King's X
King's X
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There's a tiny demon with an affinity for Muzak who sometimes visits artists while they're working on their albums and whispers grim, dangerous things into their ears. "Lower the guitars," he will say helpfully, or "Fellas, fellas, what's with all these offbeat chords and jarring rhythm changes?" If the MOR monster was around on any previous albums by King's X – Out of the Silent Planet (1988), Gretchen Goes to Nebraska (1989) or Faith, Hope, Love (1990) – the band wasn't buying. This time, though, the group slipped up and let the demon get his homogenizing little hands on one track, "Not Just for the Dead," a sitar-laden pseudoballad that sounds like Toto if
Read More you're having a bad day and Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" if you're having a good one. Elsewhere on King's X, there's a lot to be happy about, as is usually the case with this Texas trio. Robin Trower meets the Beatles on the hypnotic "What I Know About Love," the most dazzling track on the album, a slow and sinister blues that finds bassist-supervocalist Doug Pinnick – flanked on the chorus by the ethereal harmonies of drummer Jerry Gaskill and guitarist Ty Tabor – busting a gut on pearls like "I work so hard/Just to keep this treasure chest of traaaaash!" "Lost in Germany," a paean to tour burnout, is King's X at its finest – all choppy rhythms, rangy melody and sublimely pretty vocals. The band's choirboy approach can border on the saccharine if care isn't taken to have the guitars pulling their fair share, and on tracks like "Germany" and the deliciously fat and lumbering "Ooh Song," the band and longtime producer Sam Taylor give axes and arias equal time. The result is a cloud of sound dense enough to wallow in. While King's X doesn't offer any radical departures from the band's instantly identifiable musical approach, the lyrics are another matter entirely. On three tracks – "Silent Wind," "Lost in Germany" and "Black Flag" (during which Tabor wrestles with what he thinks is depression, only to decide it was just a bad 'tude) – the band comes as close as it ever has to actually sounding disturbed about something, and it's about time. In the past, the group's tendency to shy away from everyday angst often made its lyrics hard to relate to. Getting angry is human, after all – and it's a relief to know that the members of King's X are, too. (RS 629) KIM NEELY |
