:: Kingdom Of Sorrow - Kingdom Of Sorrow

Kingdom Of Sorrow

After almost three years of scheduling conflicts, vocalist Jamey Jasta (Icepick/Hatebreed) and guitarist/vocalist Kirk Windstein (Down/Valüme Nob/Crowbar) finally found time to set their collaborative project Kingdom Of Sorrow in motion. With some additional help in the studio from guitarist Steve Gibb (Ex-Black Label Society/Crowbar), guitarist/renown producer Zeuss B. Held and drummer Derek Kerswill (Ex-Shadows Fall/Seemless/Unearth), Kingdom Of Sorrow duly entered the studio to lay down the tracks the pair had been piecing together over the years. Needless to say, their self-titled effort is the long awaited results of the joint venture. In a lot of ways, Kingdom Of Sorrow’s debut sounds exactly how it sounds on paper. Essentially this album sounds very reminiscent of the pair’s other groups.

The opening track ‘Hear This Prayer For Her’ pretty much sets the standard for the bulk of the album, with Windstein cranking out some heavyweight southern influenced Crowbar/Down sounding riffs, while Jasta puts on his best Phil Anselmo impression, while remaining true to his Hatebreed hardcore screams. The vast majority of the album sticks to the tried and true method and style of the opening tracks, with ‘Grieve A Lifetime’, the stripped back and huge sounding ‘Demon Eyes (Demonized)’, ‘Led Into Demise’ and ‘Free The Fallen’ all solid mid-paced offerings, while ‘Lead The Ghosts Astray’ and ‘Begging For The Truth’ are just two of the faster and more thrash based efforts, which inevitably give off a Hatebreed feel.

Taking a little more of an experimental approach is the sludgy ‘Piece It All Back Together’, the Down influenced/strings enhanced ‘With Unspoken Words’, ‘Screaming Into The Sky’ and the closer ‘Buried In Black’ (which originally appeared on Roadrunner Records’ compilation effort ‘MTV2 Headbangers Ball: The Revenge’ back in 2006). Kingdom Of Sorrow’s debut doesn’t boast a real lot of innovative surprises or radical change of direction from its two feature stars, but it’s still a good listen. Whether you happen to be a Down/Crowbar fan, or a Hatebreed follower, there’s bound to be something of interest found on the pair’s new album.