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    • Skintrade - The Show Must Go On
    • Robert Jon & The Wreck - Last Light on the Highway
    • Pat Metheny - From This Place
    • Anchor Lane - Casino
  • Selected 2023 Gig Reviews...
    • The Wilson Brothers - Backstage at the Green, Kinross
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    • Jack J Hutchinson - Bannermans, Edinburgh
    • Paul McCartney - Pyramid Stage, Glastonbury 2022
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  • Selected 2021 Gig Reviews...
    • Sweet - The Garage, Glasgow
    • The Damn Truth - Now Or Nowhere Record Release Experiment Live
    • Anchor Lane - Lockdown Live, DreadnoughtRock, Bathgate
    • Laurence Jones - Live From Camden, Powerhaus, London
    • Joe Bonamassa - Austin City Limits, Live Stream
    • Todd Rundgren - Clearly Human Virtual Tour, "Pittsburgh"
  • Selected 2020 Gig Reviews...
    • Jared James Nichols - Garage G2, Glasgow
    • Oscar Cordoba Band - Blue Arrow, Glasgow
    • Rebecca Downes Band - The Ice Box, Glasgow
    • Ben Poole Trio - Room 2, Glasgow
    • Sensational Alex Harvey Experience - DreadnoughtRock, Bathgate
    • The Aristocrats - Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh
    • Fat Suit - Drygate, Glasgow
    • Francis Dunnery's It Bites - St Lukes, Glasgow
  • Selected 2019 Gig Reviews...
    • WinterStorm Rock Weekender IV - Troon
    • Hawkwind - 02 Academy, Glasgow
    • Opeth - SWG3 Galvanizers, Glasgow
    • Félix Rabin - Nice 'N' Sleazy Glasgow
    • Anchor Lane - G2, Glasgow
    • Stray - Backstage at the Green, Kinross
    • Danny Bryant - Backstage at the Green, Kinross
    • Talon - Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow
    • Lifesigns - Smiles of Musical Travel
    • A Whole Lotta Rock 3 - featuring Rattlesnake Tattoo, Prestwick
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    • Pete Way Band - Customs House Hotel, Greenock
    • Raintown and Katee Kross - Village Theatre, East Kilbride
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    • Arran Rock 'N' Blues Fest 2019
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  • Muirsical Conversations...
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King Kraken – MCLXXX
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King Kraken, formed in 2018 in South Wales and featuring Mark Donoghue (vocals), Karl Meyer (bass), Peter Rose (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Adam Healey (lead guitar) and Richard Mears (drums), have followed up their debut EP of 2020 with a full-length album that is, band name and lyrical concepts fittingly, an impressive beast.
(Primary lyricist Mark Donoghue is a huge monster movie buff).

Opener 'Devil’s Night' (with a lyric that takes inspiration from the movie The Crow and the Eric Draven character) is a groove-driven statement of intent that includes an insistent half-speed riff which picks up speed towards the chorus; this is modern metal with enough of a nod to the past to keep traditionalists interested.
​There are also some dynamics employed on 'Devil's Night' but it's mostly heads-down riffing, while the obligatory solo switches from long sustained notes to a flurry – Adam Healey showing off his chops to good effect.
 
'Bastard Liar' has some furious precision riffing (Peter Rose seems to be the perfect foil for Healey’s noodling) and is reminiscent of 'Master of Puppets' era Metallica.
There is no let-up in this song, with some nifty key changes during the solo section (the segue from the solo section back to the pummelling verse riffs is impressive in execution); the pig vocals at the drop-tempo end section should offer appeal to both young and old metal-heads.

The up-tempo 'Green Terror' is, in effect, the band's title-calling card. 
There is nothing subtle or particularly original here (there are some Sabbath influences in the unison riffing) but its strength lies in its appealing retro vibe.


'Veins,' which follows, is an excellent metal/punk crossover number which sits firmly in the territory of early Maiden (some excellent up-tempo drumming here from Richard Mears).
You can imagine this being played at maximum volume in a hot sweaty club or a festival complete with a mosh pit.
 
'Haddonfield 78' was inspired by fictional serial killer movies, with the band managing to get over the sense of slasher fear and dread with dissonant chords and riffs.
The song veers into Alice Cooper territory, albeit with a much heavier edge (the Metallica influence can also be heard), while Mark Donoghue delivers one of his best vocal performances of the album.

'Man Made Monster' (which could have been sub-titled 'Frankenstein gets pissed off') is one of the band’s oldest (and favourite) tracks, but there’s also a sense here of being too 'Metallica derivative' in the riffing.
However the light and shade employed helps give it some depth and there’s no question it’s delivered with a fair dollop of venom.
 
By contrast 'Walls of Jericho' doesn’t follow any template, evolving from a slow, grungy riff into an impressive solo section before returning to the main riff and a slow tempo outro with some screamo vocals.
Original and passionately delivered, this is good metal-hewn stuff.
 
Covering a staple metal subject of witches (specifically the Salem Witch Trials of 1692) and based in the blues, 'Proctor’s Ledge' also carries echoes of, again, Sabbath – it might not be the most successful number on the album, but it has a discernible retro charm, emphasised by the  increased tempo in the latter part of the song.

'Chaos Engine,' with lyrical influences directly from the movie The Purge, has a riff and vocal delivery not a million notes away from Zakk Wylde and Black Label Society (you can imagine King Kraken being very popular with the biker fraternity).
The unrelenting riffs, coupled with brutal drumming and bass (Messrs Mears & Meyer are a rhythm section to be reckoned with) makes for the perfect recipe for metal festivals, while the unexpected outro section illustrates there is musical thought at work here (tasty tempo changes and another impressive drum part).
 
Album closer 'Castle of Bone' is, rather fittingly, a bone-crunching rifferama with an inventive middle eight.
Lots of old-school influences are at play here (including Ozzy and the band’s compatriots Budgie) but, again, with enough of a modern edge to keep you listening.
 
This is a very impressive full-length debut (the razor sharp arrangements and metal innovations would usually be heard a couple of albums in); it's also a well-produced, courtesy of Romesh Dodagonda, with help and assistance from Tom Cory and Jake Hillcoat.

King Kraken. Monster sound; brilliantly brutal.

Nelson McFarlane
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