All Our Kings Are Dead

I purchased this album after reading a positive review on a music website and then listening to a few tracks on myspace. It has turned out to be a good move as this an excellent debut album from a rare thing these days, a young British rock band. They remind me a little of another great British rock band, Nine Black Alps, who have unfortunately fallen out of favour recently despite producing three really good albums. It's refreshing these days to hear a band producing very listenable tuneful rock songs that never lose sight of their melody even on the faster, louder tracks, when most rock bands seem to fall into the heavy rock or emo categories of music. It's perhaps indicative of the strength of the album that my favourite track is Endless Grey, not one of the single releases from the album. I would strongly recommend this album to anyone who enjoys rock or guitar driven music.

The band have come along way in the past year, their debut album All Our Kings Are Dead shows this. Their sound is more or less the same as what you hear on the EP but add in more reverb on the vocals and maybe strings in a few songs aswell as gang vocals. The album uses alot of pop hooks which is something Young Guns are good at. All the songs are strong, none of them seem to be there to just fill the space although I'm not too keen on the re-recording of Weight Of The World. But that may grow on me over time.

Gustav Wood is a extraordinary lyricist and vocalist in my opinion. The lyrics on some songs dwell on him not having his father as a child. That put off a listener, but in no way is he whining about this, if anything writing songs on this subject has helped the band. For example the lyrics in the bridge of the album opener Sons Of Apathy. "My Father was an oak, the earth moved when he spoke. My father conquered seas but was not there for me" The line above flows so well with the rest of the instruments, everything on the album in fact feels natural.
I wouldn't compare Young Guns to any other artist, to me they're one of those few unique bands that have their own sound. I would recommend listening to these songs off the album to get into the band; Crystal Clear, Winter Kiss & Weight Of The World. All of which have been singles.

As I probably mentioned before, one of the things I love about this band is the vocal melody and the guitar lines and how it works off each other. As well as the poppy melodies used in their break downs. The only thing I don't like about this album is the re-recording ofWeight Of The World, it's lost it's raw edge and doesn't feel as crazy as the original. Wasn't necessary, but it's still cool I suppose.

As a fan of a wide and varied selection of bands including Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Linkin Park, and a wide sleceltion of 80's rock (despite growing in the 90's)...

This is a very good album of new and interesting music with new melodies and new things to express. The production budget cloud have been better (the voice component could do with being stronger in several tracks) but the music is so good in most of the tracks that this is a minor issue.