Classic Rock Bottom

Kyng - Burn The Serum

(from Amazon.com) The Los Angeles trio, Kyng s roar could easily tip the Southern California Richter Scale. On their second full-length album and first for Razor & Tie, Burn The Serum, the trio harks back to the essence of heavy rock 'n' roll, forging thunderous percussion to lightning hot riffs driven by a divine vocal howl. At the same time, they keep their eyes wide open towards the future. 

Breaking out of the City of Angels in 2011, the group's debut Trampled Sun landed shining critical acclaim for its "California Heavy" sound merging the metallic meanderings of Soundgarden and Queens of the Stone Age with the timeless scope of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. They hit the road with everybody from The Sword and Clutch to Trivium and Megadeth even being picked to play at Metallica's first-ever Orion Music + More festival. However, everything was merely leading up to Burn The Serum. Heavy Riffs. Melodic vocals. A balance between metal and rock n roll.

1. Sewn Shut

2. Faraway

3. Self Medicated Man

4. In The Land Of Pigs

5. Big Ugly Me

Black Label Society - Catacombs Of The Black Vatican

(from Amazon.com) Catacombs of the Black Vatican will stand as an enduring testament to Black Label Society s sheer force of will and mastery of each and every musical neighborhood the hard rock titans choose to stomp through. The aggressive bite of the barnstorming BLS banger Damn the Flood sits comfortably right alongside the stripped down, emotionally searing Angel of Mercy, Scars and Shades of Gray. The album s opening tracks, Fields of Unforgiveness and lead single My Dying Time, drop the throttle into swampy, down-tempo menace that wouldn t sound out of place in a Classic Rock band s catalog nor at the creative height of the grunge era. 

There s a beauty in caveman like simplicity, in the break-bottles-and-break-necks gusto of a loud power chord. To many listeners, Wylde invented pinch harmonics every bit as much as Chuck Berry s dreamt up the duck walk. When the Guitar Hero franchise was all the rage, Wylde was a playable character in the game.

Every time you re going to make a new record, it s exciting, he says of the run-up to the creation of Catacombs of the Black Vatican. When you re in the studio you can approach it like Salvador Dali where you ve got a blank canvas in front of you. You can paint a little bit, sit back and look at it and go, Oh man, let s add a little more red over here, let s make this darker over there. Because live? It s a free-for-all. People are bleeding. There s fire going on. You re getting attacked by grizzly bears...

6. Fields Of Unforgiveness

7. Believe

8. Heart Of Darkness

9. Scars

10. Empty Promises

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KYNG ... Thumbs not dotting the "I"s because they have been replaced with "y"s 

This has to be cool because they spell KYNG with a Y instead of an I and we all know how cool that is nowadays!  Y must admyt, thys ysn't trerryble starting off!  Y really lyke they're guytar tone on the lead.  And the vocals seem reasonable.  Sewn Shut, whyle not spectacular or ground breakyng was a nyce opener.  Y dydn't care for Faraway and Self Medycated Man, the syngyng went from nyce on the opener to a more forced hygher regyster that dydn't work as well.  Yn the Land of Pigs brings yt back ynto my comfort lystening zone and then the closer totally kylls it for me, that closer was not good...  2 out of 5, eh...

KYNG--Thumbs Up

Other than the last song (which was a bit messy), this is pretty good. Don't know what the above poster's problem is, but I don't find his response the least bit humorous. He needs to back to his soft-rock/pop comfort zone and stop being silly. Now, with that finally being said, the only problem I have with this is that there are now too many of these throwback bands and they are starting to sound the same. There was good riffage throughout, but I'm getting a bit tired of it. Wonder what will be next, maybe a corporate rock re-explosion?

I don't think they sound the same as the others.  Maybe a bit like The Sword, but many of the throwback bands use a bit too much distortion.  Very, very little of that here.  

It's not like I'll convince either of you anyway, which is okay.  But this, right now, is leading the pack for me this year with Jon's band The Pretty Reckless a close second.

It's a whole group with different styles on the throwback-type of music. Just getting tired of certain aspects of it, I'm more into something sounding a bit "fresher" than what the typical newer releases are. That's why I'm very excited with Space Elevator, The Pretty Reckless, Rival Sons & Headspace, to name a few. It's the stoner/sludge rock that is starting to get old. 

Remember, I liked the Kyng tracks (except for #5) but it's not something that's really that "new" or "fresh", and I can't see myself buying that album and listening to it over and over again. What's weird is that a couple years ago I would have bought this album the minute it came out, while today it's a different story.       

Black Label Society--Thumbs Up

Not really what I expected, it sounds a bit different from what I'm used to with BLS. Or maybe I forgot what their other albums sounded like and this sounds the same. I don't know. I do like this though, sounds really good. Probably too heavy for Scott.  

Nice two picks, but the more I think about it, the less I want to buy. I just can't see this as something I would constantly go back to. I dunno. I'm confused. Something's wrong.

I felt basically the same way.  His vocals seem better.  I actually like his vocals on this album.

I think the BLS-album is okay, pretty good. Especially the track Angel Of Mercy. But again, not an album, that I will listen to more than a couple of times. There haven't been ONE album released in 2014 yet, that's especially good. Best albums so far are the albums from Augustines, Roger Daltrey/Wilko Johnson, Band Of Skulls and maybe the new Ian Anderson.

After one listen, the Kyng is not something that makes me want to run out and buy it. Yet, it is good enough that I will listen again. This may be one of those "creeper" albums....it might grow on me with more listens. So far, I thought track 3, "Self Medicated Man" was the best. Followed closely by track 4, "In The Land Of Pigs". I agree with Jon on track 5. Sort of a strange track to me, but I did like the entire lead section...both lead guitar and rhythm guitar.

I bought this BLS a week or so ago, without having heard any of it. Got a verison from Best Buy that has two bonus tracks, for a total of 13. Have listened to it all the way through only once so far, but it's very good to me.

All 5 tracks here are good, with excellent lead work on all (I would n't expect any thing less from Zakk). Track 3 here, "Heart Of Darkness" is my favorite from these 5. The last track, "Empty Promises", has a great slow intro, before going into some nice power chording. Another great lead. This track is very "Sabbath like" to me.

On a side note, I will probably see Kyng live this coming Monday night, at a smaller venue called "The Masquerade" in Atlanta. I want to go because Kill Devil Hill is on the bill. I was planning on going to see them, and now that I know what Kyng is like, I'll definitely go.

Side note to RJHog....Jeff Langston, lead guitarist and vocalist for Ledfoot Messiah, told me recently he really likes this Kyng band.

I'm going to listen again right now. Very enjoyable post!

Oh, one more thing about the BLS. Even after hearing it all the way through only once so far, it's already in my top 3 BLS releases, along with "Blessed Hellride", and "Order Of The Black".

Who needs an old fart like Ozzy, anyway????

Thanks Gordon.  I think the Kyng album is fantastic.  Just listened to it again yesterday.  So far, it's my favorite album this year.  Only one weak track out of eleven on the album.  I have their previous album and it did not resonate with me.  Posted it here too I believe.  But I want to go back and give it another shot, cause I really like this new one.

BLS surprised me a bit.  I waffled on whether or not to get it.  Finally did.  Like it.  I thought his vocals are better than usual.  Especially good on the ballads.

Please let me know what you think of their live performance.  

Yes, I meant to comment on the vocals as well. I do think this may be the best vocal work he has ever done. I would n't doubt that I end up getting this Kyng, as well.

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