Flashback CD Review #68 - Cavalier King - The Sun Revolutions

This review was written for the Rock Is Life.com website in 2006.

Cavalier King
The Sun Revolutions
Rubric Records - 2006
http://www.cavalierkingrules.com

What's The 4-1-1?

The New York based band is the creation of singer-songwriter Chris Taylor. Their debut album tells the tail of a failed hero trying to save his epic love and himself from evil.

Genre

Rock / Indie Rock

The Good

I found a lot of the music really enjoyable. There's a nice guitar sound in a few of the songs like "Sun Revolution", "Angels of Man" and "Victory". The last song of those three is a rather rousing track. It closes the album on a very high energy and lively note. It has a great rock feel to it.

"The Unprotected" is another great track and the first in the album's running order where the music and lyrics mesh together well.

The Bad

While some songs are merely okay or simply come across as flat to my ear, my main issue with the album is the vocal work. The first two songs on the CD ("Renegade" and "Sun Revolution") feature a very lackadaisical vocal delivery. I really hated that method of delivery. The vocals do get better overall, but it was just not something that really attracted my interest to start.

The Verdict

The Cavalier King album features 10 songs that mix in a rock, folk and the singer-songwriter styles. It's a decent album overall but does have some flaws, mainly in the vocal styling employed. I mentioned that a folk music tone is evident, but in fact the music is borne out of Taylor's involvement in the anti-folk scene.

I wouldn't necessarily dub myself a newly minted fan of Cavalier King, but there is enough material on the album to have me wanting to hear more from the group / Chris Taylor in the future.

Did You Know?

The Sun Revolutions was written in Chris Taylor's Brooklyn, New York apartment. Taylor also works as a painter.

Rating: 2 1/2 out of 5