I told a friend I was going to give this a listen whilst making a journey up the M1 late at night. His response: 'good luck'. Why? He hadn't heard it.
I would probably have said the same to him if it had been the other way round. Why? I didn't know what it would be like.
I'll tell you the answer and save you reading the pointless and endless debates posted on guardian music et al about this band. Yes it's true their first couple of albums were great, their third OK and their fourth very uninspiring and not to my liking.....but they don't do themselves any favours. They recently slated both the songs that made them HUGE and their fans for no longer being cool. Fair enough...maybe they wrote an album and didn't like the way it sounded (don't release it you're saying). They weren't a fan of their new founded commercialism and success. Maybe they didn't like the fact that they were being played in very uncool nightclubs and in the rooms of 12 year old girls....(this didn't stop them from playing arenas and generally showing themselves as mainstream boy band pricks).....but all of this made their next album CRUCIAL.
When I was thinking of a way of summing up the record to my friend all I could think of was that they have pretty much dropped their commercial sing-along stadium fillers, but forgotten to replace it with anything....and that is exactly what I stick by. 'Come Around Sundown', as clear from both title and artwork and more importantly the music-is a nothing album. It certainly doesn't put KOL back on the map as a gritty, raw rock band like 'Youth And Young Manhood' did. It also isn't another 'Only By The Night'...although they'll get a similar fanbase from it I'd imagine.
When I heard the lead single 'Radioactive' I was certain they'd carry on the same route as OBTN, but the majority of this album tries to be more laid back and less stag night sing-along. I guess it does....but it does so extremely unconvincingly. I read somewhere that it sounds like an album that the band aren't confident about and I'd completely agree with that. It's the sound of a band struggling and not knowing where they belong or who they want to buy their records.
I can't see this record taking off like OBTN did, but I guess it was never going to. All it will do is struggle to keep those 'uncool' fans they didn't want, whilst struggle to regain the fans they lost 1-2 albums ago.
I don't hate this band, I just think that they've shot themselves in the foot so many times and this album is another prime example. They needed to do something big-and this album is anything but that.
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