Released by: SPV/Steamhammer
Release Date: April 29th, 2013
Genre: Rock
Links: http://www.lennywolf.com/
Line Up:
Lenny Wolf – Vocals and rhythm guitar
Eric Foerster – Lead guitar
Frank Binke – Bass
Nader Rahy – Drums
Tracklist:
01 God Does Not Sing Our Song
02 Running High Distortion
03 Rough Ride Rallye
04 Let The Silence Talk
05 Holy Curtain
06 The Trap Is Alive
07 Skip The Cover And Feel
08 Don´t Want You To Wait
09 Such A Shame
10 When Colors Break The Grey
Much maligned in their inception, Kingdom Come bore the brunt of being labeled a Led Zeppelin clone. Music listeners as well as their peers felt the need to lambaste them for sounding similar to the classic rock outfit. Sure, there was some justification for the feelings, however if one took the time to scratch beneath the surface of their sound, especially on their following albums after their 1987 self-titled debut, they would’ve discovered a layered band putting out far superior quality music to the “Led Clone” they became famous for.
Formed from the ashes of the more rock oriented project Stone Fury, Lenny Wolf (singer/songwriter, as well as only remaining original member of Kingdom Come today,) put together Kingdom Come and proceeded to take over the radio airwaves and became an MTV staple. Despite the fact they weren’t received fondly, by their peers especially, they gained some success with their first album and somewhat with their second album In Your Face, and then seemingly vanished from the planet. However, those lucky enough to have kept up with Wolf, realize that he continued releasing new albums, much like the brand new one Outlier. Other than the track “Skip the Cover and Feel,” gone are any obvious audio “ties” to the Zep sound and presented is a strong full album of new material that holds the obvious vocal connection to the past with Wolfs instantly recognizable voice, yet musically it at once mature and modern. The aforementioned song has some slight similarities the KC’s sound of old, but not entirely. The focus musically is on the album as a whole as opposed to churning out single after single, which I enjoy more and appreciate the focus as a whole entity instead of worrying about making one song surrounded by filler. It makes the music more honest and true to the artist vision.
No tracks necessarily standout from the rest, though “When Colors Break Grey,” “Holy Curtain,” and “Such A Shame” are good ones to listen to apart from the whole Outlier album. Not to say that the other tracks aren’t as interesting as well. Some may have wished Kingdom Come to have gone off and died a quick death daring to sound like Zeppelin (personally I thought it was much ado about nothing as Wolf can’t help the way his voice sounds, and beyond a few moments here and there they only slightly reminded me of Led Zep as opposed to being a direct clone.) If you’re looking for them to sound like they did when they hit the scene, this album may not be your thing. However, if you have kept up with their music or are simply looking for a great album of great music, you can’t go wrong with Kingdom Come’s Outlier album.
Written by Chris Martin
Ratings Chris 6/10
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