Continuing on from yesterdays post. And reiterating how freakin’ good the album is. If you’re into hard rock, you need this record. It’s so strong and complete that there had to be two parts reviewing it. Now, on to the back half of the album. It’s just as excellent, if not more so, than the front end.
It starts off with the eighth track, ‘Vessel of Destruction.’ Which is just as bad ass as it sounds. Ray Luzier provides on of his most difficult drum beats. The riff is pretty basic, but catchy and effective. But what makes this song so freakin’ sweet is the breakdown bridge. It’s pure Dug Pinnick beauty. It’s just a major heavy groove. Really Panteraesque. I’ve never heard George Lynch’s guitar tone sound so heavy. And of course, there’s the British invasion vocal harmonies on top that give it that unique twist that Pinnick, along with Ty Tabor and Jerry Gaskill of King’s X created. ‘A Day Without Me’ is what I would call a ‘front porch rocker.’ It’s down home, acoustic riff morphs into a fantastic scale riff. The song then morphs into a dark, mega heavy chorus. The guitar solo is a perfect blend of feel and technicality. Following is a breakdown that’s a pure break neck headbanger. The next track, ‘Wide Awake,’ fades in with an eerie feel. Then a progressive ballad sound comes in. And it trades off between a dark ballad verse and a heavy chorus. But the jam in the middle is the highlight of this particular track. The epic, grand feel goes right along with it’s ten megaton heaviness.
‘Shadow Lover’ is a heavy ass, funky rocker. And displays that George Lynch is one of the true masters of the ‘long riff.’ It’s explorative modulations set into yet another groove. It’s the strongest straight forward riff on the album. The bridge mellows out the song into chill prog. Then the kick ass riff comes back with a beautiful Lynch solo over it before the chorus takes the rest of the track out. ‘Cold Sweats’ is fun, off beat funker. Maybe the purest funk on the album. Lynch goes with a clean, mid range tone on the verses. The chorus is has a very Black Sabbath feel to it. Slow, trudgey, with a drop heavy riff that ascends into pure evil. The album closes with ‘The Border,’ which starts off with a Pink Floyd like progressive groove. Of course, it’s KXM so we know that there’s going to be a change somewhere. And sure enough, the song morphs into yet another bad ass riff and groove. The album is just loaded from top to bottom with them. And there’s not complaints here. The verse is a terrific pop melody from Pinnick. A great example of how truly underrated of a song writer he is. The song comes full circle when the prog groove comes back, slowly fading out. A great way to close an album.
Overall KXM’s ‘Circle of Dolls’ is a perfect album. Their strongest yet. Which is tough when you consider the excellence of ‘Scatterbrain.’ What’s really amazing though, is how fast they do these albums. Each member is committed to other projects. Dug Pinnick just wrapped up the new King’s X album. Their first in 11 years! Ray Luzier of course has Korn obligations. They’re very active currently. And Lynch has his solo band Lynch Mob along with the occasional Dokken appearance. So the time is limited. Making it even more amazing how strong the songs the write are. They really are a band’s band. The term ‘supergroup’ gets thrown around a lot when these kinds of side projects pop up. With the majority of them not living up to the hype. But KXM brings it home. They nail it. I would love to see them live someday. It’s a long shot, but hopefully each member can make some time in their schedules to do a few shows. Either way, it doesn’t hinder the strength of their studio material. Like I said, if you’re a fan of hard rock, you NEED this album. A true five out of five stars in the hard rock and metal world.
