"Sacred Crimson" is the new music release by KING CORPSE (2015) from Stourbridge, West Midlands in the UK. I am gobsmacked by this strange and peculiar music. Meandering and impossible to follow song structures, SYSTEM OF A DOWN doom vocals and vocal harmonies highlighting a totally low-fi mix oddity. Something right out of the 8 track demo garage circa 1989. I love it! "Exhumation" is the hit single for the lovely lassies and I have the Youtube video linked to the bottom of this review for your viewing pleasure. A labyrinthine riff crawls and stumbles out of the muck as the song comes alive; when Jack starts croaking at about the two-minute mark, I think Gene Simmons got a side gig breaking balls in Old Blighty. If this tune was mixed a bit more over the top it could pass for a KING demo, CRIMSON or DIAMOND, take your pick.

"Drowning" features more strangled guitar spasms and a very BUGGLES bat-shit vocal. These cats are ingenious or madmen, I canna decide. Jack sings in about 4 different voices sprinkled of cracked pepper conjuring. 'Climb My Bones' is 10:20 of Thee Bloody Strange and I will tell you now and you can believe me later, the lads are throwing down. There is heavy guitar chugging and trampled underfoot, a strange song structure with far-out vocals that teeter between a pop and acid rock chorus (or verse - I am lost) actually disorienting me while I listen, like a numb, sweaty, two-hour roundabout taxi ride in Islamabad while the driver smokes Gold Leaf fags non-stop. James ends the magic carpet ride with a lo-fi and high handed lead guitar outro. 'S4 LAZAR' is off-kilter robot chatter ... do I detect a SKINNY PUPPY influence at work? There but for the grace of a mechano-techno beat goes I...

Parental Advisory: Don't let 'Sons of Mourning' be the last thing you hear before your wee noggin hits the feathers. Here the lads remind me of THE OSEDAX from the other side of the pond; brutal guitar, drums and yowling necromancy vocals calling us to the demon altar of KING CORPSE. "The Count" heads right into SABBATH riff-land wielding the doom mallet. After the dumpster fire buffet of the previous songs, I find this soothes me like the musical equivalent of a bottle of Witch Hazel (look it up) and reminds me of kindred Albion souls ELEPHANT TREE a wee bit, in their olde days. "Sleepless" is bloody priceless, brandishing cast-off hardcore sludge vibe and psychotic lyrics. "I try to think but I can't use my head. I try to function, my body is failing ..." 'Swamp Thing' is a corker starting with a rather pedestrian guitar riff followed by a growling, busted solar plexus vocal ala Glenn Danzig and folks, what we have here is a lead guitar-in-a-bottle tonal effect pouring sound over the music like a Kate Shaw psychedelica landscape. Crack a lackin!

I think that the album would be well served by another round of mix sessions in the room with big speakers and lighted machines with knobs and sliders, maybe have another go with the guitar tracks but mates, this is some interesting unpredictable music that takes you to a place that few big-quid productions do ... on a ride and a wild one at that. There is no shortage of imagination or riffs on "Sacred Crimson." Lads, the first round of Old Speckled Hen is on me. Bravo!

drink booze all day, we lose or draw, da da da dadadada and the dani bandolier Spotify playlist featuring his reviewed bands!

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