Aha Shake Heartbreak

So meh. Waste of a spot.

Nope that’s it. Drawing a line in the sand. One Kings of Leon album? Okay that’s fine they’re pretty popular. Two Kings of Leon albums? Probably excessive but the debut and the one with hits can be argued. Three Kings of Leon albums?!?!? Far too many. Daily reminder this made the list over anything by Weezer, Daft Punk’s Discovery, Songs for the Deaf, Coltrane’s Giant Steps, anything by Modest Mouse, anything by MF DOOM, Eric B and Rakim’s Paid In Full. I could go on all day. Indie slop (derogatory) The Bucket is an alright song, but the fact that this album ended and I didn’t even notice proves it all the more.

Eh nein, danke

I know a few of their songs from the singles, but I was never much of a fan. This one won't change that, I don't like that blues tinged sound. Not that all their songs are like that, but even the other ones are ok but just don't do much for me. The singing style grates on me for sure.

The music is fine (if slightly boring). What the hell are those vocals?

Classic rock for epic bacon IPA millennials. A standard issue southern rock rolling stones cover band who heard the strokes first album and jumped on the trend to become, somehow, arena filling corporate indie stalwarts. Too bland to be bad, they're the buffalo wild wings of 2000s hipster rock.

Really annoying vocals.

I love the instruments and the idea of this album. The voice, I just cannot get behind. What was he thinking? Was he thinking? No idea, but it just gets annoying because the songs could be amazing, 5/5, but instead we get this disappointment

They hadn't yet devolved into being an absolutely irritating listen quite yet with this album, but they were well on their way. A few decent tunes here but mostly a sea of mediocrity.

All I've ever heard from them was the massive hall effect vocal country-fried alt rock stuff that made it to popular rotation. This is better than that. It's almost punk in spots. I won't say I love it but I enjoyed it.

I just had another Kings of Leon album last week, surely they didn't even merit one album on this list, but two? Come on...
This one is more of the same. I think Kings of Leon are kind of like Nickelback - they found one sound that masses of people liked and just stuck with that to keep selling records. I mean Nickelback gets a lot of shit but they sell tons of records and I think that applies here as well. I can't really put my finger on why I don't like this - the music isn't bad, the vocals are but not off-puttingly so. It's just...plain. This album is the equivalent of lightly toasted dry white bread. Some people like that because it doesn't challenge you in any way. I did appreciate some of the bass lines and the drums are really well played. I wouldn't ever really listen to this on purpose though. 2/5

I think a lot of the ingredients that shot them to stardom are here, but they just haven’t come together into that something special just quite yet - that’ll come in their next album, Only By The Night. THAT album is 5 stars, but his one is a little more difficult for me to score. I like it, but I don’t love it. I want to give it a 4, but that feels like a reputation score more than an accurate reflection of how I feel. I was excited for this album and I’ve been a bit disappointed. A 3 feels low, especially considering some of the other stuff I’ve given a 3 lately, but therein lies my biggest issue with not having half stars.

My first thought upon seeing this album this morning was “wow, I didn’t realize that Kings of Leon were around as early as 2004!” I quickly learned that there was good reason for that. Not only does the vocalist have an awful, grating voice, it doesn’t even sound like he’s singing in English half the time.

Also, while I recognize that it can be hard to write horny music without being completely cringy, this band did NOT stick that landing at all. Yikes

How did this album make it onto this list? I ask myself this question especially when it's by a band that didn't exactly invent rock ‘n’ roll and that I know has recorded at least two significantly better albums. “Aha Shake Heartbreak” sounds as if someone had deleted Angus Young's tracks from AC/DC's Powerage. I mean, I like it when the guitars leave enough space for the bass, but here the sound sometimes falls apart. That really shouldn't be the case with a 21st-century production. It sounds like a talented high school band with an above-average singer—which isn't too far from the truth, and you can't blame Kings of Leon for that. But I'd really like to know what was going through the editor's mind.

ok...

I like old Kings of Leon. They have better albums though. The two following this were better. The Bucket is the stand out song. 3/5.

Kings of Leon getting not one but TWO albums on this list is wild. I could kind of get the other one just due to how big Sex on Fire is, but there's no excuse for this. It's not good.

Better than the previous KoL albums I have heard, I think the earlier bluesier stuff is a bit more listenable. Still I couldn't image anyone being particularly excited about this

Shit album from a shit band. Im happy to hear this band has consistently been obsessed with 17 year old girls no matter how old they get. Fucking creeps

I know this band gets a lot of bad reviews sometimes, but this has fond memories for me.

I also still think their take on southern Rock holds up pretty well. It's not deep, but it's fun and energetic.