Kings of Leon have unveiled a pair of new songs over the past month — and — at festivals across the U.S. as a way of road-testing material off their upcoming, back-to-basics Mechanical Bull album.

And so far, they've aced each of those tests, though, as the old adage says, you can't please everybody.

"It's been all pretty positive; the reaction has been great. Of course, there are a few little bastards out there that are just trying to get people riled up, but it's all been going great, man. We're all pretty excited," drummer Nathan Followill told MTV News. "The record's been done for a few months, so we're chomping at the bit to play the new stuff every chance we get. We felt pretty confident about the first two [songs]; it's great to use festivals as a testing ground to how kids are going to respond to it."

So, "little bastards" aside, the Kings' new songs have been greeted rather enthusiastically by their fans, which makes sense, considering both "It Don't Matter" and "Supersoaker" were custom-built for concert grounds, a pair of rousing rockers that harken back the band's scuzzier, sweatier efforts like Youth and Young Manhood and Because of the Times. And, as it turns out, that was exactly what KOL's fans have been clamoring for.

"They like the energetic direction they're going in, which is like our earlier stuff; going in to this record we knew we wanted to have fun and make songs that are fun to play on stage," Followill said. "We ...

Kanye West has always had a rather, uh, complicated relationship with award shows, though nothing really comes close to the decade-long Cold War he's waged against the Grammys.

It all started when his early production work was ignored by voters, flared up when West lost Best New Artist to Maroon 5 in 2005, included an improbable feud with Vince Gill in '08, and a declaration from West the following year that he didn't want to win any more Grammys, "because [he] has 10, and that's a perfect number." In the years since, he's boycotted the show to hang out in Brazil with Will Smith, and told the Recording Academy, rather matter-of-factly, to "suck [his] d---." So, yeah, there appears to be no détente in sight.

'Ye's main bone of contention with the Grammys seems to center around the Album of the Year category, which he's never won, and, in recent years — despite releasing critically lauded works like My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Watch The Throne — hasn't even been nominated for. Or at least that's what he says in his fanatical, free-wheeling interview with The New York Times, where he weighs in on a lot of subjects, including his AOTY snubs.

"[My Beautiful] Dark [Twisted] Fantasy and Watch the Throne: neither was nominated for Album of the Year, and I made both of those in one year," West says. "The thing is, I don't care about the Grammys; I just would like for the statistics to be more accurate. ... I don't ...

After enjoying the continued success of Marvel Comics' shared universe of feature films, comic book fans are ready to see something similar done for DC Comics' roster of superheroes. Hopes were high that this could happen when "Dark Knight" trilogy director Christopher Nolan signed on to produce this summer's Superman film, "Man of Steel." Visions of Christian Bale and Henry Cavill suiting up as an all-new dynamic duo filled readers' heads, but as fellow producer Charles Roven pointed out at "Man of Steel's" premiere, Nolan's "Dark Knight" and DC days are done.

"The Chris Nolan universe ended — as far as Chris Nolan directing, for sure — but I think he's completely [done] with the 'Dark Knight' trilogy," said Roven.

Director Zack Snyder, however, sang a slightly different tune when MTV asked him about the possibility of a future DC Comics crossover following his "Man of Steel." With all of the problems Warner Bros. has had getting "Justice League"— a film that would team-up Superman and Batman with Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and others — off the ground, Snyder offered up what he believes to be the key to making the group of characters work.

"Superman absolutely is the king daddy of the DC Universe," says Snyder. "If Superman works, you can really make a lot of stuff work in the DC Universe. When we have conversations about if there is more to do in the DC world, my answer always is, 'When Superman works you can talk about it, but until then you really can't.' "

So while Snyder isn't exactly confirming something ...

The Queens are kings for a day. Queens of the Stone Age will score their best debut ever with the #1 bow next week of their sixth effort, ... Like Clockwork,
 which sold 91,000 copies, according to figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan. The album features guests including Foo Fighters singer/guitarist Dave Grohl, Sir Elton John and Scissor Sisters singer Jake Shears. (It is also the first-ever #1 debut for venerable indie label Matador Records.)

The strong debut was enough to push Daft Punk out of the #1 spot after two weeks at the top, dropping Random Access Memories to #2 (62,000), as the French robot rock duo stand on the brink of the 500,000 mark.

Post hardcore Florida rockers Sleeping With Sirens surprised everyone with a #3 bid for Feel (59,000), while a trio of acts who performed and won on last week's CMT Music Awards
 (Blake Shelton, Darius Rucker, Florida Georgia Line) enjoyed sales bumps.

Elsewhere, metal icons Megadeth slid into the #6 slot with Super Collider (29,000) and long-running Canadian pop group Barenaked Ladies snuck in at #10 with Grinning Streak (26,000). After a strong first week, British girl group Little Mix had a bit of a comedown, dropping 19 spots to #23 with DNA as sales were off 70 percent to 15,000.

Over on the iTunes album chart Queens took second place to Daft Punk, while Imagine Dragons hung around the top at #3 with Night Visions and British electronica duo Disclosure cracked in at #10 with Settle.

Next week's chart will bring the first album ...

The apocalypse doesn't seem like much of a laughing matter, but in "This Is The End," Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg enlist all of their movie-star pals for a look at the last days of Earth that's as hilarious as it is harrowing. The co-writers and directors take a long and semi-serious look at Hollywood friendships while documenting what might happen if you put Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, James Franco, Craig Robinson and Danny McBride in one location and then unleashed hell — literally — outside the front door.

But with a who's who of Hollywood's hottest comedians burning up the same silver screen, are critics on board with the actors satirizing the end of days? MTV News assembled a roundup of reviews from across the Internet to see if the movie is a comedic masterpiece or Hell on earth.

First Of All, Is It Funny?
"From the clockwork comic timing to the movie's salty mix of the ridiculous and the reflective, "This Is the End" is stupidly hysterical and smartly heretical. Cross my heart and hope to die, it's funny as hell." — Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times

How Are The Actors At Playing Themselves?
"The actors are all pretty great sports, making fun of themselves without giving off an air of how pleased they are with satirizing their image. They're not playing themselves so much as they are playing their personas, but their personas are funny, particularly when they're trapped inside Franco's house and all hell is breaking loose outside." — Tim Grierson, Deadspin

How's The Group's Historically ...