Seen and not herd (see what we did there?)
Like those death metal bands with the logos we can never understand, we didn’t need to be told what type of music King Bison make. Screaming out of Portsmouth, with a four tracker so dirty and greasy that you are probably best advised to wash your hands after.
A new band – competing in the 2017 Metal To The Masses and generally busying themselves in the south coast scene – “Snake Head Burial” is a hell of an opening statement.
The theme here is “messy”. “BBVS” – sample line: “6am and I am not alright, blacked out and lost my sight” – is as raw as Orange Goblin on a three-day meth bender, and King Bison ain’t even halfway done.
If the opener had a whiff of violence, then “Who’s Got Your Back” – sample line: when I leave there’ll be blood on my hands, and I’ll feel like a whole new man” – ramps it up. The bio that comes with this says: for fans of Corrosion Of Conformity. That’s true to an extent, but only if Pepper drank paraffin while cleaning his wounds.
“Demon Tongues And Leather” wastes no time in smashing your face with a broken bottle, then ransacks the drinks cabinet before it leaves. It is a crushing – yet somehow catchy – affair, with some glorious lead guitar. Six stringers Chris Milford and Alistair Phippen are in fine form throughout this, and so it is here.
“…Burial” ends with “Filthy Son Of A Bitch” and, when singer Karl Glover (who throughout the majority of this sounds like he’s gargling sandpaper) sneers “you get nowhere being a snitch” you do, just quickly check the memory banks to make sure he’s not referring to you.
Thankfully – we think – we’re safe and can enjoy this mighty fine slab (an apt word) of music, by a band which surely has a lot more to come too. Not least an acoustic version of “Snake Head Burial”. That will be like nothing you’ve ever heard. For now though, prepare for the fact that King Bison are coming for you. You’d best join them.
Rating 8/10
