Kings of Leon Share ‘Reverend’ From ‘Walls’
We're one week away from the Oct. 14 release of WALLS, the new record from Kings of Leon. They're teasing us yet again by previewing another one of its songs. You can listen to "Reverend" above.
This marks the fourth of the 10 songs from their seventh album that the Nashville rockers have already given us. "Reverend" follows "Waste a Moment" "Around the World" and the title track. Here, an arpeggiated guitar part frames the track in the verse as the drums percolate underneath. But the rhythm shifts to an anthemic rock beat for the chorus.
WALLS, which stands for "We Are Like Love Songs," is the first album from Kings of Leon since 2013's Mechanical Bull, their first effort to not go platinum since 2007's Because the Times. It led to some soul-searching within the group, with singer Caleb Followill saying, “There comes a point when you realize you’ve lost that passion and that hunger. You’re chastened and want to get it back — and in order to get it back it’s like, ‘Forget about record sales, forget about the size of the venue you’re playing, forget about any of that stuff.'”
Hoping to turn their fortunes around, they dispensed with Angelo Petraglia, who had produced their six previous releases in favor of Markus Dravs, who has worked with Mumford and Sons, Coldplay and Arcade Fire. Guitarist Matthew Followill said of Dravs, "This guy is a genius."
Caleb has revealed that many of the songs have a genesis in his personal life, with "Over" being inspired by his battle with alcohol addiction, which forced them to cancel a 2011 tour. “That song is very personal, and to the people involved who know what that song’s about, it’s like ‘Holy s---,'” he said. “But if you look back on stuff that’s happened years ago, if it still means something you should write about it.”
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