Gotta love it when some homegrown rock comes across your desk, and when that album promises hard hitting rock and roll, such as the debut album, Overthrown, from Melbourne rockers King’s Vengeance, it would be just un-Australian to not throw it on!
Leading with the title track, King’s Vengeance plunge you straight into a maelstrom of malicious intent with a spluttering and sporadic opening salvo that suggests these guys will not be delivering anything by the numbers. When things settle down, we are met with a more measured vocal attack that settles things into more of a steady pace.
The vocals are dominant so far, creating a sonic landscape that harks back to the earlier glory days of metal, with a touch of underlying fuzziness that brings the music into more modern territory. This is a fun, frolicking track that is punctuated by distorted guitar and effects. Nice, punchy way to kick things off.
Burn It Down follows with more fuzziness in the guitar tone that soon gives way to warm, encouraging vocals that are void of malice. So far King’s Vengeance have laid the platform for everything they promised – high-voltage hard rock, explosive riffs and raw, unapologetic energy.
Burn It Down has an underlying sense of menace, but on the surface plays things relatively straight – which is by no means a bad thing. Rather than go off in tangents musically, this song uses the vocal range of frontman/guitarist Dimitri Stathopoulos to give the song meaning and structure, which makes the tasty guitar solo that enters about midway even more endearing. The solo lingers for a spell before the song eases back into a grunge/rock swagger that just wouldn’t be complete without one more solo, would it?
Mystery starts full of venom, much rockier than the first two songs courtesy of a wicked guitar riff that fades as Dimitri picks up the vocals and keeps the vibe going. He has a unique blending of grunge angst with rock attitude dripping from his vocals, allowing King’s Vengeance to shift between different variances of the rock genre with ease.
This works in their favour, allowing the band to come at you with a full-frontal attack before pulling back and striking you with a more subtle tone that still packs the same punch. The guitar solo in this track is much more intricate than on the first two tracks, the fuzziness of the tone replaced by crisp, deliberate notes that fuse Mystery together.
This track also sees drummer Chris Stathopoulos become busier, while bass player Bevan Kelly glues the whole band together with a pulsating bottom end that leads each track around the park.
Down sees Chris come to the fore even more, starting with a nice drum fill before bass and guitars join the sonic journey. Dimitri seems to be singing within himself a touch more on this track, as if he were wanting to sit just below the surface and dictate terms on emotion more than force.
This is a catchy, swirling track that has all the hallmarks of early Soundgarden and/or Tool stylings. Not to say that King’s Vengeance are carbon copies of either band, but you can tell they listened to this era of music more than casually in their formative years.
Dimitri lets loose once more on the guitar, his solos become more purposeful and dominant as the album goes on. Which is not a bad thing at all…
Keep Moving starts with a catchy bass run that soon settles down into a blues sounding number complete with groove and a touch of funk. This is another musical tangent in which King’s Vengeance invite the listener on, and is a welcome distraction from the faster pace of the songs that preceded it.
The guitar lick is all funk and blues, with even the vocal delivery finding a sense of sorrow and mourning that is usually reserved for the classic blues numbers. Keep Moving offers a healthy blending of blues, rock and funk that could have sounded out of place with the rest of the record if it wasn’t so damned good!
Saviour begins with a rush of drums and guitar, offering a more urgent opening salvo that sets things up nicely for a harder edged track. But instead things grind to a halt before Dimitri croons over the silence, a solitary guitar riff trailing gently beneath his voice.
It’s an interesting segue into the meatier part of the track that fires up gently, but not to the same intensity offered up by the initial moments of Saviour. It’s an interesting way to craft this song, hinting at one thing before diverting to another, but although the notion had me thinking momentarily it soon passed when Dimitri started choking his guitar and elevated the sonic landscape on the back of a brief but impactful solo.
This soon looped King’s Vengeance directly back to the start of the song, with a sporadic bout of drum rolls standing out like a beacon in the night. The band then slows things up again before shifting through the gears a couple more times until the track draws to a close. After checking the running length to find it comes in at just over 8 minutes, it makes more sense that there were so many variables at play on Saviour, but personally I would have liked to hear the emotions explored over that length of time spread of two distinct pieces of music. But I’m more old school, so what would I know?
A hint of guitar followed by a dense display of drumming introduces Enemies and from the outset you know exactly where King’s Vengeance are going with this one. Straight to trouble town on a one way ticket!
This is a faster paced track with a catch drum shuffle that drags you along into a world of raw, unbridled passion told through the power of verse. Dimitri maintains a strong guitar structure, sporadically winding himself up with brief bursts of aggression, but it’s that chunky bottom end that drives Enemies to perfection.
As if on cue, Dimitri lurches into a tough as fuck guitar solo that rises and falls with the temptation of the darker side of life. His vocals soar majestically over the landscape with beautiful ease, but it’s the unrelenting undercurrent that runs through Enemies that makes it my pick of the album so far.
Home has an acoustic feel to it as deliberately picked guitar notes resonate softly in the distance. When the bass and drums kick in, they do so at a steady tempo, laying the platform for a gentle rock track that allows Dimitri to showcase the softer side of his voice. He handles the transition beautifully, not overplaying his hand as some singers do on the token album ballad.
Instead, he softly makes his point amid moments of melancholy that are accentuated by a brooding guitar score that settles in smoothly with the delicate drum patterns that ensure Home retains its mood of casual sorrow and discontent. A couple of tasty guitar solos drift in and out as Home draws to a peaceful close, ushering in Lie amid a chunky guitar intro that restores the status quo. This has much more by way of urgency, with a prolonged intro of drums and guitar setting the tone for a rock drenched number laced with a softer blues underbelly.
Dimitri sings within himself once more, managing to keep things at an even keel despite the faster tempo of the music around him. He has a great ability to alter the range of his vocals effortlessly to slide in and out of the rock spectrum without sounding unhinged. Not an easy thing to do.
Lie does retreat into itself somewhat as the track goes on, but this only allows Dimitri extra space with which to ply his trade, and the song is all the better for it. Around the halfway point, he gives his voice a rest for long enough to pump out another tasty solo that lingers long enough to give Bevan time to take his bass for a casual run.
This track perhaps best encapsulates the overall vibe of Overthrown, utilising moments of faster paced urgency with more restrained and deliberate interplay. It is a method often tried in music but seldom achieved with as much aplomb as King’s Vengeance have pulled off on this album, which says plenty about the way they have approached this recording.
The Gathering Of Armies/Day Of Glory takes us full circle as we go back to the fuzzier, almost stoner rock feel of the first two songs on the album. But this time the band have put away the pleasantries, showcasing a more intense side to their music that ebbs and flows in and within itself to reveal an engaging instrumental piece that covers a wide spectrum of sub-genres within the rock/metal realm.
The tempo shuffles, quickens then relaxes multiple times before the track hits the five-minute mark and changes direction suddenly into a more withdrawn and comforting tune that is almost whimsical in its approach before King’s Vengeance tire of the pleasantries and reignite the flame.
I’m not normally a fan of instrumentals, but King’s Vengeance have structured The Gathering Of Armies/Day Of Glory in such a manner to keep the track engaging throughout. Enough that I let it play to the end anyway.
Overthrown comes to a close with the track Let Go, seemingly another fuzz infused rock/grunge hybrid tune. It returns the sound to a similar feel as the opening two songs, and I find myself wondering if King’s Vengeance deliberately placed two of their more accessible tracks at either end of the album to act as bookends of sorts?
Let Go is punctuated by more guitar solos to go with the steady tempo that allows Overthrown to motor to the finish line courtesy of a repeated haze of guitar that fades into itself, leaving a sense of unfinished business that I am sure King’s Vengeance plan to rectify on their next release.
