King’s X – Three Sides of One Review - Your Online Magazine for Hard Rock and Heavy Metal

Released by: Inside Out Music

Release Date: Out Now!!!

Genre: Progressive Rock

Links: http://www.kingsxrocks.com/

Line Up:

Doug Pinnick: Bass, Vocals

Ty Tabor: Guitar, Vocals

Jerry Gaskill: Drums, Vocals

Tracklist:

1. Let It Rain

2. Flood Pt. 1

3. Nothing But The Truth

4. Give It Up

5. All God’s Children

6. Take The Time

7. Festival

8. Swipe Up

9. Holidays

10. Watcher

11. She Called Me Home

12. Every Everywhere

Let’s face some facts: most older bands don’t need to make new music. There’s typically little to no money in it. And if that band has never truly had a lucrative career in the realm of recorded music, there’s even less of a point, beyond the actual creative process. Of course, even the fanbase of a band, big or small, clamors for new music regularly, and those are the people who, upon release of new music, snatch it up immediately. Now consider that the band I’m talking about is King’s X, absolutely one of the greatest, most influential bands you’ve ever heard of, making new music for them is an act of passion for them, and an act of love for their fans. It’s been 16 years since their last album, XV, was released, and after numerous setbacks, has finally seen the light of day.

Three Sides of One is an album I have anticipated for a long time now. I fully admit I have been a diehard fan of the band’s unique style since Gretchen Goes To Nebraska came into the world, and have followed them ever since. Despite being one of the bands held as a major influence upon Grunge music, as well as being one of those bands loved by every musician on the planet, with a few moments of “almost” King’s X never achieved the greatness they seemed destined for. The music they created always seemed just ahead of the curve musically from everyone else. They defied categories every step of the way, every album they released was something fresh and new, never falling into the easy fad of the day. And the same can be said of Three Sides of One. They remain a band that sounds like no one else. After my first spin of this album, I had to reserve my feelings towards it. I was so excited to be hearing new music from these guys again, that I knew I would need a few more listens to truly make an unbiased criticism of it. But each spin made me love it more and more. This is the first album in a long time that is Ty heavy (plus Jerry sings a song as well.) For whatever reason, Doug became the “front man” of the group the last few albums, by design. What always made the band special was the fact you had three hyper-skilled musicians who could write and sing, so having them all three collaborate again makes this album even more special.

Do I think this album will propel them to the top of the charts? Who knows. I would love for this to be the one that puts them in the proper place they’ve always deserved to be. I know it’s going to do better than in recent history, but only time will tell. Out of all the bands to have been around for 40 years and never achieve upper echelon status, King’s X is the band that baffles the most. Three Sides of One proves even further how truly honored the world should feel to have a band of this stature to still grace us with music as powerful as this.

Written by: Chris Martin