Kings Change with the Times

If their debut album, Youth & Young Manhood, was an ode to their nomadic small-town childhood, and Aha Shake Heartbreak was a testament to the awakening brought about by life on the road, then Because of the Times, Kings Of Leon's latest album, displays a sudden awareness of the tension between knowledge and helplessness. Named after an annual Louisiana preachers' convention, Because of the Times is the result of several evidently fruitful months of work in the band's Nashville studio.

Situations like a soon-to-be-father with nowhere to go, standing up to bullies, and, as always, being helplessly in love, emerge in the band's project to show us the most frustrating and confusing aspects of life. Coming through Caleb Followill's drawl is a constant questioning of actions and aching melancholy. The songs' characters are caught between knowledge of reason and reality, the way one should be and the way one should not. Drawing countless allusions to emotional growth, they depict the constant and unmentioned ironies of life. Describing in the song "Fans" a rock star bowing to the audience: "[You] make me feel like I'm the one who moves you."

In keeping with the aging themes of this album, Youth & Young Manhood's up-tempo, energetic, abrasive, and heavily garage-inspired tunes have flowed into music that displays a greater knowledge of song composition. They dabble in reggae, blues, and garage, drawing from their various influences-the Rolling Stones, the Band, and U2, to name a few-all the while keeping it fresh with trademark running bass riffs, guitar solos, and Caleb's unique howl, part croon, part squeal.

Given that the music is more graduated and quantified, it would be easy to conclude that Because of the Times echoes their previous youthful albums, but lyrics like, "They're way too young/ but I'm way too old to preach," show that the album places the band in a new frame of mind, avoiding a continuation of Aha Shake Heartbreak.

Innocence and experience constantly resist categorization into "good" or "bad," and on this album, Kings Of Leon encapsulate experience by flaunting their musical growth with conviction. The boys are deeply aware of the helplessness of life, love, and learning, and they showcase their willingness to allow earnestness to triumph over irony, making the album all the more endearing. The band knows how to make consistently good albums and this record , fragile and fearless, shows how aware Kings of Leon are of life's volatility and unpredictability.