More often than not, these side project albums can be a bit hit and miss as the tunes don’t live up to the hype. Now, I’m a huge fan of KingsX. The first five albums are all pure gold, I love Eric Gales’ playing, and I have only heard of Thomas Pridgen through his work with Mars Volta, so to say I was I was intrigued by this get together would be an understatement.
Opening track Collateral Damage has a sort of fusion groove going down, which is cool but it’s when the blues/funk vibes kick in that this album really comes into its own. Angels And Aliens is super cool with a great groove and solo. Hang On Big Brother is superb and really floats my boat. Killer groove and main riff plus Eric lets those fingers fly. Hate Crime is a close run for favourite track as the groove and feel are epic, plus it sounds so deep and heavy. This is what I was hoping the whole album to be like.
Lascivious sounds like a song that Hendrix would write if he was around today. Been So High is the big blues workout with Eric showing that he is the most underrated player around today. Killer stuff! The Greatest Love sounds freakin’ incredible. That echo and stereo split on the guitar is outstanding and is my favourite by a mile.
When these guys are on, boy do they cook!
9/10 from The Grooveman.
