I have a confession to make, I’ve sat on this album for far too long. I’ve played it a dozen or more times, dashed off three reviews and here I am starting all over again.
Over the last decade or so British rock has thrown up some wonderful albums, bands like Inglorious and Thunder have produced some real powerhouses even older bands lie The Answer have managed to reinvent themselves, it’s a simply stunning time to be listening to Rock, and when you throw in to that mix internationals like H.E.A.T. and Coldplay and Black Country Communion this year alone has lifted a bar that was already unimaginably high a few years ago. It’s been a real mix of the established and the new all hitting the heights together – a real fierce and yet oh so welcoming mix. We’re also seeing Rock bands sell out venues, young kids listening to music a decade ago might have been dead to them.
When I listen to an album like ‘Exile and Grace’ though, I’m still here again, unsure what to say, unsure what I can add about how important and rich and assured and vast it sounds. All I can do it play it again and each time I do I hear more and it gives more.
Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s just before grunge hit I heard a handful of albums that have stayed with me to this day – albums that always sound fresh, albums where even the ‘lesser’ cuts still resonate – debuts from bands like Thunder, bands like Skin, bands that really managed to harness the essence of what makes Rock such a compelling and addictive form of music. Since then over the intervening years of course there have been many more great albums, but this year 2017 is starting to feel like the rebirth of something that has been threatening for way too long.
King King’s ‘Exile and Grace’, is King King’s fourth album, nine tracks long with a bonus cover of Whitesnake’s ‘Give Me All Your Love’ it’s an album that both manages to transport me back in time and at the same time reassure me that the future may well be so bright I will need to don shades. It may well be that King King is now undisputedly the best Blues Rock band on the planet.
Opening up with the huge ‘(She Don’t) Give Me No Lovin” you’re immediately overwhelmed by the sheer quality of the sound, hit by the huge riffs, pummelled by the rhythm section and lifted above the heads of the crowd when the hook comes. It’s a heady mix and a song that recalls instantly why bands like Thunder and vintage Whitesnake had so much power to move the listener. It’s also a song that fills you with an overwhelming sense of power and wonder, eager anticipation for the next and a small pang of fear that asks you gently ‘surely they can’t possibly sustain this?’
‘Heed the Warning’ dulls that voice immediately as it sweeps you up in its almost narcotic mix of Bluesy slow burn and swagger, with Alan Nimmo phrasing like Danny Bowes before the glorious refrain kicks in. ‘Broken’ adds a little more fuel to the fire as it rolls and the embers start to glow, before the soft arms of the ballad ‘Find Your Way Home’ add a smoky, heady, delicacy to the mix and settles the argument once and for all – this my friends is one hell of a ride.
‘Tear It All Up’ that follows adds some sweeping melody and a cocky confidence that the party has really started now, while ‘Betrayed Me’ a song that grows like a snowball with each listen adds ever more fuel to that collective fire and amps up the blues and smoke in Alan Nimmo’s rich and soulful voice. On an album which started at such a high, it suddenly feels that there is no way down.
The best thing about ‘Exile and Grace’ must surely be the complex and rich combination of elements: from the soulful vocals, the wonderful guitar, fluid and solid rhythm section and the sheer quality of the material, not to mention a lush and soulful production that lets the songs really breathe. It’s the perfect storm.
Getting towards the final stretch ‘Long Time Running’ brings more of the party and really gets the blood pumping with a groove that pulls you into the throng; ‘Nobody Knows Your name’ another wonderful moment, captures a light Southern breeze and lets it bleed into the music, adding yet another layer. And it’s all to soon that the final track ‘I Don’t Wanna Lie’ comes. As final words go it’s up there with classic closing tracks – a wonderful, joyous slice of traditional Blues rock with a swing that keeps that foot tapping and head nodding.
So what do you do when the final notes ring out on an album like this? You hit that website and you book your tickets for January and then you wait until the Winter comes and King King is in town.
King King’s new album “Exile & Grace” is released by Manhaton Records on 6th October 2017. Their UK tour kicks off at London Shepherd’s Bush Empire on Wednesday 17th January 2018. Tickets: www.kingking.co.uk/tour
