Kings Of Leon - Mechanical Bull

By Dane Anderson

Released September 20th, 2013 - Sony Music

After a three-year hiatus, the Tennessee USA born boys, Kings Of Leon, are back with their sixth studio album in 14 years.

Mechanical Bull is a return to form of sorts, and sees the band return to the more fun spark that ignited so many a following with 2003'sYouth & Young Manhood.  A lot of their earlier albums had a certain carefree air of releasing the shackles and just letting go with the music, which many songs on Mechanical Bull emulate.

First up is first single Supersoaker, which is filled with the Southern groove accustomed to the bands rock.Caleb Followill is in fine voice as we've come to expect while the rest of the band/family are as tight as ever musically.

The bluesy Rock City and the hard hitting fast paced Don't Matter are both short and very sweet, while Templefollows a somewhat formulaic approach but still remains one of the highlights of the album.

There are a few serious moments like in the sultry tone of Beautiful War, which was written during the same time as Use Somebody while Caleb was drunk in the studio. He didn't remember the sessions at all but the song was fleshed out and turns up on Mechanical Bull with a very slow soulful feel.

Wait For Me is another slower soulful song with Caleb singing "It's all better now/It's all better now/Wait for me/Wait for me". The same can be said for Comeback Story and On The Chin in terms of being soulful and slow.

Though regardless, there's plenty of southern rock and blues the band are known for, complete with all the grooves and hooks to make you potentially love this album.

Fun is the main theme and coincidently heading into the predominately and hopefully sunnier months, Mechanical Bull has a very upbeat, bright, colorful feel to it, which will only heighten your lazy Sunday afternoon sitting in the warm sun summer experience.

3.5 / 5