California's SPEAKING THE KINGS have made a swift and heady climb into upward in their four years as an outfit, mainly off of the back of their catchy, infectious music. Blending stadium Rock with Hardcore, they've managed to garner a respectable fan base and a worldwide deal with the venerable Nuclear Black Records. On the back of their debut EP, "Here To Stay", they return with their debut full length, "Carousel", an album that perfectly illustrates their sound in a nutshell.

The opening track, "Breathe", is a really good way to kick this record off. The powerful, upbeat opening moments, coupled with the denser, heavier guitars and catchy, sing along vocal lines, make this an impressive way to open this record. "Choke" is, in terms of tone, a much darker song, with some powerful vocal accompaniments. This is a really cool, infectious track that has fan favourite written all over it. "Caught in the Middle", with its varied guitar lines and vocal range, along with some powerful, authoritative drumming, is another really solid, memorable track. "Liar Liar" is a really strong track, with a lot of confident guitar hooks and equally hook-laden vocal lines. It sounds monumental, and above all, catchy. "Motion Sickness" has a much heavier edge to it at points, and the overall music is tinged with melodic flourishes and driven, spirited performances on all fronts. It certainly stands as one of the most eclectic and interesting pieces of music on this record. "Shipwrecked" continues in the same vein, with some great, uplifting vocal performances and tight musical arrangements. This has a strong, anthemic quality to it, and it's easy to imagine this being the cornerstone of the bands live repertoire for years to come. "Worthless", with its thick, crunchy guitar lines and grandiose, soaring vocals, is another album high point with all the hallmarks of a future crowd pleaser on both in both a live and recorded setting. It helps to edge this album towards its climactic moments well, and shows how well this band are able to mix a diverse range of styles, textures and tones. The next track, "City Lights", has a really cool, epic sound to it, characterised by powerful guitar lines and an equally strong drum line. It's a track that is designed to get you pumped up, and it certainly does that job pretty well. The penultimate track on the record, "The Way", is perhaps the heaviest on the whole album. The guitar lines are much more distorted and the resulting sound is much more concrete and has a harder quality to it. This is contrasted by the much cleaner, sweeter vocal lines, which work very well alongside the much chunkier, robust sound, and make this a great way to bring the album to a climax and set the listener up for the albums closing number, "Close to Impossible"; this is fast paced piece of music right from the first note, with the excellent drumming on here acting as the driving force for the riffs and great vocals. This is another really cool, memorable song, and it definitely helps to end the album on a high note.

This record shows plenty of promise for this band, and you get a very good idea of what exactly sort of sound these guys are going for. The music is varied and inspired, the production is really good, and it's got the sort of catchy, sing along feel that will definitely get a lot of people hooked on their music. If this is anything to go by, the only way is is up for SPEAKING THE KINGS.