Photo by: Courtesy ofbehindthehype.com

Come Around Sundown, the latest album by Kings of Leon, shows that the guys are still trying to determine where they’re going. But who can blame them?

After three hit albums in the U.K., American top 40 radio got a hold of “Use Somebody” last year and injected it into the pop culture landscape.

Before, you heard songs like “Taper Jean Girl” alongside other modern rock tracks; now, “Use Somebody” plays somewhere between “Bad Romance” and “TiK ToK.”

The Kings went on to win three Grammys in 2010 for “Use Somebody”: Record of the Year, Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and Best Rock Song. It’s no wonder they wanted to switch gears and try something new. This time, adult contemporary.

Unfortunately, the Kings’ new sound of the melancholy Come Around Sundown won’t always work with its older fans, but don’t give up just yet. The band’s fifth album offers something for everyone.

Album opener “The End” does well to set the tone for the rest of the album – lush with guitars and pounding drums, lacking in that pre-fame Kings spark.

“Radioactive,” the lead single with uplifting guitar riffs, sounds eerily similar in formula to an earlier Kings’ hit. One can’t help but draw comparisons to “Use Somebody” – a fate to which the band is doomed unless the Kings of Leon stop resting on its laurels.

By track seven, however, the Followills finally bounce back. “Back Down South” sees the Kings return to Tennessee and its southern roots – in lyric and music. “Back Down South” is fun, catchy and evokes feelings of a late-summer party on the bayou. “If you wanna go, I’m gonna go/I got a fire burning,” sings Caleb Followill.

The remainder of the album continues in a similar vein, perfect for listening as you watch the sun set along the horizon – as pictured on the album’s cover.

“Beach Side” also sees the Kings innovate, taking the best of its previous – and most successful album to-date – Only by the Night, and improving.

The standout track on Come Around Sundown, however, is the flawless “Mary,” with its throwback, swing groove updated for a new generation.

“Mary” does for music what “The Wonder Years” did for television back in the early ‘90s, taking modern audiences and launching them into the late ‘60s.

The song will have you wanting to get up and dance with somebody – but where’s Winnie when you need her?