At this point, I’m pretty familiar with Kings Destroy… but you might not be. This NYC epic doom outfit has three albums under its belt, and they’ll be playing Toronto for the third time—along with Montreal and Ottawa—as touring support for Truckfighters later this month. Not that they sound much like Truckfighters, mind you. If there was one Swedish band I’d compare them to, it would be Candlemass.
But there’s also a bit of a rougher edge to their sound, owing to their salad days in the NYHC scene. I’ve been a big fan since I first saw ‘em at Days of the Doomed III in Milwaukee, but I’m slightly intrigued by their latest effort, a one-song, 14-minute, six-part EP. You’re not about to go all Dream Theater on me now, are ya?
Fortunately, None More is still a heavy vegetable. Its drawn out, doomy intro leads us into a sparse, vocal-driven initial verse, punctuated by the occasional doomy downstroke. This reminds me more of lugubrious UK doom, with shades of Warning here, or even The Wounded Kings, before an Atlantean Kodex power-doom riff kicks in around 2:45, picking the pace up toward traditional metal territory. The Candlemass comparison aptly applies to the instrumental passage around six minutes in, a real slow-motion headbanger. And from there we get a moment of near-silence, as they scale back into mellow, post-rock territory for the third(?) verse. I’m not really sure which “part” we’re on here—although it’s sectioned into six, the whole thing flows together quite nicely.
I will say that the lyrics around eight minutes in sound pretty epic, with a suitably slow ‘n heavy backdrop, and a slight return into mellow territory before hitting us again with the oft-repeated refrain “Centuries for the dead” (or is that “damned?”). Suffice to say, the tempo changes don’t stop there, though they linger more toward drawn-out doom toward the end. On their previous albums, they always had several sub-six-minute quick hitters, but if this signals a new direction for Kings Destroy, then I’m really interested in what their next record might bring…
kingsdestroy.bandcamp.com/album/none-more
On Tour with Truckfighters:
01/18 Somerville, MA – Once Ballroom
01/19 Montreal, QC – Bar Leritz
01/21 Ottawa, ON – House Of Targ
01/22 Toronto, ON – Hard Luck
01/23 Pittsburgh, PA – Cattivo
01/24 Chicago, IL – Reggies
01/25 Minneapolis, MN – 7th St. Entry
01/26 Kansas City, MO – Riot Room
01/27 Tulsa, OK – Downtown Lounge
01/28 Dallas, TX – Curtain Club
01/30 New Orleans, LA – Siberia
02/01 Richmond, VA – Strange Matter
02/02 Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie
02/03 Brooklyn, NY – Goldsounds
