Comes on vinyl LP.
Enter WALLS in 2016—an acronym for We Are Like Love Songs—a record explicitly designed to tear down the band’s lingering defenses, disrupt their comfortable routines, and remind everyone why they fell in love with Caleb Followill’s tortured rasp in the first place. To pull off the pivot, the band jettisoned their longtime producer Angelo Petraglia, packed up their gear, and decamped to Southern California to work with Markus Dravs. Known for sculpting the cinematic, heart-on-sleeve rock landscapes of Arcade Fire and Mumford & Sons, Dravs played the role of a taskmaster. He challenged Caleb’s lyrics, forced the band to rewrite completed tracks, and stripped away the lazy, reverb-soaked jams that had crept into their previous few efforts. The result is a lean, sleek, ten-track collection that stands as the band’s most focused and accessible statement since their late-2000s commercial peak.
From the opening seconds, WALLS hits with a point to prove. The lead single, “Waste a Moment,” is a kinetic jolt of pure arena-rock bliss. Driven by Nathan Followill’s galloping drumbeat and Matthew Followill’s shimmering, delayed guitar lines, it finds Caleb delivering a quintessential Kings of Leon chorus with a renewed fire in his belly. It’s followed closely by “Reverend” and “Find Me,” a brisk trio of opening tracks that showcase a band remembering how good it feels to play fast, tight, and uncluttered rock music.
