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Aha Shake Heartbreak

by Kings of Leon

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Nomadic Southern evangelist Leon Followill may take soap suds to the mouths of the kinfolk wunderkinds--his three sons and a nephew--in Tennessee quartet Kings of Leon, whose second album spins enough cuss phrases and sexual allusions to leave Dolly Parton flushed. But the peculiar 20-something longhairs also fuel up on a filthy shotgun bass and relentless guitar riffs, complementing the delightfully discordant drawl of vocalist Caleb Followill to whittle a 35-minute grab bag of garage rock, English blues, sixties psychedelia, London Calling-ska, spaced-out country waltzes and front-porch, red-state revelry. Without revising its 2003 debut Youth & Young Manhood, producer Ethan Johns (The Jayhawks, Ray LaMontagne) steers the band down a similar mischievous road, integrating poles-apart rhythms and techniques into an energized jumble of rotating tempos and lyrical bombshells. Putting faith in earth-shakers like "Velvet Snow" and "Pistol Of Fire," the wound down and pleasing "Milk" and its yodeling cousin "Day Old Blues," the Kings ultimately escape Preacher Leon’s retribution, rendering him speechless--save for a simple "amen." --Scott Holter