Description
Zeal is the third full-length studio album by the American indie rock band Kings Kaleidoscope, released on Rainbow Records in April 2019. The album was mixed by Brian Eichelberger with Chad Gardner producing.
The Seattle-based worship collective, led by Chad Gardner, have in the past gained some international accolades, but also courted some controversy. This set is distinctly alternative rock, so while some tracks are fairly definable, describing some of the other tracks on it isn’t easy. Maybe “vocal over sounds” is the closest I’ll get. The sounds are mostly music, but not always. The opening «The Coma» gives a hint of what is coming – gently sung lyrics over a repetitive chord until a full orchestration kicks in, whereas «Jumping From Jaded Heights» seems to tread the reverse line. Overall comparisons may be with George Ezra, Labyrinth, Jamie T and Professor Green, but there was nothing so striking as to say “that one”. The album consists of 13 reasonably short tracks that combine all sorts of influences, from rap to cinematic to orchestral with probably a majority featuring break beats. Over it all rises a sung vocal: sometimes solo, sometimes heavily overlaid, always interesting and always making you ask where it’s going next. Lyrically this is pretty solidly faith-based, with songs such as «Naked Feet And Holy Fire» declaring a desire to always be praising God. An interesting album but I found it to be too diverse in its myriad of stylistic approaches to really connect. [Paul S Ganney, Cross Rhythms, May 2019]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/zeal/1458153076)
CD tracklist:
01. The Coma – 1:49
02. Hero Over My Head – 4:04
03. Naked Feet & Holy Fire – 4:17
04. Backwards – 3:48
05. Flat on the Inside (A Word) – 0:48
06. About to Break – 3:27
07. Aimless Knight – 4:36
08. Same Blood – 3:33
09. Breathing Infinity (The Rush, Pt. 1) – 3:33
10. Jumping from Jaded Heights (The Rush, Pt. 2) – 2:23
11. On to the Light (The Rush, Pt. 3) – 2:38
12. Oxygen – 4:25
13. A Little Bit of Faith – 3:03
Note: Released on both CD and 12-inch vinyl LP (pressed on vinyl of various colors; Red, Yellow, Orange, Purple, Green, and Blue). Available at Bandcamp: https://kingsk.bandcamp.com/album/zeal
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.