King's X latest CD "Black Like Sunday" were re-recordings of early unreleased material, so "Ogre Tones" is the first studio album since "Manic Moonlight", which had its moments but was a bumpy album.
"Ogre Tones" is a relief for King's X fans, because this is probably the album that most fans have wished for. "Ogre Tones" is built on the entire classic King's X elements; Doug Pinnicks thunderous bass and Tabor's unique guitar playing combined with a solid beat from Jerry Gaskill and all 3 harmonizing in best Beatles alike harmonies.
King's X keep it original and quite up-tempo on "Ogre Tones" -
Stay has all the ingredients and is among the best songs. The first part of the album is dominated by up-tempo songs with duration of less than 3 minutes. The opening track
Alone is one of the rockers, while
Hurricane is drenched in harmonies. Ty Tabor handles the lead vocals on
If and
Honesty.
The only downside to King's X is that sometimes their choruses are a bit dull. The chorus on
Freedom is just the line "Freedom" repeated. However, the song has cool lyrics dealing about doing whatever you want to do. America is a free country and the song ends with Ty playing bits of
Star Spangled Banner. This has been done several times before but it doesn't sounds cheesy because the melody is fully incorporated in the song.
Beebop is too cheap and
Get Away is a standard ballad with experimental influences drawn back to "Manic Moonlight".
"Ogre Tones" is a solid album that ranks among King's X finest work. The band has written some great songs that really work instead of several "musical pieces", which they assembled to songs. It seems like this album comes full circle, since it includes a re-recording of
Goldilox, which was on King's X's first album. The song is among their best songs ever and the new recording is pretty much like the original, which just underlines that King's X is still going strong 17 years later.
"Ogre Tones" grows on you and it's still to be found in my CD player.
Written by
Michael Thursday, December 22, 2005
Show all reviews by MichaelRatingsMichael: 6.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
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