Kingdom of Sorrow - Kingdom of Sorrow

Band: Kingdom of Sorrow
Album: Kingdom of Sorrow
Genre: metal/hardcore
Label: Relapse

Tracks:
1. Hear This Prayer For Her
2. Grieve a Lifetime
3. Piece it All Back Together
4. Led Into Demise
5. Demon Eyes
6. With Unspoken Words
7. Free The Fallen
8. Screaming Into The Sky
9. Lead The Ghosts Astray
10. Begging For Truth
11. Buried in Black

A side project turned full time band, Kingdom of Sorrow, has just released their debut self-titled album through Relapse Records. Jamey Jasta, former Hatebreed vocalist, leads former members of Ice Pick, Crowbar, and Unearth through eleven songs full of metal riffs and double bass. These members have all found success in the metal scene before, but now, as they've all aged and changed, can they still pull out the kind of genre defining sound found on their old bands previous releases?

Kingdom is one album that makes good use of time. From the first ten seconds of the opener ["Hear This Prayer For Her"] Kingdom of Sorrow grabs you and lets you know they are in control. A quick drum tempo takes us into a solid metal riff straight out of a late nineties underground club and Jasta's strong voice leading the way. "Grieve A Lifetime," starts out like a late 80's Metallica song with a doom and gloom riff, but then the double bass comes in courtesy of Derek Kerswill and the headbanging can commence. The interesting thing about KoS is that they are are able to craft songs with one simplistic riff that continues through a majority of a song without making it boring. Not to say they don't like to change things up a lot either ["Piece it All Back Together" has a killer guitar solo], but it's refreshing to find a band that doesn't resort to chaos to keep you in the groove.
After the slower paced, "Led Into Demise," we come to bass lead, "Demon Eyes," that grooves as hard as hits you, which is quite unusual for a metal band to orchestrate. I find it more than interesting that these guys all come from various bands with similar sounds, but managed to take that sound and change it together just enough to make it fresh once more. Jasta's vocals are always heavy and in your face, but the lyricism seems lacking due to overly simple choruses and lots of repetition. I understand you need to have something for the audience to chant, but they don't have to chant everything. As the album moves on, the beat rarely slows and the guitars play as if on fire, yet commonly maintaining a sense of doom and gloom. A gem is found on the 8th track of the album, "Screaming at the Sky," which begins with late 70's Zeppelin inspired guitar work before leading into Jasta, not screaming, but singing. Now, don't let this turn you away because it is quite good. It changes the album from a straight metal work, to a more diverse canvas, much like a lighter version of the first Stone Sour album, without the ballad or spoken word poetry. It's a standout track, not just because of the singing lines, but because it shows evolution on the part of all the members and leads you to know these guys are no one trick Pony. The album then moves on to close with, "Buried in Black," which, like all good metal closers wastes no time making you move and leaves you sweaty and exhausted from musically-induced thrashing you've been performing throughout the song [if not the whole album].

Jamey Jasta and the rest of the members of Kingdom Of Sorrow have come from long pasts in the industry. They've all went from playing basements, to large stages, and then back to the basement. It's because of this, that when put together, Kingdom of Sorrow has crafted a metal album worthy of praise in both the underground and mainstream world. This self-titled release shows the skill necessary to create a solid hard rock album and leaves you wishing there were more bands like this in existence today.

GRADE: 7.5/10
MYSPACE