I am a little late to the party but have recently fallen in love with these guys. I am wearing out their newest release fast and need another to listen to. Any suggestions?

anybody?

Just work your way backwards, now. Start with Because Of The Times, then Aha Shake Heartbreak, and lastly Youth & Young Manhood.

Of course you'll find that they sound a bit different. The early albums are much more stripped down and raw, and not so "anthemic" and "big" sounding.

Yup... just work your way backwards. I 'discovered' them with their last album, Because of the Times, and drove my wife nuts with the constant playing. At that time I just worked my way back through their catalog soaking it all up. I tried to share them with anyone who would listen. They had a more southern rock sound. Nobody cared. They're all caring now. I'm ecstatic that KOL are getting the praise that they deserve now, but I'm kinda bummed I didn't get to see them live before they were so huge.

Go. Listen to it all. Enjoy.

Don't like to be negative, but I think every subsequent release gets worse. I loved Holy Roller Novocaine (their first EP), really liked Youth and Young Manhood, and liked Aha Shake Heartbreak. Thought Because of the Times and Only by the Night were pretty awful. (As someone who has listened to KOL for over 5 years, I find "Sex on Fire" to be kind of embarrassing.)

While Holy Roller Novocaine and Youth and Young Manhood share the same tracks, those tracks are so much better on the EP.

I saw them when they opened for Pearl Jam at VA Beach in June 2008, and yeah, a lot of people there didn't pay all that much attention to "the warm-up act"....it's really funny how things can change so fast that just a year later they can headline the same venue themselves....

I was introduced to them through the Holy Roller Novocaine EP and that is a terrific set of songs.

Sex on Fire sounds like a song about a STD

But I started with Only by the Night as well and worked my way back. Still need to pick up Youth & Young Manhood, but I really love Aha Shake Heartbreak quite a bit. I think what's so great about their early stuff is how raw it sounds. The new stuff is what got me into them but is definitely more studio polished.

Yep they can definitely "sell out" now....

Seriously though I have been on the wagon since "Aha Shake Heartbreak" and it's funny how a band can become big when radio decides to start playing their songs even if their earlier material was better. I do like "Only By The Night" but it has been the least played cd of the four for me. If I had to rank them it would be:
1) Because of the Times
2) Aha Shake Heartbreak
3) Youth and Young Manhood
4) Only by the Night

In my opinion Aha Shake Heartbreak is their best release.


Those interested in KoL should check out a band called Red Light Knights.

I sort of skimmed this post the first time, but I'm in total agreement with you on this.

While Only by the Night was my favorite release of 2008, I enjoy most of Because of the Times, and find pretty much everything before that horrible. They are definitely not the same band they were when they started out. For the better in my opinion, but many folks disagree.

Like the OP said I'm a little late to the party as well with this band, but there great! OMG the lead singers voice is amazing, not many singers sound like him.

I suppose it depends on when you discovered the band, and how much they did for you at that time. It's certainly an issue which has divided their fanbase.

Personally, I'm fairly in agreement with you on this. Up until Only By The Night, I only really liked a couple of songs per album by the band, and found them ok, but nothing spectacular. With the last album, although they disenfranchised many of their older fans by altering their sound - to me, they finally gave me something worth really listening to. It was their first album I wanted to hear from start to finish, all the while loving all of it. A big part of it was that for the first time I could actually understand what the hell Caleb Followill was singing about - instead of the garbled muttering he used to do.

I'm really interested to see what they'll do for the next album.