CD Review: King Kobra – King Kobra II
Frontiers Records
All Access Review: B
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| King Kobra - King Kobra II 2013 |
Sentencing standards sometimes vary wildly from state to
state, but it’s hard to imagine anybody getting 14 years in the hoosegow just
for disturbing the peace.
That’s what the whisky-guzzling, drag-racing,
cop-baiting subject of “The Ballad of Johnny Rod,” a smoldering, swaggering
chunk of Great White-style boogie-rock off King Kobra’s latest meal of meat-and-potatoes, working-class heavy metal, gets for raising a little
hell. The judge should brace himself to be overturned on appeal.
Evidently, Johnny Rod, who also happens to be the band’s
bassist, was given work-release privileges to rumble and roll through King Kobra II, the second LP released by
King Kobra since the hard-nosed ‘80s metal underdogs reunited for their 2011 self-titled
barroom brawler. Carmine Appice, King Kobra’s founder, had a hand in producing
the new record; so did powerhouse vocalist Paul Shortino, the only non-original
member now in King Kobra, having replaced singer Mark Free – now Marcie Free,
after dealing with her gender dysphoria and coming out as a woman. And while
modern recording technology was almost certainly used in bringing King Kobra II to life, the album feels
as if it was not made for these dull times.
A throwback to the ‘70s hard rock of Deep Purple and
Montrose, it’s got guts and integrity, with a blue-collar work ethic – courtesy
of Shortino’s sweaty soulfulness and gritty rasp – and a thirst for raw,
dangerous excitement, the kind that’s probably illegal and found only in the
bad part of town. Appice’s drumming is purposeful, clever and propulsive,
driving forward the chugging, locomotive opener “Hell on Wheels” with a
steam-powered pace, before strutting with all the painted confidence of a burlesque
queen through “Have a Good Time” and breaking rock like a chain gang on “When
the Hammer Comes Down” as the circling guitars of Mick Sweda and David Michael-Philips
crack the whip.
Toughening up their melodies, with six-string riffs and leads that sting like
alcohol poured into a bullet wound, King Kobra comes out swinging on “Knock Them Dead” and
“Running Wild” – the reference to a “raging bull” in the
latter track a particularly apt image. When they want to dance, they grab girls
of loose morals and do a little bump-and-grind in “The Crunch,” with its
down-and-dirty guitar boogie, but underneath that stained, sleeveless
denim-clad sound beats a vulnerable heart, broken to pieces in the
regret-filled “Got It Coming.” In desperate need of repentance, King Kobra
trudges down to “Deep River,” a mesmerizing, crunching Zeppelin-like epic, to
wash away its sins with gospel background singers and climbing guitars that
sear one’s conscience like guilt.
That’s as ambitious as King Kobra gets on the
straightforward II, a sturdy, if unspectacular
set of tracks as burned-out as the most desolate parts of Detroit. A dimly lit corner bar of a record sound-wise, it’s riddled with metal clichés, devoid of real
imagination and yet it is built on solid, though somewhat bland, songwriting ground. And the performances are tight, welding together strong hooks that have a firm grip, like a steelworker’s handshake.
Too
often, though, the choruses are ineffectual and uncertain, although that’s not
the case in the well-constructed closer “We Go Round,” a fully formed pop-metal
diamond that sparkles in the right light.
II may sound like a bunch of old friends getting together to relive the
glory days and bang it out in the garage, but there’s a certain amount of charm
to that. A round of applause then for King Kobra, a band who refuses to bow to
what’s trendy and keeps on doing what feels good. http://www.frontiers.it/
– Peter Lindblad
