You can trust Louder
With their critical star in the ascendancy and a string of acclaimed albums in the bag, it’s only right that King King augment their catalogue with a live album. For most bands a live release is often simply box-ticking. Not so here as this DVD (from Holmfirth Picturedrome in April 2016) and double CD (from Glasgow’s O2 ABC in May 2016) demonstrate.
The sold-out Glasgow gig is terrific, the band feeding off the energy of the audience to give a righteously confident performance. Alan Nimmo’s soulful vocals drive Waking Up, Rush Hour, You Stopped The Rain and Let Love In, while his guitar playing meshes perfectly with Bob Fridzema’s lush keyboards. Live chemistry is hard to capture, but the spontaneity and chops distilled here emphasise the reason for King King’s impressive career trajectory so far.
Whether it’s magazines, books or online, Essi has been writing about rock ’n’ metal for around thirty years. He has been reviews editor for Classic Rock and Metal Hammer, rock reviews editor for lads mag Front and worked for Kerrang!. He has also written the Rough Guide to Heavy Metal and contributed to the Rough Guide to Rock and Rough Guide Book of Playlists, and the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles (13th edition). Most fun interview? Tenacious D – Jack Black and Kyle Gass – for The Pick of Destiny movie book. An avid record/CD/tape collector, he’s amassed more music than he could ever possibly listen to, which annoys his wife no end.