Walls by Kings of Leon, 2016

So the eagerly awaited seventh album by the Followill boys finally landed on my doorstep this October.

Now I'm a fairly oldschool fan, discovering the boys at the age of 16, it was my final year at school and Aha Shake Heartbreak perfectly soundtracked it. There were dancey tracks, there were slurry lyrics, and there were cowbells.

The boys have come a long way since then, I do continue to support them even if they're not how I remember. Because of the Times made everyone love them, Only by the Night made the old faithfuls hate them (naughty, naughty Sex on Fire), and Come Around Sundown and Mechanical Bull haven't really induced an opinion. Well, I enjoyed them, just not to the extent of the previous albums.

So, how did Walls rank? Well the first track of Waste a Moment is a nice opener, it's upbeat and one of the first lines includes "rabbit on a chain", seven albums in and Caleb is still whipping out lyrics about me, which is really quite nice. (Refer to 'Where Nobody Knows' on Aha for more songs about Jess Sturt). It's not original Kings, but it is catchy.

Another notable song is track number 5; Over. It sounds really familiar, is it a generic pop anthem I recognise? Or is it where the Kings should be? I really like it. It is an untypically lengthy track of six minutes, but we get that glimpse of Caleb's vocal climax. He's not quite the rock and roll banshee we know from Joe's Head but it fits well with the song, and in this case it was a good decision to go with the voice rather than the guitar finale.

My final favourite of the album is the final track; Walls. This is not like any Kings song I have ever heard. It's slow, and nice, and the lyrics aren't cryptic. It's pleasant though, and it sticks out to me. When I saw the video, I could not believe there was a good three minutes of eye to eye contact from the front man. Don't get me wrong, I could stare into those eyes all day, he is my ideal man (other favourites include Marlon Brando and the delicious Michael Cera), but what happened to the timid lad who struggled to even look up from the mic in The Bucket video?

The video to Waste a Moment almost made me sick as well, just leave the dodgy videos guys and you'll be alright.
When I listen to a new album, I give the entire thing a couple of hearings, then I take it to the car and skip it to the tracks I like. The boys have successfully placed my favourite songs at the very beginning, the middle and the end. So when I'm getting lazy and it plays onto the next song, I get to enjoy that one too. All in all, every song is being played.

It's a good album, it is still in my car after a week. I embrace change, but it would be great to just incorporate some of Youth and Young Manhood in there. I will always buy your records boysies, just want to get back to the place where I request the songs on everyone elses phones. I want to love a Kings of Leon song for the first time again.