Fancy a honeymoon to the cemetery for a beautiful living funeral? There’s the sense that we are farewelling a group of musicians who’s sound evokes a life that was fulfilling and yet equally brutal. Don’t worry this isn’t a literal funeral, no one died, so don’t waste your time crying over nothing.
Grime Kings remind us of our edgier past lives. Photograph courtesy of Ottawa Wig Emporium and Ming Wu, apparently.
Grime Kings, all the way from Canada, know the pain you experience in those tough times of despair. The boys will reach out to take you away to their retreat for the broken hearted – it’s amazing that they managed to extend their helping hand to us in Australia, across the great Pacific Ocean, the Rocky Mountains and ferocious British Colombian blizzards (all geographically reasonable hurdles to consider). What we’re trying to say is that we are glad they found their way into our lives.
With a genre self- described as “Yes”, we cannot help but preach “Yes” to the indie rockers’ experimental grungy tunes – modern spinoffs of the simple melodies of 70s glam rock, to the more mathematically complex artistic arrangements. Their latest album, Honeymooning, promises to be sinfully grim at times and poetically tragic at others. The timely glimpses of hope throughout the album bring out a sweet cynicism – just when you lose all hope they tease you with a ‘happier’ tune. Blanketed with a vintage coat, you can’t help but feel you’re reliving a past edgier life.
The hesitant opening of Stammering foreshadows an angsty mood that can’t be shaken off. The echoing vocals against the lucid backdrop of percussion, keys and flowing guitar rhythms, creates a relentless surge of melodic madness.
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The eerie down-tempo Looked Like Rain But Never Came, throws you into a very dark place. The heavily altered and shaky vocals are so menacing you feel powerless to leave the song – you feel the desperation in listening to the very end just to know your fate.
Grime Kings have worked some magic on the infamous and dreaded alarm clock sound, with the album titled single, Honeymooning. Not quite the honeymoon we were expecting, which leaves us wondering what the inspiration behind the song is. Our guess is that something went horribly wrong in one of their relationships and this song is a wake up call to those incompatible differences which led to their falling out – well at least that’s what it sounds like.
The last track is yet to promise a hopeful vision for the future. Every Golden Future starts with a dizzying and lively guitar melody which continues to drive the song until it gives up half way – either the guitarist is super human or that is a machine making that super speedy melody – the copious amounts of digital samples definitely suggest the latter and give the song a deranged futuristic feeling.
All hail the kings of grime. They aren’t all that dirty like their name suggests – yes they have a tough exterior, but when you get to know them you will realise that they have always meant well.
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