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YOUTH & YOUNG MANHOOD
(RCA)
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The Nashville-based Kings of Leon are led by a trio of brothers — Caleb (vocals/guitar), Nathan (drums), and Jared Folowill — who spent their childhood traveling the States with their dad, a Pentecostal evangelist preacher who nurtured his kids on a musical diet of Rolling Stones, Neil Young, and the like. Along with their cousin Matthew Folowill (guitar), they’ve matured into powerful Southern-rock outfit inspired more by raucous garage-punk sources than by the good-ol’-boy anthemics of Lynyrd Skynyrd or the jazzy noodlings of the brothers Allman. Youth & Young Manhood may be built on a foundation of Southern boogie, but the chords are jagged and the voices howl with a combination of angst and lust. Lead singer Caleb Followill often sounds like a man on the verge, his grainy baritone crying out in tales of jealous murder ("Joe’s Head") and illicit romance ("Happy Alone"). The Kings falter on the disc’s ballads, "Trani" and "Dusty," but the desperate, manic energy of "California Waiting" and the autobiographical "Holy Roller Novocaine" more than make up for the occasional bland misstep. This is a gloriously messy debut that combines the sweat of punk with the swagger of the pulpit.
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