Back in the day, before grunge made bands so self-conscious, it
\nwas okay to kick a little ass in the name of rock and roll – rather
\nthan, say, disaffection. I recall seeing the video for “Over My
\nHead”, a single from King’s X 1989 release
\nGretchen Goes To Nebraska<\/i>, and remarking just how powerfully
\nthey rocked. Ty Tabor brought scads of tone with his “secret”
\nguitar rig, playing with more intensity and conviction than 200
\nhair rockers.<\/p>\n
It was this conviction, shared by the group, which turned them
\ninto an underground sensation for an extremely dedicated fan base.
\nTheir videos were actually interspersed with the metal-lite that
\ndominated MTV at the time. Critics liked them and they were a big
\nhit with the musician crowd. I’m not sure why the mainstream
\nignored them – King’s X had the talent to be the next big thing in
\nrock; they were far more sincere than their unfortunate
\ncontemporaries Warrant, LA Guns, and the other shitty poseur
\nbands.<\/p>\n
Well, I do have a suspicion it was the implicit religious
\nmessage within their songs that prevented their break. Christian
\nbands so rarely make it big with the in-crowd. Not that it’s
\nimportant to do that; it’s simply where large money and popular
\nlegitimacy is. I never considered King’s X a religious group. I
\nknew it was there but they were just so bad ass, lacking the
\ncheesy, overproduced Christian band sound and incessant lyrical
\nreferences to “He” and “Him”. They were a little more real I
\nthink.<\/p>\n
Alas, as shafts go, they got a rather large one. Signed then
\ndropped by Atlantic, they were unfortunate victims of the
\ngrunge\/alternative turn in popular music. Now they’re on Metal
\nBlade after a hiatus and solo albums to placate Tabor and Doug
\nPinnick.<\/p>\n
The new album,
\nTape Head<\/i>, is an evolution of King’s X’s last two studio
\nalbums,
\nEar Candy<\/i> and
\nDogman<\/i>. It’s refreshing too, with an interesting studio
\napproach first heard on
\nEar Candy<\/i> – a particular attention paid to spacing
\neverything in an extremely wide mix. It’s effective, especially
\nwhen you listen on headphones. I love the idea of making headphone
\nfriendly albums – not many modern bands evolve to using the studio
\nas a tool and instrument. But King’s X has always had a tendency to
\nthrow flourishes on a track – backward vocals, sitars, and various
\nenvironmental noises from the left and the right.<\/p>\n
There are two songs on
\nTape Head<\/i> showing the most sophisticated merging of funk,
\nhard rock, and pop. “Little Bit Of Soul” is a Sly song with smooth
\nedges and a huge bottom. Doug Pinnick remains one of the most
\ndynamic singers in music – that’s him doing the coolest vocals on
\nthe Hendrix tribute
\nIn From the Storm<\/i>. His vocals have always been a big part of
\nKing’s X’s appeal, he’s got the confidence and vocal flamboyance
\nthat is anything but common. “Higher Than God” is an old school
\nchorus with a metallic verse and vindictive lyrics. Ty Tabor’s
\nriffs and solos sound familiar yet extraterrestrial at the same
\ntime anchored by athletic drummer Jerry Gaskill’s exceptional
\nplaying.<\/p>\n
I’ve enjoyed the division of labor in King’s X; watching who
\nemerges as dominant singer or songwriter on an album. Surprisingly
\nthe band usually divides everything the same way, with everyone
\ncontributing to the band’s practically patented vocal style.
\nTape Head<\/i> is definitely the best album since the self-titled
\n1992 release. The choruses revolve around interesting melodies,
\nalways sounding different yet solid enough to be mainstream radio
\ncontent. Tabor’s songwriting always touches the pop vein and Lennon
\ninfluence – “Ocean” drips with this sentiment. Songs like “Cupid”
\nhave the pop sensibility and clever lyrical structure that could
\nmake a mainstream hit, while the vocal harmonies are lush and
\nappealing.<\/p>\n
The artwork on this CD (and the recently released Platypus
\nrelease
\nWhen Pus Comes to Shove<\/i> – Tabor’s side project) is just
\nawful. Tabor seems to have taken total control of packaging and
\nproducing. This is fine, as he has his own music production site,
\nbut damn it: guitar players should stay away from the artwork.
\nLooking like a high school student’s web page, the album’s layout
\nand photography really inspire the need to buy a plain jewel case
\nand just keep the important part.<\/p>\n
I say give these guys a chance if you like Led Zeppelin or
\nanother similarly heavy but tasty group. They’re reduced to playing
\nshitty heavy metal bars due to disinterest and crummy record
\ncompany support, so give them a shot. The album is good, as is
\ntheir entire catalog. If you love current music on the radio, never
\nmind. You’re incorrigible at this point.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":27826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6353],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-39210","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-kings-x","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39210"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}