Quite simply one of the best live bands currently treading the boards, King King, the kilt-sporting Scots, are back with ‘Exile and Grace’, their first album of new material since 2015’s ecstatically-received ‘Reaching for the light’. In the intervening years, the band have toured more-or-less relentlessly, although lead singer and guitarist Alan Nimmo has had to contend with a serious throat condition which did derail the band a touch. The album, featuring the cracking single ‘(She don’t) gimme no lovin’’, was mixed by Chris Sheldon (foo Fighters, Feeder, Therapy?), whose experience of working with heavier bands has definitely helped to bring out the tougher side of King King and the result is a powerful hard-rock album underpinned by the emotional honesty of the blues.
Opening with the single, ‘(she don’t) gimme no lovin’’, the band hit the ground running on ‘exile and grace’, their sound sitting between the ebullient, keys-heavy rock of Deep Purple and the heads down boogie of AC/DC. It’s not only a great start to the album, but a perfect set opener to boot. Barely pausing for breath, ‘heed the warning’ builds from a tense intro and explodes into action on the back of a hot-wired riff that will get you tapping your feet and clapping your hands in sheer delight. Alan’s throat issues find no quarter here and his soulful vocals are as powerful as ever in a performance that may well see him picking up yet another award for Best Male Vocal (following on from his 2016 win at the British Blues Awards). A hard-rocking pop song in the vein of ‘rush hour’, ‘broken’ is surely a candidate for the next single, the band having lost none of their gift for delivering potent earworms with plenty of depth and charisma. The first half of the album concludes with the elegant ‘find your way home’, a richly textured track with a soulful vibe and an air of gentle longing.
The second half of the record swings into action with the aptly titled ‘tear it all up’, an energetic romp built around a repetitive central riff that is augmented as it ploughs headlong towards the chorus before exploding into a thousand points of light as Alan’s harmonised vocals reach for the stars and you know you’re just a few moments away from the sort of achingly brilliant solos with which the band pepper their albums, with the only possible criticism being that they could be longer! A mid-paced track with a gritty riff and even grittier subject matter, ‘betrayed me’ is sweetened by the keys (but not overly so) and has a taut beat that keeps it moving powerfully forward. Better still is the whip-smart ‘long time running’ which has a bluesy bite and an energy that can’t be denied. With its whimsical keys and sweet vocal, it’s Classic Rock with a capital C and it’s a timeless blend the band have put together, the result sitting somewhere between Bonamassa’s recent album and the Stones at their tightest. Next up is another potential single (although, to be fair, few tracks on this album wouldn’t make great singles) in the form of ‘nobody knows your name’. Built around a nice, shimmering bluesy riff and a great, hefty beat, it’s addictive to the point of needing a health warning and wonderfully vibrant. The album concludes with the funky ‘I don’t wanna lie’, a track that recalls the band-oriented pop of the early 80s with its concise structure and irresistible melody. As a special bonus for fans of the physical, the band even run through Whitesnake’s ‘give me all your love’ as a vinyl-only bonus track and, like the version they’ve been to know to unleash in the live arena, it positively crackles with energy.
King King have tapped perfectly into the same energy that powers their live shows and, with Chris Sheldon at the helm, they’ve nailed their sound perfectly. Incredibly concise, ‘Exile and grace’ perfectly straddles the divide between rock, pop and blues, and it’s no coincidence that the band picked out Whitesnake as a choice of cover, their music adopting a similar (if less salacious) pose. Throughout, the performances are pitch perfect, and the live dates cannot come around soon enough. If you thought ‘reaching for the light’ was spectacular, this will cause you to rethink that particular superlative as the band have taken their song-writing and performance up another notch with ‘Exile and grace’. 10
