01.Open The Door
02.Fear Is All You Know
03.Maria
04.Devil Eyes
05.Cloven Hooves (Of Fear)
06.Demon Caller Number 9
07.Bloody Mirror
08.Lay Down In Bedlam
09.Bottomless Pit
10.Never Run
11.Miss September
12.Empty House
13.Watching Over You
TJ Cowgill (Vocals/Guitar/Field Recordings)
Joey D' Auria (Drums)
Contributing Musicians:
Bill Rieflin (Backing vocals/Piano/Organ/Bass)
Don Gunn (Backing vocals)
Brianna Atwell (Violin)
Emily Denton (Vocals on "Maria")
Vanessa Dandurand (Vocals on "Devil Eyes")
Pulling together the biblical sound and isolation of the bygone days of revelation with an atmosphere filled with hope and salvation, KING DUDE has woven his own unique brand of purely American music. He brandishes many varied influences in his songwriting... Everything from British Folk, Americana, Country and Blues can be heard in his songs. The resulting songs are much more of a modern day hymn then your average pop song.
Reverent as it is prophetic and stark, King Dude's latest album, entitled Fear, was produced by the legendary Bill Rieflin (Ministry, Swans, Pigface etc).
With Fear, TJ set out to make "the most horrifying music I could", so this one sounds intresting.......
The first track is basically a Ministry sounding intro and then the album gets going with 'Fear Is All You Know', quite a goth sounding track to my old ears, kinda like Bauhaus playing with Nick Cave via Captain Beefheart, really good, atmospheric and moody.
The style changes for 'Maria' which is very reminiscent of a down beat country take on Unchained melody, some haunting backing vocals give this a melancholic feel.
Yet another change of sound for 'Devil Eyes' this is Tom Waits meets Johnny Cash for an upbeat and dark modern country rocker.
Touch of acoustic rock with 'Cloven Hooves', quite a seventies feel to this one, reminded me of early Bowie.
Very weird opening to 'Demon Caller' must be some of that 'Field Recordings' by TJ, song is kinda run of the mill country tinged rock, nothing that special to make it stand out.
Some pure acoustic country blues for 'Bloody Mirror', gets weird towards the end with strange sound effects.
More dark country sounds with 'Lay Down In Bedlam' is followed by 'Bottomless Pitt' has waht i call that sing a long americana sound, dont know what else to say except that maybe if Joan Jett covered it you would get what i mean.
After some country with 'Never Run' we come to 'Miss September' a Lou Reed meets Neil Young (Circa Eldorado album) electric guitar driven downbeat song.
'Empty House' is a bleak ballad that has some simple guitar lines running through and a very simple drum beat, i dunno funeral/folk hybrid?
Back to a happier sound with 'Watching Over You', great backing vocals and some nice violin, a perfect way to end a dark album.
Rating 9/10
For Fans Of: Johnny Cash, Tom Waits, Lou Reed, Neil Young, Nick cave, Mark Lanegan
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