KINGBATHMAT – Overcoming The Monster (2013)
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This one is something special. English combo KINGBATHMAT is not a new band, in fact, the just released “Overcoming The Monster” is their 7th album, but to be honest, I never heard about them before.
Initially a project by John Bassett (vocals, guitar), KingBathmat should be tagged by Progressive Rock, but not your traditional one for sure.
KingBathmat’s style is an eclectic mix of prog, psych, hard, neo-prog and maybe a little post-rock, but all really well-mixed in an original way. “Overcoming The Monster” is a moving, quite uptempo recording finding the band comfortably mixing bludgeoning guitar riffs with proggy, sometimes psychedelic keys. At places, it seriously rocks.
The songs are almost catchy at times, and they seem to be dabbling in more epic song structures, too. The word of the day for this album is ‘variety’. That’s what this album has.
For instance, opener “Sentinel” is a great rocking piece, you can feel the power in the band’s sound since the start. Heavy guitars, strong vocals and abundance of keyboards slotting in nicely into the driving melody.
Next, “Parasomnia” is a moody composition with epic moments and dreary atmospheres starting as a horror/thriller soundtrack, as if it was an opening song for a movie. It has a great bass line and once again haunting keyboards, glockenspiel, Moog. Then the guitar explodes fiercely together with Bernie Smirnoff articulated drums. This is prog, but energetic.
“Superfluous” is the neo-prog number of this, at this point, diverse CD. A well-structured, melodic prog rock where inevitably Marillion comes to mind. The vocals, the Moog, the more rhythmical guitar contributes to build a compelling mellow midtempo song that will appeal melodic rockers, no doubt.
Track 5 “Reality Mining”, the shortest song on the album, is about technological monsters: the state using technology to snoop into our private affairs. The music is easy, almost poppy at places, with an atypical, quasi-juglar drumming & percussion and vintage keys which I liked a lot, and enrich the album.
To increase the contrast (in a recording including many), the next and final compostion “Kubrick Moon” is the longest track. Atmospheric is the right word to describe the first part, almost cinematic, including some awesome Howe-approved guitars. Towards the middle the song gets a punch of energy and goes in a full power section, great by the way.
“Overcoming The Monster” is a progressive delight, and I mean progressive in a wide sense, not strictly ‘Prog sound’ or ‘Prog style’. Of course, here’s many influences from the classics of the genre, but KingBathmat mix them into a fascinating cocktail resulting in a very original piece of work.
This band is quite unique in what they do. It is progressive in the truest sense of the word, bringing in multiple styles and types of music then blending them all together in a way that is different and exciting, vibrant and fresh, without ever losing sight of their musical roots. These guys are terrific musicians and arrangers, and they show it with an open display of their noodling finesse.
The production and mixing are stellar where each instrument come out clear and balanced, and seem to have lots of breathing room. The soft parts are soft and the loud parts are loud, as they should be.
“Overcoming The Monster” is recommended for all audiences, audiophiles eager to hear something distinct, ambitious yet melodic and captivating.
Strongly Recommended.
1. Sentinel (8:48)
2. Parasomnia (9:38)
3. Overcoming The Monster (7:16)
4. Superfluous (9:05)
5. Reality Mining (4:42)
6. Kubrick Moon (11:37)
John Bassett – vocals, guitars
David Georgiou – keyboards
Rob Watts – bass
Bernie Smirnoff – drums, percussion
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www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=8975096
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