King King Exile & Grace cd review

Friday the 6th of October on Manhaton Records sees the release of King King's new cd Exile & Grace the follow up to 2015's Reaching For The Light and last year's Live dvd and cd.

After their high profile support to Thunder early last year and their old school approach to hitting the masses on the road with endless live shows King King's star has continued to ascend and with the band saying they wanted to add more rock to their blues I hit play.

Over the course of 9 songs and 40 minutes King King have added another stellar cd to their resume and influences abound.They have added some Thunder,Whitesnake and even an AC/DC riff or 2 to their Bad Company and Free and it is a little more rock than before but it is definitely King King developing their sound and a natural progression.

Album opener (She Don't) Gimme No Lovin' was debuted on last year's tour and was the first single and the perfect introduction to the new direction with a distinct Thunder feel and hint at AC/DC in the opening guitar riff.It then moves into a stop start guitar riff with Bob Fridzema's Hammond adding to the song depth and Lindsay Coulson's bobbing bass line prominent alongside his rhythm partner in crime the rock solid Wayne Proctor on drums.
Alan Nimmo's velvet like vocal and guitar add libs are omni present and a superb chorus built for concert audience participation.4 minutes of radio rock all wrapped up in Chris Sheldon's (Foo Fighters, Feeder and Therapy?) superb production. 

Heed The Warning starts like Deep Purple's Highway Star with Wayne's drum rhythm so powerful and it builds up with added bass and Hammond licks before Alan's guitar riff kick's in with a little bit of funk thrown into the mix too and into a slower verse that builds into a superb Alan vocal line on the chorus.
The production shines with Alan's guitar lick in one speaker and Bob's Hammond in the other and love how it all comes together in the chorus and Lindsay again showing what a class bass player he is holding it all together.

Broken is a classy rocker with Alan's vocal superb.The man has such a rich warm tone and his vocal prowess is superbly matched with his guitar riff and Bob's Hammond flourishes and one of the best choruses I have heard in many a day.

Find Your Way Home is King King at their finest with a quite stunning ballad mixing rock and blues with Alan's vocal staggering as the band take it down.The production again shines through as Bob's Hammond comes in and out of the mix alongside Lindsay's wonderful bass work.A live favourite for sure and surprisingly no guitar solo which could have taken it to an even higher level.

Photo Credit: © Rob Blackham


Tear it All Up sees Alan's stop start guitar riff as it's main stay which builds to a multi layered vocal chorus and great to see Alan adding some guitar flourishes in the second part of the verse.Another strong chorus built for audience participation before Alan tears's it all up with a short sharp fiery guitar solo that fit's so perfectly.

Betrayed Me sees a slight drop in pace with held guitar notes and Bob's Hammond really adding to the depth of the song and every time I listen I hear another part that put's a smile on my face.

Long Time Running sees Wayne's drum rhythm driving the song under Alan's stop start chunky guitar riff with Bob adding a honky tonk Hammond to the mix giving it a different feel and you can imagine in the live setting it being taken to different places as the band work on it over time.Superb chorus and Alan's guitar solo hit's the mark too.

Nobody Knows Your Name has a fine bluesy guitar riff that builds up into the chorus with the song and riff ebbing and flowing and Alan's insistent vocal on the chorus having a different feel to others.Alan's trade mark guitar solo again is short and sharp in fact with not that many lengthy guitar solo's on the album it seems it's all about the song with no song above the 5 minute mark.

I Don't Wanna Lie ends the album with another perfect made for radio chorus with Alan's vocal like hot chocolate mixed with velvet before he fires off a bluesy guitar solo showing he really is one of the world's finest vocal and guitar talent's.

Exile & Grace sees King King climb another rung up into classic rock's upper echelon jump on and enjoy the ride.

Catch them live in January 2018 at the following shows.













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