No More Kings, by No More Kings
Reviewed by Andy Scott-Morrissey
So. I’ve been loving this project. From the moment Craig put his first post up I was fully on board. Being a music lover who.is often seeking new experiences the concept resonated with me instantly.
Naturally when the opportunity arose to contribute towards 1000 Albums with a guest review I absolutely jumped at the chance.
Now. Being a Dj by trade i was reasonably confident that whatever the randomizer threw at me there was a good chance I would already at least have heard of the band and probably have some sort of idea of where they lay on the musical landscape. So “who would I get” I thought. “Maybe Some Megadeth or Metallica!”….. “Could be Tenacious D!” …..”Aww Man what if I got some Eminem or even Prodigy?” “There’s endless exciting possibilities here” I thought. I built myself up in anticipation and worked myself into a right frenzy. The day came. And what did the randomiser throe me out?…..
“No More Kings”…
“Who?”….
Now I know the usual practice is to jump over to Wikipedia for a quick check to get the lowdown but as you can imagine. I don’t often get the chance to go into something musical completely blind so I stayed my hand and decided to just let this speak for itself.
I don’t know if its just me that does this but whenever I hear something new I instantly try to place it or relate it to other music. Which brought me to the first thing. Where does this Live?
Well thats tricky. But in a good way. This sound is pretty Eclectic and beautifully crafted together from a wide range of genre’s. Three things are instantly apparent. Firstly its Funky! Not funky in a “SilverPlatform Boots and jumpsuit” kind of way but in a “Red Hot Chilli Peppers” way. This seems to be the glue that binds the rest of musical elements together.
Secondly. The vocalist sounds an awful lot like the Dude from Maroon 5. Like…. A Lot!
And Thirdly. This album is Most definitely not to be taken seriously at all.
What we have here is a collection of songs that seem to be referencing various Pop culture icons from my childhood. The first three songs being about Zombies, The Karate Kid, and Knight Rider respectively.
This high energy music is played Skillfully with top notch Musicianship. The guitar work in particular stands out as the driving force. This is delivered with an extremely high standard of production and when combind with the familiar subject matter we seem to have a recipe for something very special…. Which is actually the problem with this Album.
You see. These themes and Subjects are Great Fun and a real laugh. I found myself shuffling about with a huge grin on my face and even laughed out loud a couple of times. In particular the song “Sweep The Leg” which focuses on Johnny from the Cobra Kai Dojo in “The Karate Kid” had me absolutely loving it.
In the bigger musical picture though this isn’t sustainable and after the first three tracks I found myself becoming a little bored. These themes are great for a song or two but I can’t help but feel all of the skill and greatness is kind of wasted on such a shallow concept and there’s a feeling that although the package is Well put together, it lacks the depth that it deserves and cries out for. By the time it does begin to reach something meaningful in the form of the song “This” the album has fizzled out and lost momentum.
All in all this album serves its purpose as a “bit of a Laugh” perfectly. Its most definitely entertaining and worth a listen. Especially with friends. But I don’t expect to be revisiting it too often and if I do it certainly won’t have the same initial impact as the first listen.
I give this album a shallow 5/10 Like a party Popper, its great for impact but little use afterwards.