Aha Shake Heartbreak - Kings Of Leon

Another triumph

After the impact of their brilliant debut album, the Kings' follow-up album was eagerly anticipated. And they delivered BIG time!

Aha Shake Heartbreak (though an odd name for an album) simply solidifies the thoughts among many (myself included) that the KOL are the best rock band to have come out of America for a long, long time.

It is chock-full of lively, driving numbers, awash with Caleb's Southern, twangy drawl, Nathan's snappy and precise drumming (check out "Velvet Snow") and Matthew and Jared's solid bass-lines and catchy riffing.

Top tracks include "Slow Night, So Long", "The Bucket", "Velvet Snow" and "Taper Jean Girl". "Milk" is a bit of an odd song as it's hard to understand what the opening lyrics are about, but it does build up well and is a good contrast to the others. And if there is a low-point, I would say it was "Day Old Blues", which just seems out of place. The pace of the album overall matches "Youth and Young Manhood" but my one criticism is that a lot of the songs are just too short and seem to be a bit rushed through.

Is it better than their debut? Personally I don't think so. (It certainly doesn't "[...] all over Youth and Young Manhood" like NME claimed it would). But it is a brilliant album, cementing the Kings' status as one of the top bands in the world today.

SOUTHERN SPECTACULAR

How does one describe this album, southern american rock maybe, but oh how it rocks. Their first album was excellent, but they have actually gone one better.

This is one band you must listen too, because to describe them it would all just come out wrong, so do yourself a favour and treat yourself to some magic and make your own mind up.

SHEER CLASS

In the top 5 albums of all time!

This album is just sheer brilliance, it has changed my taste in music completely. If someone described this album to me before I'd listened to it, I probably would have avoided it. Thank God I didn't!

It is brilliant all the way through, I saw them live in June 05 in London, and they were absolutely brilliant.

Not enough words in the English language to describe how awesome this album is.

If it's not already in your CD collection, or on your iPod, I have already lost respect for you!

Fantastic band, fantastic album - speechless!

The best American rock album this century

Kings of Leon may claim a preposterous history and have a reputation of being party-hard immature youths, but their music speaks depths of their true genius. Their second album, "A-Ha Shake Heartbreak", is both a clear improvement on their already incredibly good first offering ("Youth and Young Manhood")and proof of a real understanding of what rock is really about.

And not only do Kings of Leon know the meaning of rock, but also know how to help it evolve. Just listen to the first track on the album, 'Slow Night, So Long', which although has less immediate impact than the opener on "YAYM", brings their original sound to new levels. No one could have expected the jazzy, sombre feel of the ending section. I was amazed, and loved them more with every passing chord.

The third track, 'Taper Jean Girl', as well as being my personal favourite, proves that Kings of Leon know exactly what direction they are headed. It is confident, rhythmic and has, in my opinion anyway, one of the greatest riffs in any rock song in the past decade. A stunning song.

'The Bucket' is another obvious strongpoint, but unexpectedly (if not for the yodelling)'Day Old Blues'is quite enjoyable, and 'Pistol of Fire' and 'King of the Rodeo' also live up to this standard. There are no fillers. No weak songs. Kings of Leon are determined to make an impression on the world of rock, and who knows, with this album, they might even change it.

A great second album

It took me a while to get into this album, as it did with Youth and Young Manhood. But Aha Shake Heartbreak eventually grows on you even more than the first. It has a range of different styles and songs, more diverse than on the first album, and some great music. You can see there is good talent involved. Particularly good tracks include The Bucket, Razz, King of the Rodeo and Pistol of Fire, although all tracks are good in their own way. KoL have progressed a lot since their first album.