NMC: THE BEST ALBUM EVER (read page 5)

[Cartar]

I will make the review today or tomorrow, haven't had time to listen it yet.

[kibaxx7]

Will listen to it today when I get home.

[Cartar]

As promised, just finished listening to it. As I now think back on the album, nothing really comes into my mind, only song that I currently remember is "Put it in the Air". The lyrical part wasn't very wordy, they abused some words too much, most of time you don't even understand what they're saying, unless you're specially listening to them. The metalic riffs, just like the words, get very repetitative, all of the songs sound the same, but as I look at the entire album, none of the tracks didn't fall out of it's place, as all of the tracks fit into the album 'theme'. I don't know if I should list keeping the same theme for the entire album as a positive or negative note.

But there are some positive sides on it as well, as it greatly fulfills it's niche, being a hype-energizer type of album, like everybody above already mentioned it's great to listen it during practice etc. Otherwise not that much.

Overall it was ummm...., an interesting album to listen to, not exactly type of album that I would regularly listen, but on some context, it's great. I actully think that I will listen to it again, to get a better overview of it, because sometimes the first opinion isn't the right one.


Favourite Songs: Raise Hell, Its That Simple, Ground Zero
Least Favourite: Hilltop Flava (No Sleep Till Brooklyn), Fire

Overall Rating:
6.5/10

[kibaxx7]

Ok, so I finished with the playlist.

Just as Joe, I'm not a big fan of metal. I do like rap/hip-hop (2Pac, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Eminem, all of my liking), so I gave this a go. I liked around half of the songs, the other ones, I can't really remember right now. My favourites were "Ground Zero" and "Robbin Hoodz Theory (Ante Up)", I remember listening to Ante Up, I think from some video game. Words were totally abused, you must pay close attention if you want to understand what they're saying in some songs. An interesting album to listen, it's a good album, but I'm open to listen to it one more time. I wouldn't pay for one of this, but it's music that I would listen, here and there. Couldn't stand "Fire".

+ :: Ground Zero, Put It In The Air, Robbin Hoodz (Ante Up Rock Version), Stand Up
+/- :: Conquerors, Calm Down
- :: Fire, Hilltop Flava (No Sleep Till Brooklyn)

Rating: 2.5/5

[J@3]

I think that's enough time, Lean you're on one strike

Pdub you're up.

[Patr1ck]

Sorry I took so long.

Here's the album. Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
Youtube Playlist

One of the songs is unavailable, and it is the 8th song, which you can listen to here.

[J@3]

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p ... 4C13338BEE

Try that one, it's only got the album songs + the 8th one. I'll review this soon, I've got the album so it'll be an easy one.

[J@3]

I've admired Kings Of Leon from afar for a fair few years now, I liked the weird muffled vocals from their earlier stuff which to me came across as hillbilly music. Obviously the vocal style has changed, I think for the better because the singer has an awesome voice... something fairly unique compared to most other mainstream bands at the moment. I'd be lying if I said I was a fan of this whole album but the awesome songs make up for the average ones. Closer is a nice way to show off your vocals but it's too slow and the repeating backing music starts getting annoying after a while. Crawl takes a minute before any vocals even come into the song, for me it's just a filler song. Sex On Fire obviously is the one most people love, I think it's ok but I'll never be as into it as Triple J listeners for instance who voted it the 90th best song of all time, ahead of songs by Led Zepplin, Stevie Wonder, ACDC, Daft Punk and Midnight Oil.

Use Somebody is the best song on the album IMO and one of the best songs released in the last few years. It's one of those things you can't get out of your head and feel the need to listen to over and over, actually I paid $26 for Only By The Night purely for Use Somebody because I couldn't download it or get the single. There's two fairly underrated songs on the album I think, Manhattan is one of them purely because of the vocals. The lyrics make no sense, the music is really non existent but the vocals are great. Revelry is cool but the drop off sorta begins here. 17 is creepy, Notion is poor, I Want You is worse before finally picking up again with the second underrated song in Be Somebody. Cold Desert, even though I don't like the song, seems like the right way to end things... it feels like a "final" song or whatever.

Anyways, this album is crazy considering they only recorded it so they'd have something to tour with. I don't know how big they've become in the US but they are pretty huge here, it'll be interesting to see what comes next.

Overall Rating: 8/10

Favourite Songs: Use Somebody, Manhattan, Be Somebody
Least Favourite: Crawl, Notion, I Want You

Edit: Typo.

[Its_asdf]

Just thought I'd pop by and say that the Kings of Leon have a pretty good drummer. He really changes the band from a decent one to a fairly good one (at least that was the case in the album Because of the Times). Not too big of a fan of them, but I have my days where I randomly throw them in my playlist.

[Lamrock]

Ooh! I want to join.

Kings Of Leon is fucking horrible though

[J@3]

you're in, review away. UNLIKE EVERYONE ELSE IN THE GROUP COME ON PEOPLE IT IS NOT THAT DIFFICULT

[Joe the Space Marine]

I have been targetting songs for years. I can´t sit through an album.

[JaoSming]

waiting till work tomorrow, friday I was in the field and I dont sit and just listen to music

[Patr1ck]

I have been targetting songs for years. I can´t sit through an album.

So play the first few songs, then the next few another day, then the last few another day, collect your thoughts, review. You really can't review an hour of music in one week?

[shadowgrin]

One hour? Fuck this shite, especially Pdub's shite.

Kings of Leon - Only By the Night

I don't like Closer at all but being the first song in the album seems right as it sets up a change of tempo for the succeeding songs in the album.
Crawl is decent especially after the drag that Closer was.
Sex on Fire seems to keep that momentum going but I think it lacks that "oompf" for me to really enjoy the song.
Use Somebody is one of the songs I liked and I think the momentum of the album just peaked with this one as I listened to it.
Manhattan slows the album down again a bit. I hate this song, it's like the vocals aren't in the right places during the song.
The tempo of the album really slows down now with Revelry but it's definitely better than Closer. Decent song, only thing keeping from me enjoying it is the way the lyrics seem to be mumbled in some parts.
The album picks up pace again with 17 but the instrumentals seem to drown out the vocals. The instrumental sounded like a bad mashup, instead of giving the song a "coherent" flow. Don't like this one.
Notion - same thing from 17 but without the bad instrumental mashup.
I Want You sounds like a song one would listen to while high. I was expecting the pace to increase again after Notion though.
Thankfully, Be Somebody did birng the pace back up again. I agree with asdf regarding the drummer, by listening to this. I like this one, looks like the songs that I like in this album have somebody in the title.
Cold Desert ends the album the same way it started - a drag. I hate that part (4:20) where you think the song ends but it starts again after a some seconds. That shite only works if the sound goes apeshite on the tempo compared to the rest of the song.

Decent instrumentals, I don't feel the vocals though, I just can't get into it. I think this album would be a decent listen while driving, whether it be after a long night (no pun intended) or during a very long drive.

I give this album a 3 out of 8-Hype.

[Joe the Space Marine]

I have been targetting songs for years. I can´t sit through an album.

So play the first few songs, then the next few another day, then the last few another day, collect your thoughts, review. You really can't review an hour of music in one week?

When I am not getting paid to do things, I am suprisingly incompetent.

I also don't like rock music which seemed to be the main of most of the participants.

[Patr1ck]

I also don't like rock music which seemed to be the main of most of the participants.

Don't make assumptions. Most of us like multiple genre's.

[Lamrock]

Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

Pavement is my favorite band, so you can expect far more indie reviews, being the pretentious dick I am. Most people claim Slanted & Enchanted, their lo-fi debut, as their finest album, but I personally prefer CRCR.

Crooked Rain is their most mainstream and popular album, but with the exception of perhaps lead single "Cut Your Hair", you probably haven't heard any of these songs. The twelve tracks are all top-notch indie rock. After a couple listens, it was already one of my all-time favorites. With the exception of nice instrumental intermission 5/4 Unity, the middle six tracks are the best. From Cut Your Hair to Range Life is perhaps the best 19 minutes in indie rock history.

If you don't like indie rock, then you probably won't like Crooked Rain, as it is the quintessential indie rock album. If you do, then download and/or buy Crooked Rain immediately.

Singles: Cut Your Hair | Gold Soundz | Range Life
My Favorites: Elevate Me Later | Unfair | Gold Soundz
Rating: A++-

This isn't the album that PDub suggested, but thats because I don't like terrible music. However, if I had to give that shitty KoL album a score, it would be about 1.3-Hype. Sex On Fire was the second worst single of 2008.

[J@3]

That's a good review but... not what we're doing . Basically how it works is one person suggests an album, everyone in the group reviews it, then the next person suggests one, everyone reviews it etc... otherwise it'd basically turn into a list thread. At the moment the album people are reviewing (in theory) is the Kings Of Leon one, since it's Pdub's turn to suggest something.

[Lamrock]

I realized that and edited my post accordingly.

[Cartar]

Kings of Leon - Only by the Night


To get a better overview of the album, I decided to listen the album twice before reviewing. I plan to do this to the upcoming albums as well. This album gave me a lot of mixed feelings, some parts I really liked, some parts I didn't like at all, for some parts I didn't know whether I liked it or not, got confused by them. The vocals were quite ok, unique. The background music sometimes got annoying(e.g. Closer). Use Somebody was undoubtedly my favourite song of the album. Most of the other songs gave me no emotions at all. Cold Desert was a nice way to finish the album with the exception of the last minute, what was completely unnecessary. Overall it was quite good album, I am not regretting listening to it. Use Somebody will see some playing time for me afterwards, but no other.

Favourite Songs: Use Somebody, Be Somebody, Sex on Fire(in that order)
Least Favourite: Revelry, 17

Overall Rating:
7/10

[J@3]

It's kinda weird how we all (well, except Lamrock ) liked Use Somebody the most despite whatever different music tastes we have. I've had it stuck in my head since we started reviewing this one.

[JaoSming]

Well, I liked Red Morning Light by Kings of Leon which was featured on the Fifa 2004 soundtrack, but after hearing Sex on Fire day after day on the local radio stations I was really fretting this review.

Turns out though, I was pleasantly surprised by the first few songs, and Sex on Fire works a lot better in the album than sandwiched between Metallica and Pearl Jam (local stations = awesome )

Use Somebody is what started to kill it for me, and Manhattan drove in the nail. The generic sounds and waaaay overuse of the bass pedal for these mellow songs killed it for me. Revelry almost gave me hope again, then 17 and Notion killed it again.

Overall, it wasn't as horrible as I initially planned, but I don't think I'll run over to the store/website of choice to get the songs off this album

Liked: Closer, Crawl
Disliked: Use Somebody, Sex on Fire, 17

It gets 2 FiiiIIIIiiiiIIiiiiIIIiIIIiiire 's out of 5

[Joe']

Kings of Leon - Only by the Night
Genre: Alternative Rock
Year: 2008

Review:
I'm overall very disappointed with this, but only because I had very high hopes. I can't believe this is the same band that produced "Youth and Young Manhood." I loved every song on that album. So don't judge the band based on this album, get their early stuff instead. Actually nevermind, I think I'm gonna suggest it on this thread. On with the review.

The album started out disastrously, with "Closer" being utterly awful and "Crawl" a step below that. The excessive guitar distortion, studio sound effects and slow tempo were unbearable so I had to skip through both those songs. I was really surprised too cause I'd come to know Kings of Leon through the particularly clean, raw, fast-paced, country-esque sound of some their early songs such as "Molly's Chambers" and "California Waiting."

"Sex on Fire" is an improvement, I liked the the guitar and the bass line, though the drums were invasive (cymbals throughout the whole song, really?) and repetitive. "Use Somebody" was undoubtedly the best song on the record, although the tempo could've been arranged a little better, as sometimes the drums sound off in respect to the rest of the instruments.

The album does get a tad better here, with "Sex on Fire," "Use Somebody" and "Revelry" (although, again, the drum beat's tempo is off here,) but it gets worse than ever afterwards: "17" is outrageous, with the same progression over and over again, and "Notion" isn't much better. Awful lyrics and vocals, not to mention the song turns into free-jazz about halfway through.

"I Want You" and "Be Somebody" start off very promising but that's all there is to them. The former could use a more expressive and exuberant chorus to break the dullness of the verses' beat, and the latter just needs better instrumentals and tempo arrangement. It could've been a great song without the primitive caveman drums, just the Red Hot Chili Peppers can pull that off. I didn't even bother listening closely to "Cold Desert." The singing, which was too loud, and the overall volume of the vocals, which was way too high, didn't blend well with the dull, monotonous instrumentals. Terrible mixing on this album, I'm assuming they rushed into it.

What I liked: "Revelry," "Use Somebody" and most of "I Want You" (except for the chorus of course.)
What I didn't like: The mixing, the overused guitar distortion and recycled bass lines, and pretty much every other song.

Overall rating: 2.75/5.

[Doobie]

I'll get to King's of Leon on Thursday I've been super busy cause of work.