Album Review: King's X - Three Sides Of One

King's X is one of those bands that seems to be adored by every 'real' music fan. The people who fall under the category of 'music nerd' have always held them up as one of the most underrated bands of all time, but for whatever reason, I don't think I've ever listened to one of their records. The closest I have come is the side-project Supershine, but that was because it featured one of the guitar players from Trouble, and not anything to do with King's X. I wasn't avoiding them out of any sense of contrarianism, but I didn't have any desire to to hear what I was supposedly missing out on. That changes today.

Right off the bat, I'm left rather confused by what is supposed to be so amazing. "Let It Rain" gets off to a slow crawl of an opening, and the chorus is an odd dirge of swaying notes and a not very memorable melody. The production of the record isn't helping, but everything sounding a bit muffled and unpolished. It almost sounds like a demo, which is only reinforced when the guitar solo comes in and feels like it's out of tune. Perhaps there are some deeply theory-centric chords being used, but nothing about this song is impressive to me as someone listening without that deep well of musical knowledge.

Up next we get "Flood Pt 1", which has a riff that should be deep and heavy, but the production leaves it feeling flabby instead. There's enough fuzz where it comes across to my ears like it was improperly recorded. I find it deeply unpleasant to listen to, and I didn't want to keep going. There's also the nit to pick where the song is named as part one, but there is no part two on the record. So what is it the first part of? It doesn't make any sense, but at least it gives me something to think about while the song is busy failing to impress me.

The trend continues through the whole of the record. The songs are only decent as best, and I don't hear a lot of great guitar or bass playing to point me in the direction of the band's supposed greatness either. To my ears, this sounds like one of the bands that never made it big for obvious reasons. If this is in any way representative of their career, I'm at no loss to explain why King's X has spent these decades in the underground. There simply aren't any songs here that are going to compete with the best everyone else is putting out.

"Give It Up" has one of those 'whoa oh' choruses that comes across like a pastiche of classic pop music, by people who don't understand what made that music work. This album is a dirge to sit through, between the slow tempos, the sludgy production, and the lack of a bright side (in both meanings of the term).

I'm not going to spend any more time dwelling on this, because the album isn't offensively bad in the way that inspires creative thinking. This record is just dull all around, and one of the most forgettable pieces of music I've heard this year. I know a lot of people treat King's X as legends, but this record doesn't give me any reason to believe them.