| Out Of The Silent Planet | 1987 |
| Gretchen Goes To Nebraska | 1989 |
| Faith Hope Love | 1990 |
| King's X | 1992 |
| Dogman | 1994 |
| Ear Candy | 1996 |
| The Best Of King's X (compilation) | 1997 |
| Tape Head | 1998 |
| Please Come Home... Mr Bulbous | 2000 |
| Manic Moonlight | 2001 |
| Black Like Sunday | 2003 |
These guys were always one of those bands in the hard rock/metal underground who seemed to be on the tip of commercial success, but never quite achieved it, which is a shame, because King's X really boast one of the most interesting styles within that genre. Here you have a band that's actually part Christian rock in their lyrics (though surprisingly, that element in their sound never really gets preachy, though in the later part of their career, the mood of them certainly became a lot darker) and Beatles-influenced in their approach to gorgeous three part harmony writing, but yet they effortlessly cross that with decidedly metal influences - one minute they can be as dark and doomy as Black Sabbath in their riff writing, the next they could be thrashing and jamming like Metallica, and then uplifting your soul with a quiet ballad. Sure, that style might not be anything overtly groundbreaking, but it is unique in approach.
Impressively enough, they pull all of this off in the 'power trio' format, where tight playing is just about as much a requirement as anything else. One has to wonder how an often massive sound from just three guys (not to mention their effectiveness at reproducing their harmony work on stage). You also have a very interesting cross between soul-styled vocal parts and often spiritual, sometimes depressing lyrics from Doug Pinnick (who's also one of the few bass players to employ a 12-string, which gives off an interesting rumble) and the sort of nasaly, Lennon influenced vocal of Ty Tabor, who often brought a nice pop compliment to the sound and an excellent dual lead/rhythm approach. Maybe neither of them are virtuosos (though they're definitely professionals, and to add to that, Jerry Gaskill is as tight a drummer as could be required in an ensemble like this), but both have had several excellent songwriting moments.
Why is it that King's X hasn't achieved a lot of success, though? Well, it could be a variety of things, most of which I think has to do with they could be too poppy and lyrically positive to appeal to a metal audience, but too heavy to appeal to the pop mainstream. While their earlier work shows an interesting blend of all of these elements I mention here, however, they've since shunned quite a bit of that attitude in their later releases, going for a more bottom-heavy, grungy, and probably more straightforward and ever so slightly predictable sound (and darker lyricism) on Dogman and the releases following it (particularly when the mostly live in the studio Tape Head is concerned). Still, even though they're not exactly a groundbreaking or amazingly revelatory band, they are quite unique in their own way, and have a ton of great or classic songs in their catalog to offer, which certainly helps make them one of my more preferred modern bands of the late 80's and early 90's.
--Nick Karn
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: King, Goldilox, Visions. LOW POINTS: Far Far Away, In The New Age.
Right from the beginning, King's X actually had their distinct sound that I already mentioned in the intro worked out, mainly because the members had been in the underground scene for years (heck, Doug Pinnick was in his late thirties by this point). Good, tight playing all around, very nice band harmonies, a deceptively to the point but very cryptic lyrical approach, great energy and... inconsistent songwriting. Well, actually the songwriting would get somewhat more consistent in the next few records, but for now, Out Of The Silent Planet seems a bit too patchy for me to agree with those crusaders who consider this one of their early masterpieces. I see it as more of a prototype for a sound that didn't change too much over the course of the first four albums or so, but for a prototype, there are some killer songs here.
What songs are those, you might ask? The ballad "Goldilox" is definitely among them, which is no small feat considering the quality of those types of songs in mainstream hard rock during this time period. It's basically a soaring, heartfelt, not too overproduced pop number whose distinguishing feature is the way the longing verses (sung with such passion and soul, and that opening majestic guitar part rules) combine with the gorgeous harmonizing in the refrain makes it a classic. Great guitar solo, too. The closing track "Visions" is also very much a winner, probably the closest to their straightforward 'metal' roots on this album - the dark, tortured verses tell the story of a disturbed mental patient who's 'cursing the darkness', and the instrumental breaks thrash along as convincingly as Metallica in the same time period.
My favorite here, though, has to be the second side opening "King", which just has to be one of the snappiest and tightest singalong tracks they ever did, and the most perfect balance between hard rock and light pop on the whole album, if not of their entire career. The distinct dark riff underpinning the lyrics dealing with a character who's clearly made miserable in the song by a higher authority than he is. But yet, the mood of the song is actually uplifting thanks to the huge harmonizing going on in both the harmony/single vocal counterpoint verses and tight pop chorus. On the spiritual side, though, come the 'love' anthems "Shot Of Love" and "Power Of Love", the former of which has a more upbeat, almost Christian lyrical slant, and the latter convincingly goes from rumbling and grinding bass heavy verses to arena rock singalong majesty in a fine pop song.
That's about it for the very good or great half, though, as the remainder of the album isn't nearly as distinguished or exciting. Nothing is particularly crappy, but I don't really have the desire to hear such things as the more ordinary contemplative hard rock song "Wonder" (which places the lyrics over strong melody, pretty much) or the unnoticeable "What Is This?" again. Their heart is in the right place, I have no reason to doubt that, but besides that, the mood does get overtly preachy (the otherwise okay "Sometimes") or extremely meandering (the plodding opening anthem "In The New Age" with its' monotonous ambient intro and the aptly titled "Far, Far Away", which drifts off into a great big nothing). Regardless, the outstanding stuff on here correctly points to an excellent future for the band and makes things worthwhile, even if I wouldn't recommend this as a particular starting point. The next one, though, is a different story.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Pleiades, Everybody Knows A Little Bit Of Something, Over My Head, Fall On Me. LOW POINTS: None.
Although Gretchen Goes To Nebraska is most often considered the peak of King's X work by fans and hard rock enthusiasts, it's really not much of a departure from the first album at all. Instead, what it does is take the style of the first album and set it to actual consistent songwriting. Well, I guess there is a bit more depth in sound than before - Ty Tabor employs the dulcimers and sitars a little more on the atmospheric moments, which among other things gives a bit of a fuller, and slightly more progressive, flavor to the sound. Not necessarily progressive in the arrangements - the songs don't drastically shift in melody and tone at all, but the album's ever so slightly more artsy in the tone. But anyway, I used to love this album to death to the point of calling it a flawless classic, but in time, I realize there are a few songs that are certainly nice, but nothing that special, to hold this same opinion. It's still damn good, though.
In fact, this album's such an improvement on Out Of The Silent Planet it actually has a song of the same name as the opener that's actually more interesting and developed than most of that record. It's got such a neat spacey, booming tone to it in the atmosphere, helped out by the mystical Eastern intro (which makes "In The New Age" look absolutely pathetic), a great, expansive riff, more massive harmonies, and a lengthy, but dramatic ambient sitar/guitar solo section. And this isn't even one of the best songs on here, which makes the outlook of the rest look pretty good. Even the slightly lesser material has a very pleasant, charming singalong tone with good hooks you can remember, like the chiming ballad "Summerland" (overrated by fans, sure, but I can't deny its' beauty or emotion at all), or the pounding, poppy, hard rocker "Don't Believe It" (with a particularly catchy chorus).
The real highlights, though, is where the unique approach of the band leaves its' mark the most. I'm not sure "Over My Head" is the absolute greatest choice to be called their best song ever as so many do, but it's definitely fantastic in its' power. That very danceable groove it has going, the extremely repetitive but simply irresistible singalong hook ('music.. music... I hear music...'), the fantastic descending riff it's driven by, the spare one-note piano clapalong middle before it drives right into the main body of the song, it all combines for a classic. I love the funky workout "Everybody Knows A Little Bit Of Something" even more, though - a fantastic shot of acapella harmony at the beginning, such a great funky slappin' bass groove, a catchy melody, a fast and exciting time changing solo, and other vastly appealing qualities of King's X magic.
How about an intense tale of some dude who was burned at the stake for thinking the world was round? That's apparently what Ty Tabor had in mind back when he wrote "Pleiades" - this was actually the first song they ever wrote, but for whatever reason, it didn't appear until this album. It's easy to see why Doug Pinnick absolutely freaked out over hearing it, though - the haunting guitar chiming complements the lyrical 'storytelling' on display perfectly, with a fine vocal melody, but the real treat in the song is the barrage of repeating thunderous riffs and huge harmonies underpinning them which end up effectively conveying the mood of the lyrics even better than the lyrics themselves. The song's so good it almost overshadows the previous track, the still pretty dang great naggingly catchy riff rocker "Fall On Me", with an atmospheric, soaring harmony bridge highlighting things.
The remaining five songs here are no slouch, either. Well, there's only one slight letdown in "I'll Never Be The Same", which is well-played, but never really catches fire in its' overly repetitive arrangement, but even that one's got a damn cool groove. And besides, how can you complain when you have moments of pure beauty like the gorgeous acoustic pop of "The Distance" (with a memorably elegant guitar and more fine harmonies) and the closing ballad "The Burning Down" (with a slightly overlong, but damn captivating, lengthy jam that features ambient guitar and flute interplay to create a gorgeous atmosphere)? Or the more prototypical rockers "Mission", accented by pipe organ in the beginning, also featuring a simple, but effective, grinding riff, and the snappy singalong "Send A Message"? It all adds up to an excellent album, and Gretchen is indeed the first album in the band's catalog for which the 'unfortunately overlooked' tag the band so often gets is well deserved.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Legal Kill, We Were Born To Be Loved, Moanjam, We Are Finding Who We Are. LOW POINTS: Faith Hope Love.
King's X albums usually do have somewhat of a Christian (or at least spiritually uplifting) slant to them in the lyrics, but if there's one album in their catalog, where that side of them is most apparent, it's probably this one. It was probably for this reason that Faith Hope Love was actually stocked in the 'Christian' section in some record stores, but more importantly, it was also their first semi-success as a band, hitting gold status and generating a minor hit single. Fortunately, the album is the farthest thing from both an overly preachy, boring effort or a commercial sellout, even if the material may not seem that impressive initially. What's also interesting to note here, though, is that it seems to me the songs here actually find the band taking more chances in terms of inventive arrangement ideas and subtle musical nuances than, well, anything they did before or since, which contributes to the album opening up nicely with every listen.
A couple songs, in fact, don't sound that much like anything the band would do again, and considering that the band never really changed too much over the course of their career (save for going 'grunge' later on), that's not something to overlook. Something like "Six Broken Soldiers" has no companion in their catalog at all in particular - it's basically a strange atmospheric piece with not only arguably the most cryptic and confusing lyrics ever written by the band (penned by Jerry Gaskill), but also textures like weird backward xylophone and swirling guitars to go along with a falsetto-sung vocal melody. Get rid of that repetitive coda at the end (they should have added an extra verse featuring that initial atmosphere instead), and you may have a damn great song here. Then there's "Moanjam", their most extreme and probably best foray into somewhat thrash, slightly progressive, influenced territory, as its' 6 minutes are almost entirely dominated by a fantastic jam led by some tasty high speed guitar soloing and an intense yelling ending.
Speaking of 'progressive', be sure to take a note of "Talk To You", with its' grinding verse being essentially a sympathetic, but chaotic, Doug Pinnick letter set to music, and complemented by a somewhat punkier Ty Tabor-sung chorus ('I don't know what to say...'). Or in particular the spectacularly shifting "We Were Born To Be Loved", which hits on such an indescribably killer funky groove that works perfectly with the rap-like approach of Pinnick's vocal tone here, and then in a sick manner near the end of the song, it keeps stopping and starting unpredictably. What a cool song. The opening "We Are Finding Who We Are", meanwhile, is notable on account of a couple of its' great well paced singalong-ish verses being entirely sung in harmony in yet another beautiful and uplifting pop tune, with concise instrumental breaks working effectively.
A lot of the rest of the material is more on the mellow side, but that's definitely not a bad thing for the style of this album. The Tabor contribution "It's Love" was that aforementioned minor hit, basically combining the gorgeous uplifting pop approach in the verses with a harder rocking tone in the chorus in a concise fashion, though this is another instance where an overlong coda could be shortened. Pinnick's other songs, the somewhat slick-sounding and close to sappy (but never reaching that point) "I'll Never Get Tired Of You" and the heartfelt, lyrically moving "Everywhere I Go" (featuring the fantastic line 'I read the story you had died, I turned the page, you were alive') could have easily been hits as well, as could the slightly formulaic and maybe even repetitive, but still tight and damn memorable, hard pop of "I Can't Help It", and "The Fine Art Of Friendship", with a fine sort of 'jam' appearing at the end here.
None of this, however, compares to what's probably my favorite King's X song of all time in the closing acoustic Tabor ballad "Legal Kill". What's so special about it? Well, the slightly cryptic, but still incredibly powerful, lyrics about the deadly issue of abortion are sung with such beauty over quite possibly the best melody anyone in the band has ever come up with. Combined with that acoustic melody and subtle touches like a violin, flute (appearing most prominently in the middle section) and the soft choir at the end, it makes for an indescribably breathtaking experience. So much of one, in fact, that they've ever played it live - I guess it's too intimate and personal for that, and besides, stuff like the lumbering "Mr. Wilson" that's supposedly about the band getting sued, moody main guitar hook, intense and catchy 'I'm sure he'll understand...' chanting, is more easily accessible for the Best Of buying crowd anyway. That one's good too, but nowhere near as much so as the closer.
After all that, I've reviewed this album as if it's just as good if not better than Gretchen, and it would be - if not for one serious blunder near the end, and yes, I'm talking about the 'epic' title track. I'm actually convinced that there might be a fairly good song hidden in its' structure somewhere, with the slow-paced verse melody and guitar line creating a pretty moody effect. But the problem with the song is that its' otherwise atmospheric 'faaaaaaaaith hooooope loooove...' mantra-like chant is basically repeated ad-nauseum over the course of the song with the same guitar line following it each time. It keeps going and going, along with unintelligible background chatter from Pinnick for over 9 excruciating minutes. Edit that out of the picture and you get... a 52 minute album, just as long as Gretchen. Gee, how coincidental. I guess with the programming feature, you can still pretend the album is more excellent than it is, though.
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COMMENTS
[email protected] (tony souza)
Although I have all their albums, FHL was the one that I was most reluctant to buy due to it's more strident lyrics. I shouldn't have worried; this is one of their better albums and musically speaking, (because that's what really counts for me anyway) their most complex and progressive. Tabor does have a stronger influence here. His soloing on "Moanjam" is incredible. The harmonies are more complex too. I agree on the title track. I expected a lot more from a nine-plus miute song.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Dream In My Life, Lost In Germany, Prisoner, Not Just For The Dead, What I Know About Love. LOW POINTS: None.
And here it is, the brilliant picture of the band in transition captured on record. On one end, the band was about to break into the mainstream, what with the video for the single "Black Flag" getting a good amount of airplay on Headbanger's Ball, with the album selling well. However, the band was forced off the road due to legal problems with their manager, Sam Taylor, a figure who was actually considered the unofficial fourth member of King's X due to his handling of production duties and co-writing credits, and by then, the album's momentum had been lost. But on the other end, while the 'classic heavy harmony' sound is certainly in full force, it's here that the overall mood starts to shift from uplifting to a more dark, bottom-heavy and often depressing lyrical slant (which foreshadows later work). More importantly, the way the band combines everything they've done well before, the uplifting pop melodies and harmonies, addictive grooves, intelligent lyrics, and great heavy riffs at a peak form, makes for the most quintessential, and most consistently spectacular, record they ever made.
I'm not even sure what it is that makes these songs so spectacular in general. Maybe the timeless poppy quality songs like "Prisoner" and "Lost In Germany" have, for starters - lyrically, both of them seem to embody personal darkness and confusion as much as anything they ever wrote, yet it's in the way they're presented as such uplifting singalongs, which seem to make them all the more emotionally resonant). Great hooks here abound, and don't forget such great musical features as the fabulous crushing riff/light acoustic interplay and perfectly flowing ending solo of the former or the complex main riff and punishing 'doot doot doot...' harmony grind to perfectly accent the darkness and uncertainty. The aforementioned emotional war tale "Black Flag", snappy and tight singalong rocker it is, is certainly no slouch either, even though it isn't quite as excellent as the highlights. No big deal, though.
What also strikes me here is that they go for some pretty interesting approaches on other songs. The Doug Pinnick ballad "The Big Picture", with pretty heavenly quiet guitars and a soulful, introspective vibe in the verses, actually goes for a slightly industrial feel with the distorted vocals in the unintelligible, but powerful, refrain, making this an almost gospel metal hybrid. It's also noteworthy that maybe one of their most musically simplistic songs ever, "What I Know About Love", actually turns out to be a highlight here - it's such a fabulous pop groove, as the combination of a rumbling bassline, very simple pop riff, intruiguing lyrics and a catchy melodic structure works wonders. Then there's "Not Just For The Dead", probably the best attempt at combining the Eastern style, with sitars and all, into the sound, as the booming, echoey production complements the slightly distorted vocals in the verses and contrasts incredibly well with that prototypical heavy chorus. Even the repetitive 'deaaaad....' coda, with the layered sound backing it up, really works.
Like the last album, though, the best song on here actually happens to be a Ty Tabor ballad, and what a shattering one it is. In a perfect world, "Dream In My Life" would have been frozen in time as an introspective, slightly Lennon-influenced, masterpiece, with a phenomenal vocal melody, a riveting shift from verse to chorus, and the way Pinnick enters in on lead vocals during the heavier middle eight fits in such an incredibly seamless fashion that it becomes transcendent. It's nearly on par with "Legal Kill" in terms of songwriting power, in fact, and that's saying a lot. And the fact that it's followed by "Silent Wind" to close off the album creates a great impact. Not because this particular song is as great (though it is another uplifting heavy singalong with some of the most overt religious imagery on the album), but because it's followed by a closing pipe organ section played by none other than Sam Taylor as a final farewell. How fitting.
In any case, this is a pretty great album we have here. From the opening with probably their heaviest song ever to that point (the condensed, tight rocker "The World Around Me", though the mercilessly slow, grinding side closer "Ooh Song" may be in tight competition with it) to the very end. Yes, I even like the novelty-ish "Chariot Song", which may be a bit annoying in its' overly referential and silly lyrics (the album title-quoting line of 'out of the planet comes Gretchen with faith, hope and love' doesn't help), but it's still a fun, slightly progressive tempo changing, on the whole catchy tune that brings a smile to my face, much like the entire album. It may not be a flawless classic, but it's definitely one of the best hard rock albums of the 90's in my mind, and certainly the best King's X you can lay your hands on. So give it a try, and revel in the vibe they have going here, since they unfortunately never recaptured it after this album.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Pretend, Complain, Fool You. LOW POINTS: Human Behavior.
A step down from before, but that's not so surprising. After all, they pretty much took their style about as far as it was going to go, and probably due to the overall darker and angrier feeling the band was experiencing, the entire sound becomes, well, darker and angrier as well, with a more pronounced raw, live in the studio feel. To put it more simply, with the overall raw sound, changing lyrical angle, and choice of producer this time around, King's X have gone grunge. Yes, they bring in producer Brendan O' Brien, famous for working with bands like Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots, and record their own hour-long take on that particular style. And there are some other changes as well - considering Ty Tabor's own contributions were often astonishing, it can be a bit of a disappointment that he's not as well represented here with the considerable lack of harmony work and the fact Doug Pinnick sings lead on everything here.
However, the notable changes in style and mood, although they do result in a slight decline in songwriting, don't prevent the album from being pretty darn good as a whole. Sure, there may not be as many knockout classics as before, but most of the songs are very pleasurable (not really in an uplifting way, of course). The first couple of tracks are probably the most representative of everything, particularly the title track its' upfront grungy guitar sound of the main riff after each spare vocal line being prominent (one of the most memorable hooks on the album, in fact), yet the actual lyrics are about as cryptic as previous work (what the heck is a 'dogman' anyway?) and the vocal melody is unmistakable King's X, so it works out well. And the following "Shoes" has a seemingly obvious, but infectious verse melody and acapella portion in the same vein as the opener.
Admittedly, when looking at the remainder of the songs, I can easily tell that this isn't one of the band's most creative efforts, as this stuff is a bit lacking in terms of variety and interesting ideas. But fortunately, the usual quality of the vocal melodies and arguably even higher resonance makes up for this shortcoming - "Sunshine Rain" actually finds Pinnick almost sounding near-suicidal in his vocal tone, even though the lyrics do offer a sign of trying to cope with darkness, and along with "Flies And Blue Skies", the listener is shown that even the ballads here have the same downbeat tone that the harder-edged songs have, with this particular song emphasizing the mood well. A bit more memorable in this category is "Cigarettes", whose grammatically incorrect opening line 'have you gotten any cigarettes' and (again) overlong, repetitive coda irritate me a little, but otherwise, it's got a pretty special atmosphere to it, like the end of the world is approaching, but yet there's a strangely uplifting beauty in the music and melody.
If you're one of those people from the metal crowd looking for harder-edged intensity from the album, though, "Black The Sky" is a pretty convincingly tight, ferocious workout that pretty much fits the apocalyptic vibe of its' title, and even the 51 second punk rocker "Go To Hell" is a great burst of adrenaline while it's on, with lyrics that are purposefully masked so that fans can conveniently debate what Pinnick's actually saying in the song when they have nothing else to do! The last two tracks work out in this area too, with "Pillow" very much conveying a 'nightmare' sort of mood with its' 'thundering' chorus and pure intensity, and the 'fake' live cover of the 'obscure' Hendrix classic "Manic Depression" says it all. Of course, I wouldn't really recommend the overly plodding "Human Behavior", probably the most unmelodic low point of the album, or to a lesser extent, "Don't Care", which, outside of phenomenal drum work at the end of the tune (with some of Jerry Gaskill's tastiest chops) seems a bit standard and cliched, but hey, I didn't say this was perfect.
It's certainly a better album than some make it out to be, though, and I haven't even mentioned the three songs that come closest to King's X classics in my humble opinion. "Pretend" in particular has all the best trademarks of this newfound approach - a pummeling, intense guitar riff, probably the catchiest melody of the whole album, and some of the most resonant introspective lyrics on the whole album, with an unforgettable pop chorus and solo topping it off. "Complain" is a somewhat entertaining, really convincingly melodic ranting against social problems done with a slightly humorous slant and "Fool You" stands out due to the bitter lyric writing (a disguised attack on Sam Taylor) and subtle anthemic guitar line that builds to another pop delight. So yeah, a very good album, the first and probably best of the harder and rawer later works from the period, even though it's a relatively low 8.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Life Going By, Lies In The Sand (The Ballad Of...). LOW POINTS: American Cheese (Jerry's Pianto), Sometime.
Ehh... this one sounds too much on the uninspiring side if you ask me. True, Dogman's musical direction might have been on the more simplistic, less creative side than the first four albums were, but this is taking things a little too far. In terms of quality, this isn't really a bad, or even totally mediocre, album or anything like that, but the fact is, this is a real letdown from before. The sound is still a little in the last album's mold, only the heaviness is accented with slightly psychdelic sound colorings and more poppy influences (at least Ty Tabor is more prominent in the vocal department here than last time out), but this doesn't really help the album - what the heck happened to the energy they displayed just two years ago? And why have excellent vocal melodies been replaced by such simplistic attempts at watered-down songwriting? What is it a few hardcore listeners see in this album that I'm not getting? Why am I asking so many questions?
I don't know, but what I do know is that I don't see very much special in a lot of these songs. Take "Sometime", for instance (whose title is already recycled from Out Of The Silent Planet's not much better "Sometimes") - just a bunch of repetitive verse lines and a standard song structure that sounds like second-rate grunge. And on the subject of recycling, "67" has a verse melody directly taken from "We Are Finding Who We Are", and that stupid '67 stations watching cable television in your bedroom' chorus and the way it's sung seems to embody the laziness of the album. Even such live 'favorites' and best of representatives like "The Train" and "Looking For Love" really underwhelm me - the former only ignites during the otherworldly harmony portion right before the solo, and it's a fairly bland opening riff rocker otherwise, and the latter is just an unmelodic piece of heavier pop with an extremely simplistic repetitive riff and chorus that's only saved a little bit by its' really cool guitar sound in the interlude.
Oh, and we haven't even covered what is probably the absolute bottom of all King's X music to date in the miserable Jerry Gaskill contribution "American Cheese (Jerry's Pianto)". What redeeming features does this stupid piece of piano pop have to save the equally limp melody and vocal quality (it's like flat George Harrison) and such stupid lyrics? Not a heck of a lot. At least it's really the only crap song here (and "Sometime" the only piece of really blatant filler), though most of the other songs can't be let off the disappointing hook totally. With a little more effort, "Picture" could have been develop into this spectacularly dramatic storytelling epic, but instead it regresses into long, dull ambience, and the melody is mostly just average. "Run", meanwhile, is just a pretty routine, and again, simplistic rocker, and even Ty Tabor's bluegrass styled excursion "Mississippi Moon" just passes by into lightweightedness.
Thankfully, the remaining five songs are enough to lift the album up a bit from highly mediocre 4 or 5 status. They're not really astounding classics or anything, but the acoustic ballad "Thinking And Wondering (What I'm Gonna Do)" and the personal "Fathers" are fine Pinnick contributions, with the former working on account of its' great echoey production, catchy bassline and nice pop melody (what a cool acoustic folk vibe it's got too, with violins and psychedelic touches and such), and the latter is a slow 'dysfunctional family' rocker whose lyrics hit fairly hard. And there's also the popular favorite "A Box", a ballad in a similar type of "Goldilox" vein (in the overall guitar sound and build, anyway), with an emotionally stirring melody, though the song's potential is a little marred by the overwhelming repetitiveness of the chorus ('there is no room inside a box' - we get it already!)
As for the two best songs on here, both of them, unsurprisingly, come in the form of Tabor ballads again, which is good, cause I sure missed the presence of those on Dogman. The really slow "Lies In The Sand (The Ballad Of...)" is the one time the depressing, tired vibe actually works to the benefit of the album, as that despairing guitar part and vocal hook carries the song. And the closing "Life Going By", while admittedly not quite as tremendous as his very very best stuff (mostly because it's not as memorable or epic), is still the mighty highlight here - the gorgeous climactic pop chorus, harmonies and all, is definitely the most gripping point of the album, and it's got a really sweet buildup as well, with the lyrics about, well, life going by, making their mark too. All in all, this is a decent, but in many places thoroughly underwhelming, album that ranks as their first real disappointment, though not without some fine songs.
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COMMENTS
Give this one another listen. It takes awhile. They've been giving this one a lot more attention live of late.Personally I am not into the hippie hoedowns Ty sings on, but even his work on this one is listenable. A Box is one of the career high points, even though I could have stood to hear a third verse. Give it another listen. It grows on you.
[email protected] (tony souza)
The band was at a low ebb when they put this one out. They felt they weren't getting support from their label, (which they weren't) and Pinnick was going through his personal demons. For this cd, they set out to make the most commercially accessible album they could make -- less complex, more popish -- something they thought their label wanted and something they thought would finally put them on the map. Well, Atlantic showed them no support, and the album flopped, so the whole thing backfired. In interviews, the members of King's X have stated that the music on this album was not representative of what they wanted to do. Since then, they have changed labels and moved on.
As far as this album is concerned, it is definitely their weakest, though I find I like it more than you do. None of the songs are bad to me and some, like "The Train", "A Box", "Looking for Love", "Mississippi Moon" and "Picture" -- are standouts, but there is a somewhat lightweight feel to this cd. After the guitar crunch of Dogman, the production on here is a little too slick. If I compare this to other King's X albums, it is a little sub-par but if I compare it to other groups -- then this is still above average.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Ocean, Fade. LOW POINTS: None.
A somewhat nice rebound, and one that actually follows more along the path of Dogman than Ear Candy, thankfully. My feeling is that it actually had to do with the band members taking a short break from the band to pursue other musical projects, with Ty Tabor's solo album release and being involved in the supergroup Platypus with Derek Sherinian, John Myung and Rod Morgenstein, plus Doug Pinnick's side project under the band name Poundhound that seems to be closer in sound to this album than anything else. More importantly, for the first time, the three members actually recorded all their parts live in the studio together at the same time, which definitely contributes to this being tighter and more energetic than earlier stuff. It also means the songs are shorter than before (i.e. no repetitive codas or unnecessary meandering that marred some of their worst moments), so the emphasis is mainly on the melody side of things, and those melodies are among their absolute best.
Yeah, I agree that there generally isn't that much to the songs besides the melodies and heavy grooves, but who cares when such pleasures as the tight, ass kicking riff rockers like the aptly titled opener "Groove Machine" and the grinding "Higher Than God" seem to rock with a vengeance and purpose (I especially love the lyrical attitude both of 'em have). Especially noteworthy in this category, though, is the lead single "Fade" - that riff might be dangerously close to simplistic, but it's still tight and catchy anyway, and that harmony filled chant of the title allows it to get under your skin even more. It's also hard not to headbang along to the punkier representative here, the 'social commentary blackhole of death' called "World", with effective pictures of racism, armageeddon and natural disasters sung at a fast rate in the lyrics, and due t the intensity, it never becomes preachy, yet it sticks with you.
Not all the songs are all-out bursts of live-in-the-studio rock, though, as the album does have its' share of ballads and comparatively lighter tracks. The best of these is the purely majestic "Ocean", with lightly masked vocals perfectly flowing into that heavenly guitar line and vocal melody that actually makes one feel like they're 'over the ocean, across the sea' in terms of atmosphere (peaceful vibe). Oh, it's also another Tabor ballad, and the best song on the album as a whole - I can't help it... he's a great songwriter! The 'soulful' workout "Little Bit Of Soul" (well, duh) takes a simple but effective lyrical, and pretty much melodical, premise to close out the side nicely, cool groove and all, and I personally think the way each word/syllable is dragged out in the verse melody of "Over And Over" creates excellent emotional impact, as does the distorted, slightly panic stricken approach of the vocals on the mantra-like, sonically heavy "Ono".
Other cool pleasurables? There's the vaguely worldbeat-flavored epic "Happy" (well, 5 minutes is epic by the standard of this album), with a neat, anthemic middle section that's probably the most creatively interesting song here, not to mention the bleak on the surface, but nicely soul-searching, lyrics. The sinister slow guitar driven mood of "Mr. Evil" (love those creepy harmonies in the chorus!), and the 'gentle and composed verses turned to extremely aggravated chorus' of "Hate You" may be more emotion-driven than melody-driven, but that's okay, since they do quite well at that. Actually, there's not a real weak song I could find anywhere here - yeah, even "Cupid", despite its' overlong intro and weak lyrics, has an ear-catching riff, and the atonal live improv "Walter Bela Farkas (Live Peace In New York)" is actually more funny than irritating - it's nice the band can still enjoy what they're doing and laugh at themselves (especially apparent in the stage banter). Admittedly, the lack of dynamics, epic moods, creative ideas, and heck, classic songs, do keep Tape Head from that many repeated listens for me, but aside from those weaknesses, it's still perfectly acceptable for these King's X loving ears.
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[email protected] (tony souza)
After getting away from Atlantic and starting on a new label, Metal Blade (they chose this label because they were promised more artistic freedom), King's X bounces back with this great cd. I agree with the assessment that the side projects also contributed to this "comeback". Pinnick wanted to get away from the complex song structures that they did in the past and get into a more groove-oriented sound. They succeed. These songs may be simple, but they're not boring, with the melodies staying in your head long after you've stopped listening. The sound is tougher on here too. It's more bottom-heavy, and Tabor's guitar playing (he's one of the most underrated guitarists on the planet) is back to Dogman-like crunch. A very consistent, well-made album.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Marsh Mellow Field. LOW POINTS: Fish Bowl Man, Move Me (Part Two).
Ugh... but this is not perfectly acceptable. The weaknesses of Tape Head were definitely apparent right away (i.e. aforementioned lack of dynamic songwriting, simplicity, etc.), but at least the melodies were fairly excellent a lot of the time, and that contributed to an enjoyable experience. Here, however, their melodic strength seems to have gone completely out the window, as many of these hooks are utterly nothing special. And that's only scratching the surface as to why this is the weakest and most annoying album this band has ever produced (and the stupid album title doesn't help either, guys). Interestingly enough, though, there are positive strengths here that weren't present on the last two albums - the harmonies are at their best since the self-titled album, Ty Tabor's magical guitar tone from that period actually shows up periodically (and he also gets more songwriting contributions this time around), plus almost every song has something neat going for it.
However, every song on here also has certain seriously distracting or annoying qualities to it, without exception, and that has its' roots in a few specific flaws. First off, the production is just complete crap - way too flat and bass-heavy (maybe dynamically compressed or something?), which certainly doesn't help the already limited potential of such dreary slooooow songs as "Julia" and "When You're Scared", which really don't have any good vocal melodies at all, instead littering the proceedings with pointless instrumental breaks and aimless bass work up way too high in the mix. Such weak melody-writing also extends to the potentially beautiful "Bitter Sweet", which actually has gorgeous harmony work at its' peak on the album, but where is the hook? And just barely over 2 minutes? What the heck's that? It also hurts "She's Gone Away", which has a moderately soaring harmony chorus, but unmemorable verses and stupid lyrics contained within them to boot.
Oh, and speaking of the lyrics, there's another seriously irritating quality here - they are downright awful at many points on this album, like they've degenerated into totally pretentious, comic, meaningless nonsense. Yeah, I know, bad lyrics don't matter if you have interesting music or melodies to back them up, but I don't hear anything of the sort in many of these songs. Especially when the opener "Fish Bowl Man" is brought up - what a stupid song this is, from the dumb bass heavy grinding verses about the 'red fish that shake my hand' and the totally dissonant, horribly banal poetry section. The 'introspective' "Smudge", though, the melody is at least catchy, is pretty well described in its' title as far as music goes, and you can't beat the 'one little piggy, walking with a pumpkin, and a mustard-headed goat' line. Classic.
Argh, like I said, even the better tracks on here are annoyingly flawed. "Charlie Sheen" has quite beautiful guitar textures in the verses, but that chorus is so attention grabbingly awful, and the lyrics so randomly dumb, that the song is killed for me. The faith questioning "Move Me" is actually nice, with probably the best anthemic melody on the album and the most emotional lyrics, but its' second part serving as the extended repetitive coda to the song goes absolutely nowhere for like, 5 minutes. The single "Marsh Mellow Field" could have actually been great, mostly because of the wonderful duet between Pinnick and Tabor in the verses (awesome pop melody too, and inspirational lyrics that are actually good for once!). They needed to remember one thing, though: raw choruses do not contrast well with lighter verses, especially when that 'raw' chorus repeats itself so much. Oh well, it's still the best on the album, which only emphasizes my belief that this seems more like a mediocre B-sides collection thrown together in about two hours to me than a fine studio effort.
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COMMENTS
[email protected] (tony souza)
This one took a few listens for me to get into. When I first heard it, I wasn't that impressed. However, after repeated listenings it grew on me. Musically, it's there darkest. They de-tuned their instruments even lower, giving the songs a moody, almost somber tone (they were one of the first bands to de-tune their instruments, giving them their unique sound). This is also their first album where a lot of songs take the quiet-loud-quiet approach. Unlike Dogman, which was also dark, when these songs go loud, it still feels restrained whereas on Dogman, when they let loose, it was cathartic. The spoken-word part in the middle of "Fishbowl Man" was a bit of a surprise for me. I don't mind the band taking a chance there. I do feel that "Move Me, Part II" is redundant and overlong. This one also doesn't have the grooves that Tape Head has. I agree that this is not their best album, but it is good and it does have a different feel than the others.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Static, Yeah. LOW POINTS: The Other Side.
After the very rushed-sounding, atrociously produced Mr. Bulbous, apparently the band found where they'd been hiding their melody-writing spellbook, as this dry spell appears to have been at least somewhat corrected on Manic Moonlight. It also doesn't hurt that these songs just generally seem much more likeable and upbeat than before, with fewer occurences of mopey depression than the last few albums, or the sheer stupidity in the lyrics on Bulbous that distracts the listener. There's also an element within the sound that these guys have actually never incorporated before - electronic touches. Before you run away screaming at this fact, however, understand that this is usually just limited to loops that serve as intros to the tunes (mostly on side one) and give them momentum to propel into the usual bottom heavy sound that has been employed on recent efforts.
There is one song on here, however, where electronics are used predominantly, but I'd say it's actually the highlight of the album, and the closest thing you'll get to a King's X classic, a really neat tribal thing called "Static". It has several cool features, including a dark, rumbling rhythm, vocal pleas of 'I don't wanna do this... anymore', weird sound effects (including turntable noises and a hilarious voice that keeps saying 'I got a lot of static') and a lot of energy. To a lesser extent, "Yeah" is also interesting in that, despite the really inaudible vocals in the verses and the chorus consisting entirely of the title being repeated over and over, has a great simple bassline and an unsettling mood that suddenly breaks through into celebratory harmony. Elsewhere, "Believe" and the title track are somewhat more routine rock songs, but they still have distinct and catchy melodic bases - I especially dig the groove against the line 'if your back is pinned against the wall...' in the former and the ominous vocal melody in the latter.
Besides the pretty guitar line and uplifting chorus of "False Alarm" (another very good quality introspective pop song where both Pinnick and Tabor again duet here), though, the rest of the album is a little mixed, as side two in particular is a bit of a weak (though far from awful) letdown. The prime example here is "Skeptical Winds", which has one of the coolest grooves the band's come up with since "We Were Born To Be Loved", not to mention the delivery of the funny rap-like verses actually give charm to the stupid lyrics (which seem like an intentionally dumb in-joke to me), but along with "Vegetable" (a song with otherwise well-written thoughts about this particular physical state), it's a prime example of why the band rarely ever wrote songs over 6 minutes long - their strength was never in arrangements. The soloing is hardly interesting at all, and both of them seem to chase their tail most of the time.
The other three songs on the side aren't too thrilling either. "The Other Side" is just a dull, generic and very unmemorable rocker that certainly isn't anything special (the low point, of course). "Jenna" is at least a thoughtful ballad, with a rather nice yearning melody and interesting echoey chorus (though parts of it vaguely sound like a ripoff of both the title track and the last album's "Move Me"). Then there's the pointless 18 second musical joke of "Water Ceremony" that wastes its' awesome song title, a concept of which is one of my least favorite things in the musical world. Regardless of these flaws, though, this is still a decent and thoroughly listenable album with its' share of solid songs, only being denied a 7 since the overall tone of it all is somewhat predictable and the second side is a bit of a falloff. Nothing amazing, but at least they're trying some interesting ideas here.
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While Please Come Home Mr. Bulbous has grown on me, this one hasn't as much. I still like it, though. This is their most groove-oriented album, with Pinnick's bass playing at it's most grounded and funky. The lyrics are a little more upbeat (Tabor got a divorce, which led to some of the dark lyrics in PCHMB) on this one, primarily through the song "Believe". Some of the songs grind on a little too long and "Water Ceremony" is a waste. Surely they could have put another song on here besides that one.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Screamer, Down. LOW POINTS: Rock Pile.
Ooh, now this is a really clever way for these guys to progress musically when they're clearly in a creative decline - dive into their back catalog. And I do mean back - almost all of these songs (apart from a couple which I'll mention later) date back from the very early years of the band (1980-83 to be exact) before they were even called King's X, only re-recorded with modern production. Not that the listener is supposed to know that - there's no indication of this whatsoever in the liner notes, and even I wouldn't have known had I not read into the backgrond of the album ahead of time. There are traces of it in the actual songs, though - the lyrics are for the most part incredibly naive and dumb, as if they were penned by teenagers, and the music and melodies are generally much more simplified. Of course, probably partly because of this, many fans call Black Like Sunday incredibly weak compared to their other stuff, but while it's definitely no classic or anything, for me it's actually better than the last two.
Yes, there are signs of stupid genericism - witness the opening title track's basic Kiss-like riff and 'modern metal' production, the hilariously awful and cliched rock star lyrics and stupid 'THE TEST OF TIME!!!' vocal outbursts of the melodically standard "Rock Pile", the 'dreams do come true... yeaaaaah yeaaaah' hair metal chorus of the otherwise cool bottom heavy funk of "Dreams", the "Let It Be" ripoff "Danger Zone" in which Doug Pinnick looks at his childhood in an extremely straightforward way, the 'Cheap Trick could write this kind of song in their sleep' pop metal of "You're The Only One", the lame 'superstition' lyrics of "Bad Luck"... yeah, I think you get the point. But hey, the huge thing the band does have going for them is that it actually sounds as if they're generally having fun on this album, which hasn't really been true since, well, ever. Of course, fun isn't everything, but when the songs are actually good (which even most of the ones I mentioned still are overall), entertainment can make up for potential shortcomings.
Not that this means there isn't anything creative and interesting going on, though. "Working Man", for instance, has really cool guitar plinkings during the verses that I can easily see being played by keyboards and thus giving the song potential to turn into great synth-pop, which would be appropriate since the melody itself is quite catchy. The major highlight "Screamer" has really loud bass feedback and tribal drumming combining with lyrics that give the feel of waking up from a nightmare in which someone's trying to kill you (that tense rocking chorus does a great job of this too), and while the length of the 11 minute "Johnny" might bring to mind the unbearable epic failure of "Faith Hope Love", this one's a much better song. It basically combines a lyrical story of a dark outcast named, well, Johnny over a long 8 minute jam of guitar soloing, subtle rhythm section interplay, and segments where the music quiets down, then works to build itself back up. Overlong, sure, but still captivating most of the time.
Most of the rest might not be too special, but it's hardly bad at all. "Down" (one of the two newer songs, along with the standard rumbler "Two") is another very moving ballad that evokes vivid 'hot Texas morning' imagery in the lyrics, guitar line and really low harmonies singing the 'feeeeeeeling down...' chorus perfectly. "Won't Turn Back" and "Save Us" are entertaining punkier tracks, and "Finished" is a nice rolling, uplifting song of the sort that hasn't been heard on a King's X album in some time - maybe it was a good idea to go down memory lane. I realize none of these songs are really great classics, and the general flaws of the album are obvious, but other than "Rock Pile" and maybe "Danger Zone" to a lesser extent, I don't dislike any of them, and most of them are quite nice and fun to listen to, so I can still give the album a very low 7, which is still better than what many long time listeners would give it. All King's X is usually overlooked by the public, but this may be the only album particularly underrated by fans.
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REVIEWS:
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released by Poundhound
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Friends, Jangle. LOW POINTS: Love, Music.
Don't be fooled by the band name here - this is pretty much just a Doug Pinnick solo record recorded under a band name, where Pinnick plays all the instruments himself except drums, which are handled by various musicians, including Jerry Gaskill. Not surprisingly, the style of the album doesn't differ too much from what you'd expect of his typical approach - a lot of the rumbling 12 string bass and a raw live sound, simple, but effective, introspective lyrics housed under one-word titles (even two-word titles are condensed into one!). You know, this is kind of like what a King's X would actually sound like without the involvement of Ty Tabor, especially since it's lacking in great harmony work. The particular tone of this record is pretty reminiscent of Tape Head, and I'm pretty sure it contributed to helping the band go to that live-in-the-studio direction on that record.
Not that it's as good, though - many of these songs, especially on side one, are done in a pretty basic, standard hard rock style, with simplistic riffs that don't have ear-catching qualities about them, you know, a lot like Korn's more basic stuff, only completely lacking in their edge ("Shake" and "Darker" definitely fit this category, though they're still listenable at least). The most annoying tracks, though, probably come when the simple one-word titles call for deep exploration of their subjects ("Music", "Love"), and they really don't offer much else in the lyrics other than really basic concepts, and the melodies are at their dullest. Nevertheless, "Jangle" is one heck of a catchy and tight acoustic, grungy pop song which comes out of the varispeeded psychedelic introduction "Rev." (this one introduces a new form of music in its' lyrics - 'psychofunkadelic grungelism'! I love that!), and the depressing slow ballad "Friends" is probably the best track on the album, with a lasting melody and the dark tales of Pinnick's friends coming through well ('Kevin is a razorhead', 'Chris is gonna die in jail', 'Kenny's daddy shot his mom').
The second half is somewhat better as a whole, even though it lacks the quality of those two highlights. There's other experiments like Korn done well in "Supersalad" (mostly because of the really cool screams thrown in during the verses), the Hendrix-styled, frenzied guitar soloing in "Red", the gospel-styled acapella chorus of the closing "River", plus some more intriguingly bleak lyrics ("Psycho Love" dealing with a vengeful wife trying to kill her husband, good old Doug for his cheerful outlook on life), catchy grooves (the overlong but still energy filled "Hey"), stuff that points the way to Tape Head ("Soul"), and an effective combinination of bottom-ended riffage and metaphorical lyrical imagery ("Blind Eye"). All pretty nice stuff it is. Not a spectacular album by any means, but it still displays flashes of Pinnick's excellence as a songwriter and musician, and actually sounds like a natural precursor to King's X's own direction.
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COMMENTS
[email protected] (tony souza)
I pretty much agree with the review given here. I find this album enjoyable. While I like most of the songs on here, I find that there is a sameness to the sound and tempo. There's not a lot of variation to these songs. Luckily, the melodies and songwriting and groove are strong enough to make this a solid, if unspectacular, album.
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