Norwich Darkside - King Lifting ? odd songs from recent releases

Essentially a screamo band, this four-piece has a slight indie undertone going on beneath their yapping.

Track listing:
1 ? 'Ghost Of A Chance' from the split with Ecochea
2 ? 'Our Glorious Dead' from the BSM Sampler

Okay, so this is a bit of a smushing ? King Lifting get a fair bit of attention, but haven?t put out a CD of their own for a while, so I though I?d review these two fairly recent songs instead. Seeing as I don?t know if they were recorded together, I?m going to look at each song individually.

Ghost Of A Chance - the first thing I always think when I hear King Lifting is ?that goddamn bass drum!?. I?ve heard the band say that this is how a bass drum should sound ? they?re wrong. The clue is in the name: there should be some bass in it. This just sounds like someone cracking their knuckles. The drums as a whole sound a bit weak and thin. Everything else sounds pretty good though; the vocals especially are well captured. The actual singing is? well poor, in standard terms ? but for this type of music, it works. Daryl Palumbo (Glassjaw, Head Automatica) didn?t get famous because he?s note perfect. All the token yelps and screams are present too. It loses direction about two minutes in, and after that starts to meander about in a lame attempt to ape The Mars Volta?s sound, before pulling things back together towards the end.

Our Glorious Dead ? The sound is so similar on this track that there?s no need to discuss it in depth. The bass drum is louder (read: worse), but other than that it?s all very similar. This song is shorter, and as such maintains its focus better. The slightly Eastern-tinged middle eight is a nice change of pace, and the riff that follows it was probably my favourite bit of these two tracks. Definitely my favourite of the two.

My main concern was that not only do these songs sound similar to each other, they also sound incredibly similar to the songs from their first CD. It?s one thing to have a certain style, but to reuse virtually identical structures and riffs in every song is pushing it a bit. The waltz-style 3/4 intro to ?Ghost Of A Chance? could easily be from any of the old tracks. There?s probably a year between these recordings, but I can?t hear any real progression.

Still, this is a review of these songs, not the old CD. Taken on their own merits, these tracks are well recorded and well played. They won?t be to everyone?s taste, but there?s little denying the band are competent at what they do. The fact that half the band now resides in Leeds may be the main cause of their lack of growth ? it?s a shame, because with more varied songs and a few new ideas King Lifting could be a very interesting band.

Poison Pen