Album Review- KXM – Rat Pak Records

Don’t call KXM a “supergroup”; it conjures too many memories of crappy albums  by killer musicians over the years.  KXM doesn’t sound forced or thrown together, the fact is that this album is one of the most interesting and natural sounding records so far this year.  The opening track on the album, “Stars”, makes it abundantly clear that Dug Pinnick (King’s X), George Lynch (Dokken, Lynch Mob) and Ray Luzier (Korn) are still performing at an insanely high level.   Pinnick’s unique voice and lyrical abilities tend to make the record have more of a King’s X feel than a Dokken or Korn, feel although that’s a bit of a no-brainer since he’s performing lead vocals here (along with throwing down some of his very best bass work).  Luzier’s playing is unhinged and dominating throughout the entire album.  The guy is a beast and contributes the twist and movement to a KXM band which is clearly percussive at heart.   The real wild card on the album is George Lynch whose playing here on KXM feels totally musical and liberated from any structural or style patterns you might expect from his “guitar hero” status.  There are moments where George shreds, such as the solo on “I’ll Be Ok” but there are just as many moments where he’s much more jangly and percussive, playing to the song’s intent as in “Rescue Me”.  Two of my absolute favorites, “Faith is A Room” and “Gunfight” prove that KXM sounds as it does because this entire process was 100% democratic.  There’s not a moment where a member of this project isn’t shining, nor a song which comes off as simply being the “pet song” of one particular member.  Hopefully the masses dictate that this is just the beginning of a long-standing arrangement between these three cats.  Great album. To Buy The New Album”KXM”click HERE

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Category: Reviews