This Friday, August 13, 2021 will see Melbourne’s alternative rockers THE UGLY KINGS release their new and hotly anticipated album, Strange, Strange Times, via Napalm Records.
THE UGLY KINGS may channel the flavor of groups like Queens Of The Stone Age or Danzig, but their distinctive, revitalizing infusion of dark energy is evident while preserving razor sharp, daringly introspective control with clever lyricism, addictive riffage, catchy melodies and a heavy power blues flavor. Following 2018’s Darkness Is My Home, which was lauded by the global music press upon release, with Strange, Strange Times, the four- piece is poised to turn heads and continues to infuse their foreboding alt-rock with blackened blues and gritty punk edge.
After the previously- released singles, the catchy yet punk-infused anthem “Technodrone” and smoldering blues rock standout, “The Devil Comes With A Smile”, today the Australian four- piece has shared a brand new video! The furious “Strange, Strange Times” punches from 0 to 60 at the start of its five-and-a-half minute introductory album title track, before frontman Russell Clark brings the listener back down to earth with his ominous, Jim Morrison-esque croons of blissful ignorance amid relentless chaos.
“Strange, Strange Times is about anxiety,” the band comments. “The world seems to be getting weirder and weirder every year and we are becoming more and more in touch with everything that is happening on earth as it happens. It’s impossible to process and impossible to make sense of. Strange, Strange Times is the low hum that we all carry around with us every day, the itch on our back that we can’t scratch, it’s the first cut in a thousand cuts. Take a deep breath, close your eyes and count to ten.”
Each song on their new album is about a different state of mind in this indeed strange, strange time. Both lyrically and musically, THE UGLY KINGS have created a captivating and enthralling ride, and in a scene in which gimmick-free, angsty, inspired rock n’ roll is becoming increasingly difficult to come by, Strange, Strange Times is a breath of welcomed air!
Coming out in LP, CD and Digital formats on August 13, 2021 via Napalm Records, the album pre orders are available now from: smarturl.it/StrangeStrangeTimes.
Band Exclusive ‘Mind Decay’ Marble Vinyl Edition is available direct from their Bandcamp Store: theuglykings.bandcamp.com