KING'S X: Three Sides Of One (HARD ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

King's X is back for a sixteenth album, here is a highly improbable event 14 years after his last record "XV" and while two of his musicians were actively pursuing their activities outside the band. Indeed, between Dug Pinnick on the one hand, who is having fun with his numerous projects (a very good "Joy Bomb" last year, his bands KXM and Pinnick Gales Pridgen) and Ty Tabor on the other hand, who regularly produces his solo albums (the recent "Shades" is very efficient), the two companions could let us think that King's X was not a priority. Yet the trio has been working on this record since 2019, but Dug and Jerry's health concerns did not allow them to finalize the work earlier.

What best symbolizes the spirit of communion that reigns in the record is the equal sharing of vocals, with each of the three musicians taking the lead mic three times. The other three tracks are naturally sung entirely in a three-part chorus. No need to insist on the vocal richness developed here, King's X is a reference in the genre and what stands out the most in this sector is the desire to federate around quickly assimilated refrains ('Give It Up', the "ouhouh" of 'Nothing But The Truth'). We will always have a preference for the impeccable performances of Dug, terribly in verve and able to push his voice to heights (on 'Never Give Up' for example) as if he was only half of his 71 years.

Musically it is difficult to extract a title more than another, "Three Sides Of One" navigates between calibrated rock formats and pop ballads, the whole in the very characteristic style of the trio. The content of the songs doesn't bother with additional instrumentation (except for the ballad 'Take The Time' and the experimental 'Flood Part 1' which invite some discreet violins) and privileges the raw rock approach for an immediate effect. It's the King's X in its natural state that expresses itself and relies on the vocal harmony and the variations on the sounds (guitar, bass) to color its compositions.

So is this album a good vintage ? Honesty forces moderation. No real fault in this record but few moments to mark the spirits and allow the album to rise to the level of the first three gems of the band, "Dogman" or "Ear Candy". The listening of "Three Sides Of One" is easy and pleasant with on the one hand the very good heavy beginning of 'Let It Rain', the direct 'Give It Up', the dynamic 'Festival' close to Foo Fighters or the luminous pop-rock of 'Every Everywhere', and on the other hand the ballads 'Nothing But The Truth' full of softness and 'All God's Children' displaying more heaviness. Beside that, 'Holidays' is a ballad without any real flavor and 'Flood Part 1' is destabilizing because of its structure made of snarls and calm verses without any real chorus.

If the desire of Dug Pinnick, Ty Tabor and Jerry Gaskill is well present, it doesn't crystallize totally in terms of inspiration in this record which contains good and average. Engaged for a very long time in independent trajectories, the musicians paradoxically show a quite other creativity in their personal works. The requirement that one expresses, and which is related to the strong legitimate expectations towards a group having proved its qualities since nearly 35 years, should not spoil the unexpected pleasure to listen to this testimony of musical vitality on behalf of a group little spared by the life these last years and which, one hopes, will mark a perennial return of King's X. - Official website

KING'S X

THREE SIDES OF ONE

INSIDEOUT MUSIC

HARD ROCK