Kingmaker - Stay Pissed
In my opinion, there aren’t many beat down hardcore bands which have undergone any amazing transformations throughout their history. In fact, I don’t think that that evolution of the genre will precede anywhere either. All the bands then to follow suit and have exact same style of drumming, attitude, guitar riffs, vocals , breakdowns, ect… But like any kind group in real life there is always that one person or item which just doesn’t fit. Kingmaker is that thing that outsider in the beat down group and it’s not for all the wrong reasons. Just when I thought that any hope of “progression” in the genre was gone, up comes this band and immediately it revived my love for the genre and I was hooked.
What many people love about beat down hardcore (and it’s what I also love most about it too) is the attitude the bands have. It’s almost impossible to have a beat down hardcore band which doesn’t have that “in your fucking face” or “don’t give a shit” attitude in them. The very title of this EP already implies that Kingmaker are a real fucking beat down band. Let me tell you, there is a shitload of attitude on Stay Pissed. This seems like one of the only things that people might be too dangerous to mosh to, someone could die in there. There is just so much energy stored within their music. Just everything about Stay Pissed is just so overwhelming. The vocals are extremely high pitched and raspy, the drumming is extremely fast and clear and the guitar tuning is just perfect for the “beat down” mood. All this combined resulted in one of the most “hardcore”, hardcore bands I’ve heard in my life.
Another thing that in my opinion defines the hardcore sound is the production quality of the releases. Typically, underground bands would naturally have poor production quality which sometimes emphasises the “rawness” of the music. Now yeah, this is a nice cheap way of making the music sound raw and I don’t know many other bands find another who don’t do it like this. Kingmaker has done something just a little different. Their music is still raw, it still has that really raw atmosphere that many of the fans come to love but rather than recording their music in a tin can, they have quite a high quality of recording but have distorted the shit out of it. Although this might be a little hard to picture in your mind (well, hear in your mind), when you listen to this EP it will all make sense. What I like about this style over the others is that it sounds like the music has a lot more energy to it. More than just your average Joe underground beat down hardcore band, which can only be a good thing in this situation.
I know this might sound stupid, but from what I’ve seen here Kingmaker have really pushed some of the older ways of beat down hardcore into the modern age. It’s easy to tell that they have taken much of their influence from their older beat down hardcore predecessors from the 90s but they have put a modern twist on things. First of all, some Kingmaker’s guitar riffs are not really common amongst the more primitive hardcore bands. If you listen closely enough, you can tell that many of the guitar riffs sound similar to something from deathcore or modern melodic metalcore (which are two very modern genres of music). That being said, there are still some really hardcoreish guitar riffs thrown in there, its just that the whole thing isn’t comprised of just hardcore riffs.
I cannot imagine any decent beat down hardcore band that doesn’t have killer break downs. It’s almost like not having double bass in deathcore, the experience just won’t be the same. Kingmaker have really written some excellent hardcore style breakdowns here. The style they’ve used is slow breakdowns with palm muted riffs. Although the intervals between each note is relatively short, the breakdown still feels slow. Although they don’t sound heavy as such, the addition of short, quick bursts of double bass have definitely applied some force behind the breakdowns.
On the contrary to what most of you are probably thinking (I might have wreck this with the mention of melodic hardcore earlier), Stay Pissed has its melodic moments. I must say, these sections makes the quality of the music increased tenfold. You know those moments in songs where it just goes from a generic tune into another generic tune, but the contrast between the two are just done seemingly perfect It just seems like the music quality and the feeling behind the music just wouldn’t be the same without it? Welp, there are moments like those throughout the entire EP and I think its what gives Stay Pissed and Kingmaker its charm. Its not enough that bands have this contrast, the fact that Kingmaker have just done them at the right time, have the right feeling behind them and haven’t overused them makes them just so… awesome (it’s the only word that I can think of that describes it).
Overall, Kingmaker’s Stay Pissed EP has made me really excited to hear what the band has to offer in the future. I’m not the biggest fan of pure hardcore music, but I know what good hardcore sounds like and I like what I’m hearing. I think that this could be one of the best hardcore EPs I’ve heard and its funny how the underground scene has so much more to offer than the mainstream scene. Pretty much all of the hardcore bands that I “like” like are still underground and according to my predictions, its only a matter of time before someone out there goes “this is nice” and suddenly goes viral. I think that Stay Pissed is absolutely flawless, its everything a hardcore band should be plus more. I recommend Kingmaker to anyone who is relatively into hardcore or metalcore (although I’m not sure if people will take the deal with the vocals though). I think that first time listeners should have a go at the tracks Spite and Friends because they seem to be the outstanding tracks on the EP. Kingmaker have really made me excited about their future and I can’t wait to hear their next release, I give Kingmaker’s Stay Pissed a 17/20.
What many people love about beat down hardcore (and it’s what I also love most about it too) is the attitude the bands have. It’s almost impossible to have a beat down hardcore band which doesn’t have that “in your fucking face” or “don’t give a shit” attitude in them. The very title of this EP already implies that Kingmaker are a real fucking beat down band. Let me tell you, there is a shitload of attitude on Stay Pissed. This seems like one of the only things that people might be too dangerous to mosh to, someone could die in there. There is just so much energy stored within their music. Just everything about Stay Pissed is just so overwhelming. The vocals are extremely high pitched and raspy, the drumming is extremely fast and clear and the guitar tuning is just perfect for the “beat down” mood. All this combined resulted in one of the most “hardcore”, hardcore bands I’ve heard in my life.
Another thing that in my opinion defines the hardcore sound is the production quality of the releases. Typically, underground bands would naturally have poor production quality which sometimes emphasises the “rawness” of the music. Now yeah, this is a nice cheap way of making the music sound raw and I don’t know many other bands find another who don’t do it like this. Kingmaker has done something just a little different. Their music is still raw, it still has that really raw atmosphere that many of the fans come to love but rather than recording their music in a tin can, they have quite a high quality of recording but have distorted the shit out of it. Although this might be a little hard to picture in your mind (well, hear in your mind), when you listen to this EP it will all make sense. What I like about this style over the others is that it sounds like the music has a lot more energy to it. More than just your average Joe underground beat down hardcore band, which can only be a good thing in this situation.
I know this might sound stupid, but from what I’ve seen here Kingmaker have really pushed some of the older ways of beat down hardcore into the modern age. It’s easy to tell that they have taken much of their influence from their older beat down hardcore predecessors from the 90s but they have put a modern twist on things. First of all, some Kingmaker’s guitar riffs are not really common amongst the more primitive hardcore bands. If you listen closely enough, you can tell that many of the guitar riffs sound similar to something from deathcore or modern melodic metalcore (which are two very modern genres of music). That being said, there are still some really hardcoreish guitar riffs thrown in there, its just that the whole thing isn’t comprised of just hardcore riffs.
I cannot imagine any decent beat down hardcore band that doesn’t have killer break downs. It’s almost like not having double bass in deathcore, the experience just won’t be the same. Kingmaker have really written some excellent hardcore style breakdowns here. The style they’ve used is slow breakdowns with palm muted riffs. Although the intervals between each note is relatively short, the breakdown still feels slow. Although they don’t sound heavy as such, the addition of short, quick bursts of double bass have definitely applied some force behind the breakdowns.
On the contrary to what most of you are probably thinking (I might have wreck this with the mention of melodic hardcore earlier), Stay Pissed has its melodic moments. I must say, these sections makes the quality of the music increased tenfold. You know those moments in songs where it just goes from a generic tune into another generic tune, but the contrast between the two are just done seemingly perfect It just seems like the music quality and the feeling behind the music just wouldn’t be the same without it? Welp, there are moments like those throughout the entire EP and I think its what gives Stay Pissed and Kingmaker its charm. Its not enough that bands have this contrast, the fact that Kingmaker have just done them at the right time, have the right feeling behind them and haven’t overused them makes them just so… awesome (it’s the only word that I can think of that describes it).
Overall, Kingmaker’s Stay Pissed EP has made me really excited to hear what the band has to offer in the future. I’m not the biggest fan of pure hardcore music, but I know what good hardcore sounds like and I like what I’m hearing. I think that this could be one of the best hardcore EPs I’ve heard and its funny how the underground scene has so much more to offer than the mainstream scene. Pretty much all of the hardcore bands that I “like” like are still underground and according to my predictions, its only a matter of time before someone out there goes “this is nice” and suddenly goes viral. I think that Stay Pissed is absolutely flawless, its everything a hardcore band should be plus more. I recommend Kingmaker to anyone who is relatively into hardcore or metalcore (although I’m not sure if people will take the deal with the vocals though). I think that first time listeners should have a go at the tracks Spite and Friends because they seem to be the outstanding tracks on the EP. Kingmaker have really made me excited about their future and I can’t wait to hear their next release, I give Kingmaker’s Stay Pissed a 17/20.
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