King of the Dead

Do you know what the best thing about being a reviewer is? And more importantly of course, recieving free music from bands that would like reviews? Having tons of competent music. It's unlikely that you'll get a free masterpiece through your letterbox, and if anybody claimed that this album was a masterpiece, they'd be lying. Infact, I believe that King of the Dead would be the first people to point their finger and yell 'LIAR!'

King of the Dead, by metal archives standards, are tagged as doom/stoner metal. That, accomanied with a rating of 75% and the word 'competent' is all you need to know. But bare in mind that competent does not mean passable, nor does it mean just okay. Competent means enjoyable. Good. It isn't average, but it is typical. It's unfair to call run of the mill, but it is adept. What i'm really trying to say is that nothing on here will surprise you. There will be nothing that comes in that makes you think "what the fuck?" or "wow, wasn't expecting that, how creative!" However, there are parts that make you think "damn, that was cool!" or "hey, I like that riff" or "wow, that would sound right at home on Master of Reality".

If you've heard doom/stoner metal before (and you have), you know what this sounds like. So in other words, the music here sounds like Black Sabbath. The vocals aren't as dramatic or epic as Ozzy or Messiah, and so are a bit more passive. Actually, despite the fact that this sounds very typical, I can't actually think of any bands to compare the vocals to. But that is really the essence of this album, just that "i've heard this before yet it's new" vibe. Even if this vocal style hasn't been done before, it's the kind of thing that has been waiting to happen. King of the Dead know exactly who they are, and don't try to be anything else. There are no weird scales, no atypical instruments, no time signature changes, no symphonies or wacky screams, no adventures into other styles of music. And you know what? It's good. It's more creative than a band that throws in crazy riffs for the sake of crazy riffs, because the band takes a style of music that has very few stimulating thrills and manages to make good, and again, competent music from it.

There is no need to describe the sound of the instruments or the style of the riffs, because you already know what it sounds like. If you've heard Black Sabbath, Witchfinder General, Kyuss, Orange Goblin - the usual suspects, then you know exactly, right down to the core what this music sounds like. A reviewer like Noktorn or hells_unicorn could conjure up a couple of pages of musical description of this. I couldn't and to be quite honest, wouldn't want to. It isn't necessary, because you know exactly how it sounds. I'd much rather spend my time telling you that it's good. Wanna hear me say it? It's good. It really is. Everything song has hooks, catchy moments, memorable parts, whatever you want to call them. Nothing pretentious, nothing out there and innovative, just real, 'typical' heavy metal. Rock and roll. Good old beer and pentagrams music.

And so i'll end this review with the way I started. This is no masterpiece, and if King of the Dead tried to record a mastepiece, well then it wouldn't have turned out well, and we wouldn't have had this cool piece of stoner metal to add to our collection. And to end the review in a 'typical' way, if you're a doom/stoner metal fan, this is recommended. 'Nuff said.