aKing - Against all odds
3 Jun 2009
As an occasional and unofficial album reviewer I often find you can appreciate an album but you wouldn't necessarily listen to it much again once the review is done. Not so with aKing's latest offering. It is currently my favourite album to listen to while driving and believe it will be for a while to come still. Though I must be honest it wasn't love at first sound. On the first listen I felt a little disappointed it was a bit too pop and mainstream for my liking but a couple of listens later I really didn't care, the album works beautifully pop or no pop, and is a total pleasure to listen to.
Laudo's voice is as deep and resonating as ever and really gives the album that overall distinct and rich style. There is quite a Crash Test Dummies feel about some of the tracks probably emphasised by the deep voices of both the respective lead singers.
I pretty much love all the tracks on this album but stand out songs include the catchy, “Fork in the Road” , the rockabilly inspired track “Face-brick Constellation” which you can just tell will be a crowd pleaser when played live and the future radio hit and title track “Against all Odds”.
Another noteworthy thing about aKing are their unique lyrics, sometimes bordering on the pretentious and incomprehensible but at least never from the obvious love song variety, they most definitely grab a listener's attention. No “Yeah baby let me wipe away your tears” will be heard on this album. They lean more toward the poetic and often slightly confusing lyrics such as:
Fork in the road
And I, I have a knife
In my pocket
A feast for the wasted
We're sticking our tongues in broken wall sockets
A rush of gold to the head.
The album art is a beautiful somewhat 70 inspired design. Picturesque landscapes are contrasted with bright colours and interesting cross sections of each of the four band members.
With an album like this it seems the odds are firmly stacked in aKing's favour.
