King Company was founded in early 2014. Their debut album “One For The Road” soon followed in 2016. Now the band is back with a new singer: Italian-Argentinian Leonard F. Guillan. Their new album “Queen Of Hearts” will be released 10 August through Frontiers Music slr. So, it’s about time for us to tell you why you should listen to this album.
“Queen Of Hearts” kicks off smoothly with its title track. The album feels like a continuation of their debut album. The balance between the fast groovy riffs and melodic keyboard tunes in this song is great. Moreover, Guillan shines in this track. He was definitely a good choice to replace Pasi Rantanen.
The album in general consists out of a lot of groovy songs like “One Day Of Your Life”, “Living In a Hurricane”, “Berlin” etc. A couple of slower tracks like “Stars” and “Never Say Goodbye” add a nice variation to the flow of the album, while showing a softer and more mellow side to the band. A personal highlight for me came during “Learn To Fly”, which has a bit more refreshing ideas in the songs, it has a different heaviness and I really like how the riffs and keyboards come together in this song in a nice blend and in the end builds up really smoothly. Another one classic track on this album is the catchy “King For Tonight”. This track got stuck in my mind even after listening to the album. Once in a while, it decided to pop up during unexpected moments. Those are the moments when you realize which songs are your personal highlights and which not. “King For Tonight” also has a great mid-paced guitar solo and beautiful keyboard melodies. The album ends with “Arrival”, a slower song building up quite smoothly to an epic worth-the-while ending which encourages to hit the replay button.
The album consists of groovy riffs, with a lot of melodic sections. Fans of classic hard rock fans such as Whitesnake, Magnum and Deep Purple (David Coverdale period, think of “Burn”) rejoice! King Company’s music is mostly guitar driven, with subtle hints of keyboards in the background, although not excluding epic keyboard solo. The subtle nuances of keyboards add more melody to the songs. The band is not afraid to show their shredding skills in compelling guitar solos. The band offers a healthy combination of classic hard rock acts, without losing their own voice in it and by adding a modern touch to it.
All-in-all the album has the ability to make you addicted immediately. It’s an excellent continuation of the debut album and one that a typical hard rock/heavy metal fanatic will definitely enjoy. While the production of the album is overall excellent, there were some elements that could be improved during the next release. The fact that the vocals are quiet in the mix, bothered me a bit, especially because Guillan is a talented singer. This is clear in songs like “Stars” that should thrive on vocal melodies. I have listened to the album through many different kinds of speakers, earphones, headphones, you name is and always came to the same conclusion. This is, however, only a small detail and will certainly not take away the fact that the album is an excellent addition to my music library.
In general, I would recommend this album to anyone who likes hard rock and groovy riffs, with powerful vocals and great solos. You surely won’t regret!
Tracklist
- Queen Of Hearts
- One Day Of Your Life
- Stars
- Living In A Hurricane
- Under The Spell
- Never Say Goodbye
- Learn To Fly
- Berlin
- King For Tonight
- Living The Dream
- Arrival
Lineup
Leonard F. Guillan – vocals
Antti “Eversti” Wirman – guitars
Jari Pailamo – keyboards
Time Schleifer – bass
Mirka “Leka” Rantanen – drums
Label
Frontiers Music slr
Release Date
10 August 2018
Links
https://www.kingcompanyband.com/
https://www.facebook.com/kingcompanyofficial/
https://twitter.com/kingcompanyband
https://www.instagram.com/kingcompanyband/
