Michigan nu-nu-metal outfit King 810 return with their third album. La Petite is a great hark back to the days when bands in the ilk of Slipknot, KoRn and Limp Bizkit reigned supreme, all with the same brand of angry-but-accessible metal incarnate that King 810 also display.
[like_to_read][/like_to_read]
In particular, the Slipknot comparisons are seemingly inescapable, not least because of the some members of group’s preferred getup choice of going incognito behind masks. But also because of the similarities between frontman David Gunn’s cathartic growl, and that of Corey Taylor’s. Plus down-tuned guitars, rumbling drumbeats, the distortion cranked up to eleven, the weird screeching noises punctuated throughout their songs, you get the picture.
The production is definitely a strong point. Gunn delivers spoken word rants with the music literally serving as background noise. You can picture him stood with his back turned to all the chaos that is occurring behind him as he exerts his anger. Opener ‘Heavy Lies The Crown’ is the sound of a very loud bomb exploding, evaporating everything in its path, and one lone man then observing the wreckage. ‘Black Swan’ is theatrical, orchestral and grandiose, a track that wouldn’t sound out of place on the soundtrack of a Hollywood epic. ‘Me & Maxine’ is a strange anomaly. Nestled amidst all the noise and confusion is this piano driven number that sounds like it could be performed at a Jazz bar late at night. It has shades of Mark Lanegan about it.
Overall, the album is good for anyone who is looking for a band to trigger some nostalgia to take them back to those heady days of 2001, when nu-metal was the biggest thing in music. Not to say that the album is entirely defined by its style, as much as it’s now carrying the torch for that particular style.
