It sounds like Kings of Leon are getting a bit playful on the follow-up to 2010’s Come Around Sundown. The group’s sixth studio album, Mechanical Bull, is due out on September 24, according to Billboard magazine.
In fact, KOL were all set to announce the details of the release during their headlining set at the Governors Ball Music Festival on New York’s Randall’s Island on Friday, but their headlining gig was washed out due to the soggy aftereffects of Hurricane Andrea. Their set was rescheduled and slipped into Saturday’s line-up, just before headliners Guns N’ Roses. They will spend most of the summer on the road in Europe playing a succession of major festival dates.
Appropriately, the lead single from the album is reportedly titled “Super Soaker,” and is due out mid-July. The album was recorded with longtime producer Angelo Petraglia. Earlier this year, bassist Jared Followill told England’s NME that he was surprised by the sound of the new music. “I thought we were going to make a really mature album but I’m amazed how youthful it sounds. It’s like a mix of Youth & Young Manhood and Because of the Times.” The band debuted the surging new rock song at a California festival date in May.
The new effort is the first from the group since an onstage meltdown by singer Caleb Followill in July 2011 forced them to cancel the rest of their U.S. tour due to what was described at the time as “vocal issues and exhaustion.” Jared Followill tweeted a short time after the incident that, “I can’t lie, there are problems in our band bigger than not drinking enough Gatorade.”
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