An interesting one this, with the band recording earlier material from before their debut CD. It’s NOT unreleased demos or live tracks. One obvious benefit of this is that the musicianship will be top notch plus you get a modern production. It is a very heavy album overall, much more so than their debut release.

The title track rumbles along nicely with a deep bass and guitar lines, whilst ‘Rock Pile’ is catchy melodic rocker. ‘Working Man’ benefits from a modern sound with chiming guitar lines giving way to heavy riffs on the chorus. ‘Bad Luck’ rides in on a Sabbath sound and features strong soloing from Doug Pinnick. King’s X do pop punk (honest!) on ‘Won’t Turn Back’, with double time drumming and fast repeat chorus. The eleven minute epic ‘Johnny’ ably highlights the band’s musical skills and if you enjoy instrumenatl workouts then this is the track for you.

An unusual step for band to record old songs never released before but it works well and just proves that King’s X has always possessed quality from the start. Even better news is that the band has older songs that could be done in this way in the future!

****

Review by Jason Ritchie