Album Review: King Kraken - March Of The Gods
Reviewed by Richard Oliver
If you hail from South Wales and you are part of the rock and metal scene (much like this reviewer), then it is impossible not to have come across or at least heard of King Kraken. This is a band who play anywhere and everywhere, promote the hell out of themselves and have some incredible marketing to really ensure their name gets out there. This has definitely worked in their favour as since the release of their debut album “MCLXXX” in 2023, the band have toured extensively including some of the biggest shows of the band’s existence including prolific support slots for acts such as South Of Salem, Geoff Tate and Crowbar, festival appearances including Call Of The Wild and Bloodstock as well as touring the width and length of the UK. Now it is time for the music to do the talking with the release of the band’s second album “March Of The Gods”.
“March Of The Gods” sees King Kraken in truly fine form and sees the band’s songwriting take a massive step up in comparison to their debut album. Straddling the line between hard rock and heavy metal, the album is an absolute riff buffet with plenty of grit, groove and swagger which can be heard in monstrous tracks such as ‘El Giganto’, ‘Vigilante’, ‘Chainsaw Savior’ and the title track but the band detours into soulful and bluesy territory with the magnificent ‘Hero’ and the understated ‘Under The Sun’.
The band are really on fine form with a relentless barrage of killer riffs and slick lead solos from guitarists Pete Rose and Adam Healy whilst the rhythm section of bassist Karl Meyer and drummer Richard Lee Mears hammer everything down. The vocals from frontman Mark Donoghue are truly excellent, mixing hard rocking grit, soulfulness and a strong melodic sensibility in a powerhouse performance.
King Kraken have been putting in tremendous amounts of hard rock over the last two years and they have a tremendous album to show for it. It really sees the band take a massive leap forward in quality and whilst there is nothing new on offer, “March Of The Gods” shows that straightforward hard rocking heavy metal is still as damn effective as it ever was. Drawing in influence from bands such as Pantera, Clutch and Black Label Society, “March Of The Gods” is a great album to crank in the garden in the coming summer evenings with a cold beer and annoy your neighbours with (or convert them to the Kraken cause). This is an album that is proof that hard work pays off and 2025 may just be the year where the band get to truly unleash the Kraken.
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