(c) 2022 InsideOut Music/Sony Music
- Let It Rain
- Flood, Pt. 1
- Nothing But The Truth
- Give It Up
- All God's Children
- Take The Time
- Festival
- Swipe Up
- Holidays
- Watcher
- She Called Me Home
- Every Everywhere
dUg Pinnick--Lead Vocals, Bass
Ty Tabor--Guitars, Vocals
Jerry Gaskill--Drums, Vocals
I have never been what you might call a King's X fan, although I have generally appreciated what the band has done musically. I think their initial trio of albums, Out Of The Silent Planet, Gretchen Goes To Nebraska, and Faith, Hope, Love, is pretty amazing, actually, and I still own my original copies of all three of those. But, no, I'm not really a fan. Now, a friend of mine, Matt, is DEFINITELY a fan, and he tried more than once to turn me onto the band beyond the casual listening I would give it. We spent a couple of years together on college radio, and while I would occasionally spin "Over My Head" from Gretchen..., and "It's Love" from Faith, Hope, Love, Matt would be digging into "Moanjam" and "Six Broken Soldiers" and other deeper tracks. Me? I just couldn't get there, which is odd, as I love Galactic Cowboys, a band that is frequently tied to King's X, both as musical collaborators and stylistic compatriots. Heck, I think I even turned Matt onto the Galactic Cowboys purely because of his love for King's X. But for me, after those first three albums, I was pretty much done with King's X, although I have owned their self-titled album in the past...and Dogman at least three times...but nothing ever stuck. By the time they had released Please Come Home...Mr. Bulbous at the turn of the century, I had given up ever trying to get into the band again, and I don't think I can name a single King's X song from any album post-2000.
So, now it is 2022, and the cult-favorite band is gearing up to release their 13th studio album, and their first in 14 years (I had to look that up, as I simply couldn't believe it had been that long!). There have been various reasons for the layoff, not least of which has been health problems, with Gaskill surviving two heart attacks and Pinnick fighting through a lymph node infection of some sort. As such, the new album, Three Sides Of One, has been hinted at and discussed in the media since at least 2018. With so many 80s bands coming out of seeming retirement over the past decade or so, it really should come as no shock that King's X has joined the party, but how they would return was a question on many fans minds...and my non-fan mind, also.
The album kicks off in a big way with possibly the heaviest track on the record, "Let It Rain". By "heavy" I'm not implying this is a heavy metal track, but there is definitely a heft to this melodic rocker that cannot be dismissed. Pinnick's voice is as strong and catchy to my ear as it has ever been, and his bass just dominates the bottom end of this track which carries a definite Led Zeppelin discordant vibe to it. Tabor, who I will admit is a seriously underrated guitar player, rips into an equally edgy and aggressive solo, which has my interest piqued instantly. I have to say that I was as impressed by this opening track as I have been by ANY King's X song since Faith, Hope, Love, which is saying a lot considering the volume of material the band has assembled through the years.
The following track, "Flood, Pt. 1", is another surprise to my ears, as the track starts off with some 80s-inspired keys, only to be countered by fierce, harsh guitar tones...which are then quickly ditched in favor of a far more laid back, melodic style on the verse sections. Those abrasive guitar chords return in the chorus sections which also feature the band's trademark layered harmony vocals that have been perfectly honed over nearly four decades as a band. At just a hair over three minutes in length, "Flood,, Pt. 1" is both everything I would expect from King's X and NOTHING I would expect from the band.
"Nothing But The Truth" is a slow, plodding melancholic tune that stands so starkly apart from the opening two tracks that it really should have been placed elsewhere on the disc. Pinnick's vocals stretch perfectly across the bluesy ballad's riffs, soaring to the peaks and plummeting to the valleys, but even the great vocal performance can't offset the fact that this track just doesn't fit where it is placed and I think it's going to have a car wreck effect for many listeners. It did for me; the jolt is just that big!
Things get back up to speed with "Give It Up", which gets the band the closest to what I would consider to be a classic King's X sound thus far, with gritty rhythm guitars, a solid voice from dUg's bass, and sharp, snappy drums from Gaskill. A simplistic chorus and a basic three chord rock style belie what is actually a fairly complex song, particularly when the solo section drops after the second chorus and is as much a percussion solo as a guitar solo. Basic-yet-progressive might be a good description of the work here.
"All God's Children" is a hauntingly beautiful track that manages to work around the insanely plodding tempo and down-tuned guitars, thanks in large part to the exquisitely layered harmony vocals that are such a huge part of who King's X is. To be honest, this is one of a handful of tracks that reminds me of Enuff Z'Nuff's darker material, taking that 70s-era, psychedelic Beatles sound and warping it even further with a series of dark twists that are offset by the soaring "whoas" and "ahhs" of the vocals.
"Take The Time" again reminds me of something the Beatles, or more likely Enuff Z'Nuff, would put forth, utilizing a lot of acoustic instrumentation and a slight ringing reverb on the vocals. The only problem I have with this track is that we are now on a somewhat serious downswing tempo-wise, with "Nothing But The Truth", "All God's Children" and "Take The Time" all in seriously slow territory, with only "Give It Up" doing anything to disrupt this downshift. Fortunately, "Festival" ramps things back up with a jolting, punkish effort which finds Gaskill taking a turn on lead vocals, sounding for all the world like yet another Enuff Z'Nuff-styled track in the process.
"Swipe Up" churns out some chunky riffs that border on metal but the track doesn't quite cross that line in an uptempo romp that breaks up the slower-paced material, but only briefly, as "Holidays" drifts right back to slower Enuff Z'Nuff territory. Now, before you start getting angry at me for all the EZ'N references, understand that I really like that band, and...well, that's what a lot of this material reminds me of. It's not a bad thing to my ears, but not what I was thinking the album was going to shake out to be after the first four songs. The tempo stagnation has a lot to do with this, I would imagine, and the tracks that don't have dUg on lead vocals tend to all take on that trippy vibe that EZ'N is so well known for.
"Watcher" changes things up a bit, bringing in a bit of a Rush vibe to a really good mid-tempo rocker that is among my top four songs of the album. The rhythm guitars have a gritty bite to them, while the leads slide in among the chunky riffs with a 70s retro rock style that is a lot of fun to hear. And, of course, the vocals are the centerpiece here, even with dUg's lower ranged vocals being relegated to a back-up role here. Good stuff that I really wish the band would have explored more fully throughout the record.
"She Called Me Home" is another slow tune, which really shouldn't be a surprise at this point, as so much of this album is on the downward side of midtempo. "She Called Me Home" is probably my favorite of the slower material, however, with a big false ending in the middle that is interrupted by Tabor's tastiest solo of the album, an extended treat that runs out the rest of the song. This run really showcases the underappreciated talent of the man, and I think I could listen to him bend strings in this soulful style all day long!
"Every Everywhere" closes the album in fine fashion, again putting forward one of the most King's X-sounding songs on the effort, although the influence of the Beatles is impossible to miss here, as it is throughout so much of the album, although a nod to Zeppelin is present here, also. Tabor puts on another clinic on soulful lead playing, and Pinnick is everywhere on this track, both vocally and on the bass, again leaving me to really wish the band had spent more time in this realm.
One note I think may be of importance here is that I don't view this as an album of singles as much as I view it as an album of moods. There isn't a lot in the way of stand-alone tracks here, and the album doesn't really lend itself to ADHD-styled listening. This is an album that I think would be greatly appreciated on vinyl by those who have the time to let the music surround them and soak into their soul, the way a lot of people listen to Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin. To be 100% candid, I think if you took "Let It Rain", "Flood, Pt. 1", "Give It Up", and "Festival" off the album, it might make for a smoother, more flowing album that would be easier to listen to for a guy like me. As it stands, the jolting jumps followed by long stretches of down-tempo material are a bit hard to digest.
Three Sides Of One definitely features some of the the best songs I have heard from King's X in many, many years, but it also seems to get a bit lost in its identity from time to time. Which version of the band is King's X trying to be here? No, as an album it doesn't touch the greatness of the band's 1988-1990 output, but it does showcase a band that is very comfortable with itself...whatever version they want to put forward...and one that is very skilled at what it does. There is no questioning the musical talent on display throughout Three Sides Of One, and it sounds like the guys are happy to be making music as a band again. Fans of the band's heavier, more metallic output will likely be disappointed that Three Sides... doesn't spend a lot of time in that arena, and those who are seeking an album full of deep, proggy material will likewise be let down. However, for those who are all about the layered vocals, the more progressive-meets-psychedelic types of melodic music the band has dabbled in through the years, this album may be just what you have been holding out hope for. There is still a lot of energy in the band and it shows on Three Sides Of One in a variety of ways, just maybe not in the ways that everyone may have expected, especially if they were expecting a more uptempo rock album, because that is not what Three Sides Of One is.
Rating: Not quite crankable, Three Sides Of One is still definitely Rock worthy, checking in at a solid 6.5! Let's all hope its not 14 years before we get another album from this powerhouse trio!
