Review by Paul Monkhouse for MPM
From theatres to arenas and onto festivals, King King have spent the last twelve years dominating every stage they walk onto, lighting up the place with their own brand of classy blues rock.
The new album ‘Maverick’ is the next evolution of their sound, a slick and powerful statement of intent that sees them bid for the super league and immortality.
The massive ‘Never Give Up’ kicks things off, placing it straight into the sort of swaggering and soulful territory that Free and Bad Company have dominated for so long.
It’s not just the music itself that has such strong echoes of those giants as main man Alan Nimmo has a voice that is three quarters Paul Rodgers and one quarter Steve Overland, the latter particularly noticeable in ‘Fire In My Soul’.
With its real 80’s vibe and high quality commercial bluesy hard rock, the track sounds like something that could have been plucked from the astounding back catalogue of FM and that is never less than a good thing.
There’s a real elan and polish to the album that speaks volumes about the quality of the players and the songwriting, the band digging deep into some of the best music of the past fifty years as their touchstones.
From the beautifully produced and passionate ballads like ‘Whatever It Takes To Survive’ and the piano driven ‘When My Winter Comes’ through to the irresistible huge grooves of ‘I Will Not Fall’ it seems as though the Scots have truly found their mojo.
With brother Steve back in the band as part of a line-up shuffle, this new model of King King sees Nimmo reaching higher than ever for musical Nirvana and whilst the title ‘Maverick’ is misleading in that the album is probably their more mainstream yet, there is a determination to shake things up.
Throwing into the mix the Paul Carrack-like smooth soul of ‘One World’ and juxtaposing it with driving rocker ‘Dance Together’ that shows exactly why Thunder, who it approximates in style, chose the band to open their arena tour, there is an openness to going with what feels right.
It might not be rough and ready rock ‘n’ roll and doesn’t capture the adrenaline drenched spirit of their celebratory live shows but it’s not meant to. ‘Maverick’ sees King King come of age…and it’s a wonderful thing to behold.
Maverick – pre order now from https://kingking.tmstor.es #NewMusic. “the best blues-rock band in the world” (Blues Rock Review) social media channels. https://www.kingking.co.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/kingkingband/ https://www.instagram.com/kingkinguk/ https://twitter.com/KingKingUK https://www.youtube.com/user/KingKingTV https://open.spotify.com/artist/4SXsN…
