moments where the album looks as though it’s making a u-turn back to true Kings of Leon form. Yet something’s still off. It all sounds a bit too grandiose and cleaned up.

“Only by the Night” is still a far cry from awful, though. Most of the songs are pleasant enough; it’s just that save for a few, nothing stands out. It’s when compared with the rest of Kings of Leon’s corpus that “Night” really falls short. It’s like getting Southern Comfort when you ordered Moonshine—sugary, weak, and not at all what you were hoping for. Other than “Sex on Fire,” there are relatively few songs that really grab your attention (unless you count the slightly disturbing grunts featured in “Notion”).

So to those hipster kids in the coffee shop, you were right on this one. I won’t always agree with you. Sometimes it’s normal for a band’s sound to mature, and gaining a more “mainstream” following isn’t always the kiss of death. But in this case, Kings of Leon should let their beards grow back and return to the unique, edgy sound that got them noticed in the first place.