Sometimes I wonder how an artist keeps creating good material. King's X is one such band. Each release always impresses me with its quality songs and strong musicianship. This album is no exception.
The title track starts off the album with a great heavy riff. The lyrics reflect, "remembering the times I pray, to let me take my thoughts away, to think about another day, to help me deal with me..." Like the first album, a believer looking for that public confession of faith has to dig this time. This album (the band's fifth) seems to find the song writers angry. "Shoes" asks the question, "Is it still a blessed thing to live and live some more?" The song "Pretend" finds a guy upset about a failed relationship: "I take the longest walks they always do me good/ I just indulge myself in sorrow singing blues...I'd rather be alone, I won't get hurt again/ I pretend." Hmmm. I guess the guys in King's X are real human beings!
The monster bass makes its presence known, along with Ty's harmonic volume knob swells in "Pretend." The song "Flies & Blue Skies" has a somber tempo that forces you to listen with some great Texas blues flavored guitar leads. Lyrically it finds the band philosophizing about living in this world: "There is life and there is death, and the difference between either one is one single breath."
"Cigarettes" has an esoteric jam with all kinds of atmospheric guitar sounds that is sure to please musicians of all styles.
"Fool You" talks about walking "in a big parade," where everyone is "trying to fool you." It makes one wonder who this generalized "everyone" is. "Don't Care" belies the fact that "I don't care like I used to," which can sometimes be good -- if a person doesn't care about public opinion -- but can be sad when it comes to not caring about another person. Perhaps a frank admission to a lack of compassion? The chorus says, "I don't care about you/ I just don't care like I used to/ I just care about you."
"Sunshine Rain" is another interesting tune. Slower than most of the rest, it comes across as a friend talking honestly with the listener. "There's a thorn in my side and I feel like I'm standing in the middle of a battlefield/ Oh Lord I try/ I walk thru sunshine rain...a friend of mine who's fallen down a million times/ told me, 'Feelings never go away/ you have to learn to live this way/ and keep yourself alive'/ that's what he said."
"Complain" is a humorous melodic and fast song juxtaposing someone with something worth complaining over and us western world people complaining over minor inconveniences. "Lots of people cryin' for a little rain/ whole nation learning how to live with pain/ I don't know how I'm gonna clean this little stain/ I complain/ so much easier."
The one song that makes the biggest evangelical-like statement is the punk-paced "Go To Hell," which bluntly tells all that "no one in their right mind wants to go there."
A King's X first is a cover tune that appears here. Who else but another trio with a black man fronting -- The Jimi Hendrix Experience. The tune is "Manic Depression." The entire album has a live feel to it, but this one song has the sampling of a live audience at beginning and end. Doug Pinnick's voice, which takes the prominent role throughout the entire album, sounds great here.
The production difference between Sam Taylor, who had produced the band's previous four albums, and Brendan O'Brien is very noticeable. Much of the slick-ness of the King's X trademark harmonies is gone and the rawness that was hinted at on the first album and has always been there in concert is here. This album has the edge without taking away from the King's X sound. Of all the albums, this one sounds more like a "slice of life" from this moment in the band's career. Good or bad, this is King's X today. I like it.