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Album Review: King Kraken- MCLXXX

 

Welsh metal act King Kraken announce their arrival with the monstrous release of MCLXXX, The year the Kraken was first spotted, comes a debut LP inspired by Horror and Sci-Fi movies. Produced by renowned music producer Romesh Dodangoda and mixed, mastered and recorded at Long Wave Studios in Cardiff, Wales. King Kraken releases ten tracks of lung-busting vocals, groove-orientated riffs, and scary lyrics to send out a solid statement of intent.

'Devil's Night' starts the album off like the illegitimate child of Clutch and Black Stone Cherry. The track's muscular, groove-orientated riff strikes the listener under the belt. The powerful vocals are set against the backdrop of eerie breakdowns, and terrifying drum patterns to show the band is serious.

Next up is the explicit 'Bastard Liar', a palpable and frenetic track full of aggression and sonic guitar leads that will leave your hair standing on edge. The band's eye-watering guitar solos and the choice of subject are the right formulae to create headbanger after headbanger. The band can also write catchy choruses with some stellar guitar work as heard on 'Green Terror' The riffs are fresh and daring as each track gains momentum throughout this LP.


Nevertheless, The album continues its relentless task to get the listener to unleash their inner metal demon with straight-to-the-bone metal such as the Halloween tribute 'Haddonfield '78', the skull-rattling Frankenstein-inspired 'Man-Made Monster' and the dark, calculated grooves of 'Castle of Bone' completes an album difficult to find a bad track on it.

Overall, King Kraken may have released a monstrous debut album that is as rare today as the Kraken itself. The band are certainly a force of nature worth keeping an eye out for.

Words by Anselm Anderson:  Rating 9/10

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 SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

Official Website: https://www.kingkraken.co.uk/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kingkraken_uk

'Green Terror'

'Chaos Engine'

'Haddonfield '78'







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