For me, it's a promising debut but for others it may well be a case of Christmas coming early.
Another new addition to the Frontiers roster, King Company is a five-piece specializing in a blend of Melodic Rock that anyone who has sampled releases by the Italian label before will be familiar with. Drummer Mirka "Leka" Rantanen had the vision of a new band and recruited guitar player Antti Wirman. Vocalist Pasi Rantanen was added to the ranks with keyboard player Jari Pailamo and bassist Time Schleifer completing the line-up.
Securing a deal with Frontiers, the band's title track will get the attention of anyone who enjoys Melodic Rock, the opening lines along stating "It was 1900 and 85, we were young, wild and free", and the band kick off into a classic commercial Rocker. The production is typically Frontiers, the chorus is quickly in your head and Rantanen's vocals sound a perfect fit for the music the band produce.
'Shining' and 'Wheels Of No Return' both follow a similar template, the guitar work in the latter having touches of late eighties era Whitesnake, something which is also sprinkled across 'Coming Back To Life'. The Hair Metal power ballad 'No Man's Land' is real lighter waving stuff with soaring guitars on top, while 'Wings Of Love' is sure to be a winner among the Melodic Rock fraternity.
Being brutally honest, I found the tracks individually to be very good but when played as an album, a chunk of the album felt a little samey and it could maybe have benefitted from a track shuffle to mix things up a little. That said, that's my personal opinion and there have been many releases of late where I have felt somewhat underwhelmed or apathetic about, only to find I was the minority and most people were lapping it up. I suspect that will be the case here with King Company as they have a generous dose of eighties in their sound, a commercial vibe and are a perfect match for a label like Frontiers. For me, it's a promising debut but for others it may well be a case of Christmas coming early.
James Gaden
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