The King Hen, The King Hen

There are some bands that attract fans by the ferocity of their music alone. They make sure that every kick, every hit of the tom, every bass note rumbles, making itself known and felt. Whether a song is awesome or awful is irrelevant. Luckily, the King Hen is not one of those bands; however, they could seriously stand to learn something from them.

From start to finish, each of the seven songs on their self-titled album is carried by solid guitar skills, flip-flopping between fuzzy grunge and pretty and melodic sounds. Their blistering energy especially stands out on the dizzying opener “Bad Magnet” and fast-paced “Too Far to Tell,” but frustratingly, the other aspects of the music don’t quite match the guitars’ quality or fervor. The vocals, going for that Ian MacKaye half-yell kind of singing, sometimes come across as limp and bored. The bass needs to be cranked up throughout the whole album, and it doesn’t help that the drums, already kind of sloppy, sound as if they were recorded from the room next door.

This isn’t meant to be strictly a critique of production, mind you — the songs themselves are definitely enjoyable, and the band has the potential for one hell of a live show. The problem is that the music wants to shake you by the shoulders, but as it is, the end result is a few pokes to the chest, falling just short of the high intensity the songs demand.