OGRE TONES

"Ogre Tones" is the 11th full-length studio album by US hard rock/alternative rock act King's X. The album was released through InsideOut Music in September 2005. It's the band's first album released through InsideOut Music after a longer collaboration with Metal Blade Records.

The music on "Ogre Tones" is hard rock/alternative rock delivered by a very skilled trio of musicians. The sound production is professional, clean and polished. The tracks are very simple vers/chorus structured and the band's reputation as a progressive rock act doesn't shine through on this album. Most of the tracks on the album are around 3 minutes long and feature hook laden choruses with lots of mainstream appeal. It's not often it happens, but when the band decide to rock out, they are actually able to conjure up some really nice hard rocking grooves, but it doesn't happen enough. Most of the tracks are more sweet and polished pop/rock material with some really nice harmony vocal arrangements, and to my ears the album end up a rather tame affair.

Of course the excellent musicianship, the professional sound production and songwriting craftsmanship that should make most musicians green with envy, are all features that secure a quality stamp and a 3 star (60%) rating. A bit more bite would have suited the album though.