According to tradition and the unspoken rule book on being a critic, this review must contain the following ingredients. One, it must have a witty introduction that riffs nicely on the band’s name. In this case puns aplenty can be found in the use of either royal related wordplay, or how the band isn’t actually very metal at all. Ha ha! Check!
Two, it should offer a brief history of the band and their style, and possibly offer some flowery adjectives to describe how they may sound like other bands you know in the same genre. Three, it should be neither too praising, nor too damning of the bands work, but should always offer vague sentiments in the middle, masked by clever wordplay and more flowery verbiage. Four, wrap everything up neatly in a lovely bow that brings you somewhere back near the beginning of the review.
Well, apart from number one, I’m gonna try and throw the rule book out the window.
Steel Kings are good. Very good. If you’re into this style of music, you might even consider them great. Go and listen. Well, what you doing here still? That’s all I need to say, surely? Ok, sorry, I won’t call you Shirley in future.
In all honesty though, this no nonsense attitude I may have picked up from the Steel King’s track I’m listening to while I write this. Bicycle is spot on with its punchy, machine gun opening and into a bouncing energetic intro; a statement of intent that says in a very clear voice that this may not be anything revolutionary, and you may have heard stuff like this before, but the Steel Kings are here to do it their way. And hey, why not sing along with that chorus while you’re here? It’s incredibly catchy, and made to be shouted out loud by a crowd.
From here, we start tripping The Light Fantastic, which helpfully shows more depth to the band, that these aren’t one track ponies. Throughout both tracks so far, I’m struck by just how good and clean it sounds. The tone on the guitar is just perfect, and every fits together so well; every part of the track has its moment in the sun and no one part of the track overpowers another. In terms of song construction, this track is much more complex which means there isn’t as much room for the crowd to get in on the act here. That complexity allows the track to start off relatively light and airy, but get progressively more packed with ideas as it goes. I especially loved change into a more convoluted rhythm right at the end, and the interplay with the vocals and backing vox is spot on.
Ghost of The King West is back to the more straightforward energetic foot-to-the-floor approach, shouting 1 2 3 4, here go. Reinforcing what the first two tracks have told me about the Steel Kings, there’s two things that this track highlights. The vocal style, while really good and clear, depends mostly on sustained notes. This is especially effective against the fast moving and intricate accompaniment, but I’d love to hear a Steel Kings track where the vocal style has more movement in it. The other is that both this and Bicycles (and to a lesser extent The Light Fantastic) have so much energy, now and again you can just hear one instrument running away on its own frenetic energy. Luckily, these disparities are somewhat rare, but can be a little jarring when you find one.
The Steel Kings describe themselves on their Facebook as containing “punchy guitar riffs, funky bass lines and toe tapping drum beats.”
Punchy guitar riffs? Check.
Funky bass groove? Check
Toe tapping complex drum beats? Check and check.
Steel Kings? Check them out.
Review by Paul Barnes
Contact The Steel Kings!
No comments:
Post a Comment