There are certain people who, when they send a file in the direction of SonicAbuse, cause a tremor of excitement. So, when the King Bison EP arrived from this favoured source, we knew it would be good, but what we didn’t realise was quite how good.
It is something of a truism, no doubt, that some bands, as a result of some weird cosmic alignment, possess an innate ability to bottle lightning. The sort of band that grabs you firmly by whatever genitalia you profess to have and then refuses to let go until the thing is done, King Bison are possessed of just such an ability and their gloriously antagonistic spirit is writ large across the four tracks that form the ‘Snake Head Burial’ EP.
King Bison had me the second the cataclysmic riff of ‘B.B.V.S’ exploded all over my consciousness and placed me in a chokehold. Pure rock ‘n’ roll spirit captured, like the proverbial genie, in a neat plastic carrier, it’s like Motorhead on the purest amphetamine, with a chorus that praises all of the most animal excesses associated with its fallen frontman. To be fair, if the EP only had this one track, it would probably be a ten, so insensate does it render the listener, but as it stands a further three tracks await to dazzle you with their brilliance. ‘Who’s got your back’ takes but a moment to explode into ferocious life, the drums a dizzying blur before settling into a taut groove worthy of Monster Magnet at their leather-trouser-clad best. With more than a whiff of sulphur on display, ‘Demon tongues and leather’ will make you actively seek out a reservation in hell, assuming that King Bison are marked out to be the house band, whilst the grand finale, ‘filthy son of a bitch’, has a groove so dirty you’ll need a shower after exposure. Hell, I’d write a conclusion to this review, but I need to go listen again…
…Right, sorry about that. Three spins and a shower later and I’m ready to offer some semblance of a summary.
King Bison pretty much epitomise what I want from a rock ‘n’ roll band. There’s no artifice here, no attempt to reinvent the wheel. Instead King Bison simply lower their heads and seek out the most efficiently ruthless way to snap necks in the pit. With suitably powerful production emphasising the band’s bowel-loosening low end and four songs that make you want to tear off your clothes, smear yourself in glutinous mud and take the neighbours prisoner (disclaimer, SonicAbuse in no way condones any of the above actions), King Bison have perfected the art of low down ‘n’ dirty rock and you need this EP in your life. 10
