KING BLOOD - Hocus Focus LP

Highly recommended.

On the same label as the mighty SPACIN' - and very much along similar, freaked-out fuzzed-up Krautrock / psych. Throbbing, claustrophobic, triumphant, room shaking, and chiming electric guitar worship. The type of record that'll lodge into your head and reduce your mind to a luminous toxic jelly. Enters the static void alongside Earth, Skullflower, and Les Rallizes Denudes.

"Praise be, new King Blood! This is scorched-earth riff-mongering of the highest order, straight from some nondescript Ohio abode to your turntable care of Philadelphia’s always-alert Petty Bunco label. I’d hope that all you nice fans of High Rise, Tetuzi Akiyama’s Don’t Forget To Boogie, Birds of Maya, Judas Priest records with a condition grade of G/G+, etc., are already familiar with the King Blood project, but if not, you’re in for a treat. Riffs are layered and repeated at dangerously hot levels, with no vocals to distract, just Anglo-Saxon heavy metal at its leathery core. This time around, I’m noticing more with the bass (could be a heavy rhythm guitar, or an actual bass?) and some extra percussion to drive these points home, but it’s ultimately quite true to the original intent of King Blood. Some tunes recall a dystopian ZZ Top, others are pure NWOBHM exhaust, and there’s at least one cut that sounds like an ’80s WWF theme song hacked to pieces. I released a King Blood 7″ some six years ago, and yet I somehow forgot how great this entity can be – Hocus Focus immediately whipped me back into shape." - YGR