Only by the Night

Decent rock elevated by outstanding vocals. Favorite track: Use Somebody

Some solid rock and roll. I enjoyed the whole album.

some good songs. bought this album back then because it was cheap.

Alternative songs were often said to be sung in the key of "AR" as a method of describing the swallowed and growly approach to vocalizing some bands took at the time (STP, AIC, et al.).

I don't know what key Kings of Leon sing in but it runs me wrong somehow? Too arch?

This is the product of LCD Soundsystem and Radiohead

Solid. 4 stars.

I remember growing up as a teenager in 2008, getting really into rock music, and here came Kings of Leon breaking into the mainstream with two singles off of this record, "Sex on Fire" and "Use Somebody". I still enjoy these two songs despite the overplay, and it certainly proved enough to get into the Tennessee-based Southern rock group later in life. But here's the thing - for as much as the band finally had a breakthrough in their home country, they already had massive success over in the U.K., which is why there are three of their records in the 1001 Albums books. Lest we forget, Robert Dimery and his team are predominantly British, and they seem to love Kings of Leon over there. With all that said, how did it feel listening to Only by the Night?

Well, I do consider this album good, but I'm not sure I would call it the best of what this band has done up to this point. I will touch upon this more when I get the other two Kings of Leon records later in my album journey, but basically, this band used to be a lot more raucous and energetic early on, with elements of garage rock in their sound. But around this album and its predecessor, Because of the Times, the band began to slow things down and embrace a more accessible, alternative rock style. Now, I'm not gonna knock a band for going in a different direction if it helps spark creativity, and there are at least a few cool ideas executed well here. The buzzing bass groove of "Crawl", the ramshackle acoustic guitar sway with the hazy reverb echoes of "Manhattan", Nathan Followill's punchy polyrhythmic beat alongside the arpeggiated guitars on "Revelry", there's even still some intensity left in the band at this point on cuts like "Notion" and "Be Somebody". Not to mention how emotive and powerful Caleb Followill can be as a frontman, or how crisp and biting the production from Angelo Patragalia is. I simply can't help but notice how slowed down the band had become, especially with the foreknowledge of their later records, because it doesn't pick back up here outside of some occasionally better melodic songwriting.

Then there are the lyrics, which I'm also admittedly divided on. I certainly commend the band for trying to be a little more confrontational, with "Crawl" highlighting the regressive nature of American policy at the time, the persecution of Native Americans on "Manhattan", and even calling out their own fanbase for grievances on "Notion" and "Be Somebody". Even the self-confrontational muse on "Revelry" seemed rather potent, as Caleb reflected on his intoxicated behavior and looked to reconcile after the relationship faltered. Yet, at the same time, I can't help but feel like Kings of Leon now and then fall into some bad Southern rock tropes with their writing, particularly around women, without any swagger, bravado, or even a little humor to make it somewhat tolerable. There are moments where the earnestness in the lyrics can rub me the wrong way, like with "17," which is indeed about having feelings over a seventeen-year-old girl. One would think that writing songs about underage girls was a bad habit that we would have collectively stopped with the decline of glam metal in the 90s. I have similar issues with "I Want You", as the framing tries to imply reciprocating feelings between a girl and a guy even after the skeevy setup in the first verse and the caught sex tape in the second verse. I could see a track like this played up in a certain way, but the sincerity in the lyrics and delivery just left me feeling odd about it.

At the end of the day, I'll still consider Only by the Night to be a decent record overall, despite a few misgivings. But I cannot deny that this is a point of no return for Kings of Leon, as their sound will continue to dilute after the success of this album.

The Good: We are in the presence of royalty!
The Bad: We don’t like blue blood…
The Ugly: misreading Only By the Knights…

Let’s look at the positive here; which is that this album really placed the band in the spotlight. Good for them, and truth be told, it’s not a bad album…
What I will keep with me is that I enjoyed the drums… and the guitars too at times… but the voice… the voice is what has started to make me dislike the band.

Worse, I have found out that I am to listen to one more album by this band as Mr Dimery has deemed them good enough for THREE FUCKING entries on his list, and this can only be justified by the simple fact that most music which came out in the ‘00s is shit, allowing for three albums from a mediocre band to be included.

I will be the skipping record here, but I have to share, again, the injustices of this 1001 album list:
Bee Gees don’t have Saturday Night Fever included, because it is a soundtrack album… the two albums they do have on this list are of the more folksy kind.
Supertramp has 1 album on the list, and it isn’t Breakfast in America!
The ‘90s… missing artists like Ben Folds Five, Cracker, Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies… yet I have to listen to fucking crappy British bands from the Manchester/Liverpool kind, because they are oh so good…

My list of 1* albums is too long… and out of spite I would give this album 1* too… but the album has it’s merit… just don’t know why they have 3...

Важко мені якось зібрати до купи думки про цей альбом. З одного боку тут є просто мегахіти нульових-десятих, а ми з одним з гуртів, в якому я грав на гітарі, колись каверили use somebody і це було дуже весело, скажу відверто.
Але з іншого боку тут купа філеру. Та і не сказати що альбом постарішав якісно, хз. Думаю якщо без ностальгії то 3, а якщо з ностальгією то 3.5 десь.

Christian rock made by sex guys

eh de cair o cu da bunda que esses mano tem TRÊS albuns na lista. esse eu até entendo porque foi um """"fenomeno"""", o que não significa que eh bom. MAS TRÊS?????? vai tomar no cu papo reto

dito isso, eh bem paia né mediocre pra carai pqp. rock de arena da pior qualidade

fun with ok sound 3/5

I only had a vague memory of Kings of Leon. Then I noticed two songs that I had heard before and really liked. I also found the intro to the first song very promising. Unfortunately, the album as a whole couldn't live up to the very good first impression. But maybe I'll give it another listen. 4/5

Kod mene je stvar s njima što su mi tako ok, apsolutno mi ništa ne smeta, ima pjesama koje skoro mogu reći da volim, ali nikad, baš nikad ne bih išla i namjerno upalila KOL. Zato nisam nikad čula ništa mimo najvećih hitova. Nisam ništa propuštala. Ovo odsad zvanično zovem catfish albumima, nabacaj prvo hitove da upecaš raju i onda ostalo čisti filler.

I loooooved this album back in the day! It hasn't really stood the test of time though unfortunately

There are some great songs here though

4 ⭐️

Sexy and heavy. One of the best alternative rock albums of the last 25 years, if not one of the best selling. Incredible rhythm section. Whatever happened to these guys?

The sex is on fire, apparently, but if this entire album was sex, it'd be 20 minutes of monotone pumping with a few good thrusts in here and there, followed by a lukewarm finish.

Actually liked this much more than I expected

This album isn't very good. It has weak lyrics delivered through even worse vocals and backed by a bog standard rock band. The music is easily the best part here, and it isn't particularly good, just passable. If their big album is this bad, not to mention completely inessential, then I don't have high expectations for anything else they made(including their two prior albums on the list). Also, any song about romancing a teenager ("17") can fuck right off, especially when it's on a newer album such as this(not that older ones are exempt).

Only By The Night turned out to be a really good album, In fact, it's the best Kings of Leon album i have heard. I always thought of Kings of Leon to just be this really typical and generic rock band and i expected this one to have the sound of that stuff a lot seeing as this album has all the songs i mainly know well from these guys and while it is kinda generic rock, it was still some very enjoyable stuff that was super pleasant to listen to. The guitars are really good here and i think Caleb Followill's voice is at it's best here since the songs feel like they are really well made around it. I didn't really expect this to be that much of an improvement over the other two Kings of Leon albums i heard but that's what it turned out to be.
Best Song: Closer
Worst Song: Manhattan
Side Note: Since this is the last Kings of Leon album i'm doing, here are the rankings:
1. Only By The Night
2. Youth And Young Manhood
3. Aha Shake Heartbreak

Thoroughly depressing stuff really.

It possesses all the edge of those wooden spoons that come with mini tubs of ice cream at service stations, and all the danger of the lint I just scraped out from my belly button. If this album was a meal deal, it would be a plain ham sandwich, bag of ready salted crisps and a bottle of water. If it was a car, it would be a Vauxhall Astra. If it was a football commentator, it would be Michael Owen. If it was a TV show, it would be Deal or No Deal. If it was a town in the UK, it would be Grantham. If it was a video game, it would be Euro Truck Simulator. If it was a book, it would be a phone directory. If it was a past-time, it would be staring at your guinea pig predicting when it will yawn.

No offence intended to any enjoyers of those things, or inhabitants of Grantham.