Review | King of Leon - Walls

There are bands out there that transcend trends and time. Bands that we’ve come to expect to a certain level of experimentation, bands that push themselves to create music that is not only good but also interesting, that offer a point of view other than to sell out arenas and garner social media likes. Kings of Leon are not one of those bands. After a three-year wait the band has dropped their new album, Walls.

Debuting in the early 00’s with a couple of immensely promising first two records the Followill brothers and cousin have seemingly decided it’s worth their time, and their fans time, to sit back on all the Grammy nominations and millions of sold albums and morph into a blander, “Southern” combination of U2 and Coldplay. There is always a little hope with the release of every new KOL album that the boys have reignited that spark that made Youth And Young Manhood (2003) and A-Ha Shake Heartbreak (2004) so special. Unfortunately with Walls that spark remains unlit and sitting in a puddle of water.

It’s not as if they aren’t a talented group. The album highlights their solid musicianship and Caleb Followill’s somewhat unique vocal phrasing but buries it all underneath this sheen of schmaltz, rendering it not unlistenable but just so bland that it becomes unmemorable. On "Waste A Moment," the album opener, the guys lean so hard on the millennial whoop in the choruses that their seemingly overwhelming desire to turn the song into a stadium anthem actually renders it inert. Same goes for follow up single "Reverend." All four on the floor kick drum and chiming Edge indebted guitar riffing before opening up into a sweeping halftime chorus makes me feel like Will Hunting seeing the mathematical formula for “hit” unfold before my eyes. The songs that do stick out somewhat are the ones with bizarre aesthetic choices. One such song is "Muchado." With its electronic claves and Santana-esque guitar noodling the track plays out like a frat boy version of a mariachi band. Album closer “Walls” comes off as an amalgamation of Peter Gabriel’s "In Your Eyes" and Springsteen’s "Secret Garden," two songs that are notable for being featured in a couple of successful rom coms. It becomes easy to see what Kings Of Leon are reaching for here. It’s not important that every band push to make all of their albums a bold statement. Fun, anger, sadness, confusion, any sort of point of view goes a long way to making something resonate. The unfortunate thing about "Walls” is that any point of view is drenched in the kind of empty studio trickery that is intended to elicit an emotional response but instead only elicits a shrug.