18. Kings of Leon

Like the Kings' first album, Aha Shake Heartbreak did not quite match the 3-D rampage of this family-affair quartet's live shows. For all of their taut Southern garage-blues fire and runaway-sinner's bravado, the Kings seem to have a pathological fear of overdubs and studio echo. But based on the twisted-riff invention of "Razz" and "Taper Jean Girl" and the way the band's brawling guitars and drums part for daybreak harmonies in "The Bucket," the Kings are only one album and a bucket of reverb away from fists-of-fuzz perfection.

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