Kings of Leon have returned to the blistering form of their debut album with this simple fist-pumping slice of American rock. It’s wonderful to hear Supersoaker sound so gloriously bare when compared to recent efforts such as ‘Only by the Night’. Although a commercially successful L.P, many fans and critics looked upon it with dismay as an uninspiring breakthrough into the mainstream and a turning point for the band in both sound and style. Thankfully Supersoakers’ simple instrumentation harks back to the days which saw these 4 lads from Oklahoma’s draw comparisons with their counterparts in early millennium guitar revival such as ‘The Stokes’. The same too can be said about frontman Caleb Followill’s scratchy southern drawl, as lyrics “Flags are flying across the Plains, I got a secret picking in my brain” rasp with the intensity of a man who has rekindled something very dear to his soul. Over the past couple of years it looked as if ‘Kings…’ had lost their spark and been left conflicted about their relatively newfound success and what it means to be a garage rock band that sell out entire stadiums and are adored by the masses for radio ready hit singles. Drunken onstage ramblings and strings of canceled tour dates seemed to mark the end of what had become a global phenomenon. Thankfully Supersoaker gives us a taste of what may lie in store for us when we see the release of their latest full length effort ‘Mechanical Bull’ this September. It has been described by the band themselves as a turning point and a new chapter that at the same time is seemingly drenched in the nostalgia of the past. If this statement reveals itself to be accurate then we may have something very special on our hands.
8/10, out now, Ben Ward
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