MUSIC REVIEW: King of None - “In the Realm”
Ever since the release of “Speeder Approaching” within the last year or so, I’ve had one eye/ear on King of None, simply because their grungy, heavy metal approach to stoner rock tickles me just the right way. After two more singles, “Speeder Approaching” and “Lizards for Brains,” I was completely certain that I was going to enjoy the band’s sophomore release, “In the Realm,” which is coming out on April 26th, 2024, via Argonauta Records. The TL;DR is that I did indeed enjoy the album and hope they have a release show or tour soon, but everyone should know by now that I’m not a TL;DR kind of person…
This next paragraph is dedicated to my history with the band, so that you can compare your taste against mine. If you’re not interested, feel free to skip past this paragraph and head down to the review in proper!
Sadly, the only writing about King of None on this site so far is in the monthly New Music Watch from January, February, and March, which include the aforementioned singles, each of which impressed me for a different reason. However, it is worth mentioning that these guys found me and not the other way around, which is unusual (but welcome). I suppose they saw somewhere that I write about music and thought that I might be interested in writing about their music and they were correct! I found that they have a rather delicious blend of a lot of things I like: heavy metal, grunge, stoner, alternative, rock, psych, etc. It’s also worth mentioning that I have since spun their last album, “Weightless Waters” (2019) and enjoyed it quite a lot as well, so I suppose you can say that I’ve become a fan of their music.
The album opens with the first single, “Speeder Approaching,” which starts “Into the Realm” off by first and foremost showing off the fun, grungy guitar lines that permeate the whole release. The chorus is rough and catchy, upbeat and fun, making for a really solid start to this musical adventure. This is followed immediately by another single, “Low ‘n’ Slow,” which feels like both a partner song and an antithesis to “Speeder Approaching” per their names, sharing the tight guitar soloing and strong push from the low-end, though it’s not actually that much slower in tempo… I recall thinking at first that they had released the speedy track first and the chill track second, but really, they’re not as different from one another when you hear them side-by-side… there’s a very good flow between tracks.
“dpd” (nope, don’t know what that stands for) starts slow, almost lurking forward with a slightly ominous vibe to it, but it pushes forward strongly for 2 minutes before any lyrics are heard, keeping the feel from the previous tracks and elaborating onto it with little hints of growls and other fun tidbits. They slow things down and get a bit more melodic with “Thousand Light Year Stare,” which begins almost like a ballad, before picking up some speed and adding some riffing that’s somewhere next door to what you might hear on some old Iron Maiden albums, while the third single, “Lizards for Brains” has already become known for its funky, groovy bass lines that amp up the grungy feel, all while wrapped up in a great chorus… the singles just got better and better as they were released!
“For the Ride” isn’t high octane track, though the name could suggest otherwise. In fact, this is a more laid-back, soft chugging song, though it naturally still has a lot of great guitar lines for flavor on top of the meaty low-end. Then, “Snail Trail” is another catchy song with a solid groove and fun lyrics, and stands out for having a gorgeous guitar part a little bit past the halfway point that really takes center-stage, evolving into heavier parts as it progresses. “The Man Who Bought the Multiverse” has a slower groove, with one of those… gosh, if there’s a term for this, I don’t know it, but where a phrase is said and then repeated louder, more melodically, and with more oomph behind it. It just kind of rules, especially since the end half of it (it’s a long song at 8 minutes) is mostly solo jamming.
Now, if I can find one fault in this album, it’s just a wee little nit-pick in the last song, but as a linguist and a vocal coach/lyric editor, etc., these things can worm their way into your awareness and cause distractions. In this case, it’s the final track, “Crab Nebula,” which is otherwise an awesome, evocative closing track, but the way “nebula” is pronounced is sight-read Finnish pronunciation and loses the Y-sound… so “neb-you-lah” becomes “ne-bull-ah”… it’s not nearly as bad as Turisas’ “Take the Day” by any means, so at least it doesn’t affect casual listening. Aside from that, the song is actually an easy album highlight, as the chorus has perhaps my favorite melody from the whole release and the guitar fills are so juicy. It even takes a turn to the weird psychedelic, playing with some spacey sounds (commonly done by synths, but in this case I feel like it’s done by some sort of guitar distortion?). Things then progress into guitar riffing before coming back around to the generally funky melody. It’s a very stylish way to wrap up the album and does leave me lamenting that it’s over already.
“In the Realm” is a pretty fun journey, space truckin’ across the psychedelic cosmos. If I were to describe King of None’s sound, I’d say vocally there are similarities between Miiro Kärki and Jerry Only (Misfits), as he has a deep, robust sound that he puts to good use. The low end from Patrick Enckell (drums) and Juho Aarnio (bass) certainly has some of that classic Black Sabbath sound, leaning towards the stonery side of things, while the guitars from Aleksi Kärkkäinen and Juha Pääkkö explore a lot of different genres, from the classic heavy metal, to alternative, grunge, stoner, and even psych. There’s a lot to enjoy, so if any of those tickle your fancy, this is surely a release worth giving a chance!
Tracklist
Speeder Approaching
Low‘n’Slow
dpd
Thousand Light Year Stare
Lizards for Brains
For the Ride
Snail Trail
The Man Who Bought the Multiverse
Crab Nebula
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