{"id":19112,"date":"2014-04-15T00:00:49","date_gmt":"2014-04-15T00:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=19112"},"modified":"2014-06-17T09:19:34","modified_gmt":"2014-06-17T09:19:34","slug":"album-review-kyng-burn-the-serum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-kyng-burn-the-serum\/","title":{"rendered":"KYNG – Burn The Serum (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

KYNG
Burn The Serum<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nRazor & Tie (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 6\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Grrr! This is such a frustrating record. Kyng<\/em> are, to put it bluntly, just another stoner band with elements of sun-blessed doom. In other words, it\u2019s of that Black Sabbath<\/a> slant but with heaps of Corrosion Of Conformity, Dirty Americans, Kyuss, Monster Magnet and goodness how many bands in-between.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not bad, but it\u2019s not brilliant; the Los Angeles-based band, whether intentionally or not, have crafted an album \u2013 their second \u2013 featuring 11 tracks which, for all of their groovy intentions just sound like too many other bands. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a genre that just doesn\u2019t grow on me, as some bands choose heavier, drawn out slabs of sombreness while others go for a more upbeat, slightly kaleidoscopic trudge. Either way, the genre rarely spawns anything remotely brilliant; while I don\u2019t expect anything unique to crawl from these dusty streets, I just find it all so generic.<\/p>\n

Sure, they are talented guys. Drummer Pepe Clarke is the beast of the trio, literally flattening his kit as he punches, prods and thuds the skins. Guitarist Eddie Veliz is competent, but his vocals are a no frills sort of stoned wail, vocals which slot nicely alongside the formulaic \u201cretro\u201d riffs and driving bass of Tony Castaneda. Once those songs pick up speed, however, you just feel like you\u2019ve been here before, and many times. <\/p>\n

The title track is fairly weighty, but derivative, while \u2018Lost One\u2019 has a touch of the cosmic yet is harmless, with its grunge trudge echoing classic Soundgarden as it rolls and heaves. \u2018Electric Halo\u2019 comes plundering into the fray with a buzzing riff and sturdy drum, but it\u2019s just so predictable, inducing the memories of Corrosion Of Conformity via their America\u2019s Volume Dealer<\/em> platter (2000). In other words, it\u2019s a basic stoner-by-numbers record of no real identity, and lacks the sheer class and songwriting skills of Corrosion Of Conformity or any of the bands mentioned. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure that any fan of contemporary \u201cstoner\u201d rock will find much to savour on this record \u2013 there are some half-decent numbers, mainly \u2018Sewn Shut\u2019, \u2018Self Medicated Man\u2019 and \u2018The Ode\u2019 \u2013 but if you\u2019ve become used to the likes of, say, Clutch, Mastodon and middle of the road hard rock then you may grow tired of this rather quickly. Thankfully, the production does allow the grooves to sound rather huge; again, that\u2019s what brings Soundgarden to mind, but the commercial edge to most of the tracks means that while this remains an instantly accessible record, it\u2019s also one lacking surprises. <\/p>\n

The first half of the album is far better than the second, but that\u2019s possibly because it begins to drag. The closing \u2018Paper Heart Rose\u2019 is nonetheless a nice touch acoustically, and does allow Veliz\u2019s vocals to breathe. Even so, those who have grown up with this sort of music for several decades will most certainly find this record common in its theme.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KYNGBurn The Serum Razor & Tie (2014)Rating: 6\/10 Grrr! This is such a frustrating record. Kyng are, to put it bluntly, just another stoner band with elements of sun-blessed doom. In other words, it\u2019s of that Black Sabbath slant but with heaps of Corrosion Of Conformity, Dirty Americans, Kyuss, Monster Magnet and goodness how many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1247],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-kyng"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19112"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19115,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19112\/revisions\/19115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}