Metal Reviews
Metal Reviews
KING'S X |
| King's X are : Doug Pinnick on Vocals and Bass Ty Tabor on Vocals and Guitars Jerry Gaskill on Drums The tracks are : 1. Groove Machine 2. Fade 3. Over And Over 4. Ono 5. Cupid 6. Ocean 7. Little Bit Of Soul 8. Hate You 9. Higher Than God 10. Happy 11. Mr.Evil 12. World 13. Walter Bela Farkas (Live peace in New York) Ever since there conception back in the early 80's King's X have been wooing audiences all over the world with there ever special brand of intelligent rock music which combines an ultra heavy bass and rhyhthm section with outstanding vocal harminies and drop dead guitar work. With each King's X album being so different, they are very difficult band to pigeon-hole in any way. Now this is the first King's X album for quite some time and for whatever reasons behind the long lay off, King's X have lost one of their creative talents unleashing 13 tracks of soulful rock that show more care and attention to detail in 47 glorious minutes than most bands show in a lifetime. Tape Head kicks off with the bass heavy 'Groove Machine' and like 'Hate You' instantly puts you in the mood of early Soundgarden, but this is a mere observation, rather than any form of criticism because as Tape Head unfolds King's X show why after over a decade in music they are still innovators, rather than followers of the rock genre. 'Over And Over' is a thumping Blue's based rock number with a great guitar solo, while 'Mr.Evil' has a real southern rock power to it. And 'World' has it's Punk/Metal riff that should be played very loud indeed. Top in my humble opinion as far as the lyric department is concerned has to be the tongue in cheek 'Cupid' which contains a class line "Cupid shot the wrong guy" and a little bit of soul sung with such feeling turns out to be, well just that a 'Little Bit Of Soul'. 'Walter Bela Farkas' brings Tape Head to an end, a truly bizarre number best described as jazz guitar mixed with some outrageous vocal effects. If you missed this lot first time round, then god help you, if you make the same mistake twice. King's X are one of the few bands out there that really do deserve to carry the tag genius. Which only leaves me to work out why Gretchen went to Nebraska in the first place? Released by Metal Blade Records GmbH, P.O. Box 1332, 73054 Eislingen, Germany. Metal Blade Records Inc, 2828 Cochran St. Suite 302, Simi Valley, CA 93065-2793, USA Website : http://metalblade.iuma.com/ Email : mtlbldrcds@aol.com |
Please Come Home… Mr. BulbousKings X |
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Kings X to me has always been this sort of enigma. The talented trio has always seemed to do more than enough to earn themselves critical acclaim yet never quite enough to achieve little more than slight success in commercially directed mediums. The talented team that features bassist/singer Doug Pinnick and guitarist/singer Ty Tabor, both of whom stepped out on their own prior to last year's "Tape Head," have always worked well together and the combination along with drummer Jerry Gaskill continue to coalesce on this latest "Mr. Bulbous…" release. From the first couple of tracks, there's a sharp quality that persists beyond a melancholic state, edgy and raw-right away I drew a comparison to fellow Metal Blade members Galactic Cowboys-"Fish Bowl Man," seems to speak of being trapped in some way, yet if you're familiar at all with Kings X lyrics, that would be almost too obvious. Usually comfortable sitting a little to the left of center, getting the message is sometimes half the fun-but rest assured there usually always is one standing near the exit sign. "Julia" reaches carefully into the "girl with kaleidoscope eyes" thing during its chorus, but otherwise steers clear of any such pop-friendly fodder as the song goes off trudging in the distance with nary a passing glance to the past. The ten tunes are for the most part easy to digest-there's no real obvious single along the line of a "Black Flag" type… maybe with the sole exception of the catchy "Charlie Sheen…" as one can only wonder exactly where the influence was drawn for this! The sound on "Please Come Home… Mr. Bulbous" overall is fresh, contemplative, radiant and brooding while maintaining the usual Kings X flair for interpretive interplay, roughshod grooves and broken beats… and broken smile. Released by Metal Blade Records
GmbH, P.O. Box 1332, 73054 Eislingen, Germany.
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