Kings of Leon singer Caleb Fallowill would be wise to give Chris Martin a call, because with the release of 2008’s Only by the Night and the ubiquitous single “Use Somebody,” the Kings have become full-blown superstars. Fallowill’s difficulty in dealing with newfound fame has been well-documented – he famously chided Reading Festival goers in 2009 for what he perceived as a lukewarm reception – but Come Around Sundown shows a band coming to grips with its success while reaching back to its roots. On lead single “Radioactive,” the band cranks up the grandeur as Fallowill howls, “It’s in the water / It’s in the story / It’s where you came from.” It’s stadium stuff, to be sure, but there’s humility here also. Better yet is the stripped-down country stomper “Back Down South,” which places the lads in the middle of a good old Tennessee kegger. Still, if the boys are having fun playing Huckleberry monarchs of the American South, they seem hesitant to embrace global domination. On “Pyro,” perhaps the album’s strongest track, the band sets fire to their world over an endless refrain of “I won’t ever be your cornerstone.” Never mind the resistance. With another album of bold and brilliant tunes, the Kings continue to lay the groundwork for a very long career.
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