By Jessica Wertling

Kings of Leon’s “Only by the Night,” recorded while front man Caleb Followill was struggling on pain killers, is entertaining but uninspired. Not to glorify drug use, but you would think Followill would ride his high into musical greatness, like many talented artists before him, instead of recycling the usual and expected songs.

Kings Of Leon has potential: interesting instrumentals and a talented singer, but many songs on this album are pretentious and only an imitation of depth, instead of being deep because of cliché lyrics and conventional composition. You get the feeling this band is different and halfway into the record, when you almost believe them, you find out they are only pretending.

The first four tracks belong on a better CD. These are tracks you would play loudly in your car while rest of the album is insincere ballads. “Crawl” is the most intriguing because it reminds you of a band way better than this one – the Allman Brothers-and sounds like something they could create if they were a present day indie band.

Kings is a bluesy, rock band, with southern roots, and Followill’s drawl is engaging and impressive, especially when he hits high notes. “Use Somebody” is ethereal and poetic. The chorus of “ooooahhh” is the best part of the song but it doesn’t fit with the track; the song, though, is bipolar in a good way, unlike the album.

When you hear “Use Somebody” and “Crawl,” you are hearing how good the band can be; on the track “Revelry,” you hear how safe Kings are chosing to play it, on their fourth album nonetheless, when they already have a considerable fan base.

The album is enjoyable on a superficial level because most lyrics are simple and you feel like you’ve enjoyed them before, because you have. “Sex on Fire” sounds like a manufactured single, because of the fact that it’s, well, a song about sex and it is pop-influenced. Kings should have taken a risk.

2.5 Stars