With their 4th album "Only By The Night" Kings Of Leon have stepped ever closer to being the biggest selling bunch of musical relatives since The Jacksons given that this record sees the various members of the Followill clan polish the stadium friendly sound they started to develop on "Because The Times" eighteen months ago, check out the U2 aping bombast of current single "Sex Is On Fire" for the perfect example.

In fact, aside from Caleb Followills distinctive vocal style which means that despite the additional sheen of the arrangements you still struggle to make out the words at times, there is almost no remaining trace of the country tinged garage rock of debut "Youth And Young Manhood". Whilst this has clearly been part of the band's continuing development and maturity, I for one really miss the energy that they created back then.. when they rock out these days they do it in slightly different ways, such as with the fuzzed up bass-led Zepplin-esque grooves of "Crawl".  But with a couple of forgettable lighters aloft ballads added to the slow burners "Use Somebody" and "Notion" you get the feeling that, consciously or not, Kings Of Leon have created an album to garner the same scale of popularity at home as they enjoy almost everywhere else.  

In the main these songs have the sound of the stadium rock show about them and, whilst that is a criticism of sorts, it does at least show that Kings Of Leon have a bold ambition and in "Only By The Night" they seem to have created the vehicle to take them where they want to be