Come Around Sundown is Kings of Leon's latest album, released October 19, 2010. Kings of Leon are four southern boys from Tennessee; and all four members are blood relatives of one another. They are extremely talented musicians, and though they write musically simple songs, their songs are always catchy and highly melodic. Come Around Sundown opens, ironically, with the song titled 'The End'. 'The End' is a sort of ballad about falling out of love, and subsequently the end of a relationship.
The song is followed by their first single, 'Radioactive'. 'Radioactive' opens with a heavy punk-rock guitar riff; Caleb Followill (vocalist) states in an interview that the main guitar riff was written while recording Aha Shake Heartbreak, the band's second studio album. Caleb abandoned the riff after several failed attempts to turn it into a song. The song was revived by the frontman, while alone in the studio during this album's recording. The track seems to mimic familiar stories in the Bible, but the song's actual meaning is unknown to me. The song is largely carried by the unique drum beat laid down by Nathan Followill, who learned the instrument while playing in the church choir as a boy. The drum beat is quite simple, and only took me a couple minutes to learn on my own drum set. However, Nathan mixes fast-tempo rim shots amongst a consistent bass and snare rhythm, which adds tremendous character to the simplistic beat. The song is followed by the band's second single 'Pyro', a well-written song about a group of radical Christians, living up on the hills near the Followill's boyhood home. The fourth track is titled 'Mary'; although the title is sort of a play on words, as it is actually about marriage. Caleb was prompted to write 'Mary' after his younger brother/drummer, Nathan, got married, and the former lost his best drinking buddy. Although I'm quite fond of the next two tracks, 'The Face' and 'The Immortals', I often cannot tell the two songs apart; even the choruses are amazingly similar, lyrically and acoustically.
The band returns to their Tennesseean roots with the next song 'Back Down South'. The song stands out when compared to any other Kings of Leon songs due to its folk/country tune, however the songs fits well in the flow of the album. The song ends with the entire studio crew hooting and hollering as if they just finished a country step-dance number. The next four tracks kind of blend together, though I find them all a pleasure to listen to.
The twelfth track on the album might be my favorite. The song is called 'Mi Amigo.' Its meaning is simple, it's what a best friend is all about...well...to the stereotypical rockstar anyway...walking you home from the bar...shooting you up when you can't get drunk enough; in the second verse, Caleb contrasts these qualities with those of a wife or girlfriend. The song is witty and very fun to sing at the top of your lungs while simultaneously swinging your pint of Guinness from side to side.
'Mi Amigo' is followed by another strong track called 'Pickup Truck'. 'Pickup Truck' sounds like a campfire story of a love affair gone wrong, told with a soothing whispery, yet raspy tone. The song is vocally and lyrically amongst the best on the album. It is a first-person narrative of a man who arrives at his girlfriend's house, but to his surprise, finds her getting out of another man's pickup truck. The narrator then confronts the man and taunts him "You call that a pickup truck?" A fight ensues and although it is not known who wins the fight, the listener may feel apathetic when the black-eyed boyfriend apologizes to his girlfriend, "I didn't mean to get physical..." Though Caleb sings most of the lyrics almost under his breath, the chorus is loud and emotional "...A little piece of a bloody tooth. Just so you know I was thinking of you!"
