Kings of Leon has done it again. Two years have passed since the Tennessee family band’s release of its Grammy winning “Only by the Night,” launching the artists’ careers to all new heights, comfortably situating themselves as radio-hit gods with such hits as “Use Somebody” and “Sex on Fire.”

Their newest album, which has been available for over a week now, is nothing short of a triumph. It’s another milestone for what has always been an unusually evolving band, while still sticking to their scrappy roots of “Youth and Young Manhood” and “Aha Shake Heartbreak.”

I have my own two cents about every individual song, but as a whole, there was only one thought on my mind listening to this album: live concerts. If there was ever a reason to see Kings of Leon live, it’s this album. You can just tell by listening that bassist Michael Jared Followill put some real blood and sweat into making the bass-line for the song, “The End.” Front man of the Kings Anthony Caleb Followill hasn’t lost his touch with a set of raspy rock pipes idoling that of Bruce Springsteen and John Fogerty, producing intoxicating chills in such songs as “No Money” and “Mary,” which is probably the best song on the album, wreaking havoc with a guitar solo that will blow your mind and make you scream for more.

It’s a good stylistic grouping of songs, unlike generic albums with one decent tune, and then 11 others that sound exactly the same (i.e. the most recent Eagles album). In this album, you have your soon-to-be radio hits such as “Radioactive” and “Pyro,” songs destined to become summer festival ballads like “The End,” and songs simply meant for the road trip such as “Back Down South.”

Another notable feature of this album is the guitar playing. Don’t get me wrong, Anthony and lead guitarist Cameron Matthew aren’t the next Hendrix or John Mayer, but their symmetry is becoming more and more harmonious, instead of one singing and playing rhythm and the other soloing. The two cousins are gaining the habit of intertwining their strings and becoming one distinctive display of octaves and tones.

This is truly a great rock and roll album. They’re not selling out and putting on eyeliner like Green Day, or trying anything too new that throws off the entire originality of the band. In other words, Kings of Leon is what it is: an American rock band that’s at a varsity level of lyrical and musical bliss.  Take a break from YouTubing songs and downloading singles, and buy this album. You won’t regret it, for the Kings reign supreme.