Kingdom of Sorrow - Behind the Blackest Tears

September 11, 2010

Reviewer: Garett

Many years ago (1996 I think) I saw both Crowbar and Hatebreed within a month of each other. It was at the same venue in the same town, but a totally different environment. Hatebreed was on the rise at the time, and they played to a packed house. Crowbar on the other hand played to a much smaller crowd, a crowd that had totally different people in it. I remember being a little annoyed at the attendance and wondering why none of the hardcore kids felt like showing up to see a much better, and more established band. I thought about this again a couple of years ago when I heard about this Kingdom of Sorrow project. It sort of got me thinking about how different eternally positive, energetic Jasta, and the implacably bitter Windstein’s backgrounds really are. It was an odd combination, but I was really interested in seeing what came out of it. I gave the first Kingdom of Sorrow album a couple of spins, and decided that it was a pretty unremarkable release.

Behind the Blackest Tears is a bit of a change in direction. The debut album was essentially a hardcore album with a few sludge elements, and back up vocals from Kirk. This album brings lot more of that NOLA groove to the table. In fact, I think that it is fair to say that Kirk is drawing as much inspiration from his experiences in Down as he is from Crowbar. What you end up with is a schizophrenic album full of jarring transitions between the two styles. The album has a lot of good catchy riffs and some undeniably memorable choruses; it just seems that more often than not these are rendered ineffective by the rather ham-handed interjection of up-tempo hardcore sections. This issue is evident from the beginning, and album opener “Enlightened to Extinction” is a prime example. After starting with a thick down tuned groove, the song moves into a classic upbeat hardcore section. Jamey shouts over this part, and Kirk belts out the chorus as the grove section is reprised. Neither part is bad, in and of itself, but it literally sounds like two different songs were mashed together.

Behind the Blackest Tears is not a total loss, and this formula does work in spots, “Gods Law in The Devil’s Land” and “Envision The Divide” demonstrate a more skillful integration of the band’s different influence. Both songs are surprisingly catchy and enjoyable. “From Heroes to Dust” is a solid ballad, and a welcome change of pace that would fit in nicely on one of the more recent Crowbar albums. “Sleeping Beast” and album closer “Salvation Denied” are solid (but unremarkable) hardcore songs, that avoid genre mashing that hinders much of the album.

In the end, Behind the Blackest Tears is an album that fails to deliver for all of the reasons that you might expect. These two styles just don’t fit together very well, and it ends up sounding like bits of different projects were cut and pasted together. Despite it’s issues, the album features several good songs and a host of solid riffs. I would recommend that fans of any of the other bands that these guys are involved with give the album a listen. It doesn’t work for me, but there is enough here to for me suspect that others may be a little more enthusiastic about it.

Release Date: June 8th, 2010
Label: Relapse Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Enlightened To Extinction
2.  Gods Law in the Devils Land
3.  Monuments of Ash
4.  Behind the Blackest Tears
5.  Envision the Divide
6.  From Heroes to Dust
7.  Along the Path to Ruin
8.  With Barely a Breath
9.  The Death We Owe
10.  Sleeping Beast
11.  Torchlight Procession
12.  Salvation Denied

Total playing time: 41:03

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