King's X

Item: Ear Candy
Author: Todd Brown

Ear Candy

(1996)

Reviewed by Todd Brown

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Label Atlantic RecordsThe LighthouseDecember 1996

alternative rock hard rock progressive rock

For those unfamiliar with the band, King's X is a three piece metal band whose trademark sound has been scavenged and appropriated as far as possible by more recent grunge bands, and they themselves are more properly considered modern rock these days. Long a favorite with critics, the band is made up of three world class musicians, who not surprisingly write some incredible songs. Their tunes are rich, intricate, and distinctly their own. All three band members sing, and sing well, and the same kind of harmonisation found in acts such as The Galactic Cowboys and Atomic Opera is found in full force here. I'd heard it said that bands such as Soundgarden count King's X as one of their primary influences, and I'd had a hard time hearing it in their earlier releases, but with their last album, Dogman, and new release, Ear Candy-oh yeah, it's there.

Stylistically, Ear Candy is a fairly even split between Dogman and earlier releases. The crunch and raw energy of Dogman is still present in full force, but this time out it's balanced with the intricacy and smooth, Beatle-esque vocal harmonies of earlier releases. As with earlier releases, all three members sing lead vocals-though bassist Doug Pinnick handles the majority of lead-and all three also handle backing vocals. Ty Tabor, who deserves to be one of those little pin-up poster boys in every guitar mag in the world, sounds as good as he ever has. His guitar parts are rich and intricate while avoiding the trap of sounding overly polished and smooth. The edges have been left on. While the early releases tend to sound a little cold, sterile and impersonal, this one sounds very organic, very much like it would live. To my mind, this is a huge change for the better.

Lyrically, Ear Candy is considerably less depressed than Dogman, but it's still certainly not a happy record. Some may have heard of Doug Pinnick's recent claims to agnosticism, and yes, that is represented here. Throughout the record, we consistently find Pinnick struggling with the failings of the church and striving toward answers to the big questions. There is no resolution here, but there is quite a lot of honest questioning. One of the stand-out tracks is "Picture," which tells the story of the first time Pinnick ever got together with both of his parents:

I said, "Somebody take a photograph. I've got a camera." Now I got me a favorite picture

It may not always be the prettiest of pictures, but Ear Candy does bring forward a true picture of the lives of the band members. You can't really ask for a whole lot more than that. This is a piece of candy that tastes pretty good to me.