Wow! Kingcrow is back! With a new, and what I think, is their best album, since their debut album, Phlegethon. The new album is titled Hopium, and it will be released by Season of Mist Records, on August 24.
This album, lifts the band up beyond their peers and hopefully allows this band to hit the rockstar level that they have deserved for so long.
Kingcrow is made up of: Diego Marchesi, on vocals; Diego Cafolla, on guitars, keyboards, and backing vocals; Ivan Nastasi, on guitars and backing vocals; Riccardo Nifosì, on bass and backing vocals; Thundra Cafolla, on drums and percussion. Guest musicians for Hopium include: Vikram Shankar, who plays incredible piano solo on the song, “Hopium”.
From their press release, (which was prepared by Sebastien Gamez at Season of Mist, to a caliber I am so proud to receive. There was nothing missing, including pictures and lyrics, yes lyrics – I really was stunned). “The first incarnation of the band was originally founded in Rome, Italy, by brothers Diego Cafolla, (guitars), and Manuel Thundra Cafolla, (drums), under the name of “Earth Shaker”. Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Raven” and driven by a will of change, the band’s name was soon altered into Kingcrow and a couple of self-produced demos/albums where recorded under the Kingcrow moniker: Something Unknown, (2001); Insider, (2004); and Timetropia, (2006). In the early months of 2010 the band finished recording their new album Phlegethon, that was released in June of the same year under the “Scarlet Records” label. It was considered on an international level as a relevant masterpiece and was classed as one of the elite prog metal albums of the year. It has been near the top of the “album of the year” charts in some international prog-rock websites”. It was a masterpiece. I reviewed it. Thanks to the band, I was also sent those earlier albums electronically.
“Kingcrow’s discography also includes some wonderful albums, like In Crescendo, which was released in February 2013 by the American label “Sensory Records. The band toured along with Pain Of Salvation in North America in April and May, 2013. In 2015 the band released the album Eidos and toured Europe as Headliners. Meanwhile Kingcrow signed a management deal with GlassVille Music, house of very well-known progressive acts like Pain Of Salvation and Riverside among others. The band then recorded the album titled The Persistence, which was another masterpiece like Phlegethon”.
So, why is Hopium, such a new beginning for Kingcrow?
Well, let’s talk about that now…shall we…
The Persistence was the beginning of an overwhelming lyrical turn towards empathy. The feeling for others and the need, like other bands in their genre, to reach out to people and meet them were they are…and more importantly, where they need help; and your music, as a band. That empathy continues, immediately, on Hopium, from the opening track, “Kintsugi”, which is a Japanese method of repairing broken pottery and renewing its importance and use’; all the way through to the epic closer, and title song “Hopium”. “Kintsugi”, opens with pounding drums, keys, and electric guitar. Like a Muse or Coldplay song you may remember. But this is classic Kingcrow. Diego Marchesi, whose vocals continue to mature and improve with each album, sings so well all over this album. His singing is a key to the very sound of Kingcrow. Diego sings, “As you say this world is hard sometimes. Yes we failed but we got right back up. Body and mind marked with bruises. Show them with pride bring out every corner”. Right back to the power of Persistence, when we last heard from them. Diego continues, “Underline every imperfection and if you run out of skin take mine. Any scratch, any wound, on you. Everywhere! Everywhere! it’s you!” Yes, this song and album is made for you, the fan.
“Glitch”, opens with a very cool Depeche Mode – like keyboard. Maybe a hats-off to Andy Fletcher, who we lost in 2022. Seems like a good time as any to mention that on Hopium you will hear more keyboards than you probably ever heard on a Kingcrow album. Thank you Diego Cafolla millions for that. While the cool keys play, Diego sings, “Hands down the busiest place is my head. And now the noise here has increased then. Speak out loud! Is it your voice that rings into my ears? Wanna get some peace of mind. Too tired there is no place to fit in sometimes. My own life is like a flashing light beneath that lamp. Wanna get some peace of mind. I feel I’m in a Glitch. Stuck here without the slightest clue of why I’m even here”. Ah, but don’t we all. Diego is giving you the solution. Take time to rest and recover. Get off that clock, (going back to that clock off the cover of Timetropia).
Did I say there were more keyboards on this album? “Parallel Lines”, opens with some of the best. Diego sings, “We can’t live without, trembling creaky rollercoaster. Goes insanely down then back up. And the rage, misplaced, we know from experience has the power to wipe out everything and it grows. We’re losing tract of what was there, of what we loved, and what we cared, burned down. We’re pointing fingers at someone for something that’s just dead and gone by now. From this all… fast, we run but we can’t get close and we run faster but not even close so we run as hell. But they’re lines that run parallel. All we used to be, into these fading memories. All we used so share, a lonely echo in our mind”. More of the power of Pink Floyd’s timeless classic “Time”, from Dark Side, influencing this band and our world eternally. The second longest track on the album.
“New Moon Harvest”, also opens with calm, warm keyboards. Diego sings, “I’ve thought of selling out our soul. Many times in the past. Way before the harvest came and swept my dreams away. (Maybe a hats off to IQ’s “Harvest of Souls”). I don’t know. I’ll have to ask. Diego continues, “Then down came the rain again. Find a way. There’s a new moon tomorrow. For today. That’s how far we can go”. Live each day to its fullest, despite what life deals you. In other words, Persistence. Diego continues, with soft drums, cool keys, and he is surrounded by full bass and electric guitar; “We rose and fell like old empires. Witnessed our barriers fall. Lit the fire that kept us warm. And let it fade away. But here I am for you again. Find a way. There’s a new moon tomorrow. For today. That’s how far we can go”. Then, echoes of Roger Daltry, “… let it rain on me”.
“Losing Game”, opens with percussion sounds and far off keyboards, before acoustic guitar takes the stage. Diego sings, “Fine, you made me cry, screaming at night alone. I’m never gonna say it… I’m maybe gonna fake you out. I’m what you look for, to run away from. You’re never gonna admit, you’re never gonna embrace this truth. Why don’t we smile, smile again? Why don’t we try playing fair?” Then, a symphony of sound before he continues the story, “Tired, we know we lied, how did we get so damn far? You’re never gonna change. I’m never gonna change, will you? Why don’t we smile, smile again? I’m the one that gets you through the dark!” The acoustic guitar on this one is excellent. Diego repeats, “Now the curtain is falling”, like the mechanical echoes, that I remember from Pink Floyd’s Animals.
“White Rabbit’s Hole”, opens slow, almost like a country song, but thankfully it is not. Diego sings, with electric guitar, keyboards and soft percussion, “Finding direction where it’s all pitch black. No backward glances to what I left behind. And you walk… there is no question it’s a lonely chase, something just mine. Call it obsession, but I need to be there. So I walk, even crawl. I got this far…then Time has come, and you call me “out of mind”. Never been so blind and yet so happy to go. So I fall and I fall. Yes I fall down the hole I got this far”. Followed by a cool psychedelic electric guitar solo, which I wish would have lasted longer. This song reminds me a little of Pineapple Thief’s, “So We Row”, the closer off the epic, Someone Here is Missing. At 4:33, they turn on one of the best keyboard sounds I’ve ever heard on a Kingcrow song. It sounds like something out of Blade Runner. Just amazing! Thank you for that! Diego closes out the song, “So run, it’s late, until the end, we got no time to feel ashamed. If you feel mad you know we’re all mad here, so run!” Some of the best keyboards I’ve ever heard on a Kingcrow album, for sure! What an ending!
“Night Drive”, is one of the best songs on the album. Diego sings, to acoustic guitar, keyboards and soft percussion, strings and drums, “Driving in the cold of beaten paths. Cutting through the fog of my own breath. Take me down below to chase the sun. Take me far away to shake the pain. The guitar and keyboards get a chance to play, then Diego returns, “Staring into the void in front of me. Thin and worn out skin just like my wheels. Welcoming the wind like an old friend. Grant me just the chance to meet myself. What remains attached? While the world slips down the window glass. What remains attached? While the world slips down the window glass”. Those Tony Banks keys, evolve into something otherworldly, and futuristic, as the best electric guitar solo, so far, explodes on the scene!
“Vicious Circle”, opens with light fire keyboards, electric guitars and percussion with drums. Diego sings, along with the pulsating keys and bass, “Lying down watching the next TV show just to silence my mind. Find me there, trying to run after things that I don’t even want. Somehow I really need to be told that I’m on the right side. Tell me this, give me a fight on the screen and then someone to blame”. Diego sings, “I can’t keep going through with this farce. What they say… I don’t get. Can’t carry on, this loop brings me down. All they say… looks the same. Voices, noises” Diego sings to strings, “Find me there, looking for answers in faces I don’t really know (what’s behind those never-ending smiles). I ‘d like to take it out on someone to erase all this fear. Can’t be me, anger and envy and beer and a remote control”. A very cool Pineapple Thief sounding song.
“Hopium”, is the anthemic album closer. At over 8:00, buckle up and get ready for a futuristic ride. The opening keyboards and that Blade Runner sound absolutely captivates the listener. Then, electric guitar, bells and Diego singing, “Lying facing the stars from below. Dive, nose up towards restless souls. Do you blame the man I am? For the frail hopes that I’ve sown. Dewy meadows I walk alone. Looks like it’s made for me the fall. Dewy meadows it’s not my call.. It’s not for me the bell that tolls Bear with me now I have to learn. Lend me your light along the road”. Wow, then some fantastic drums, dramatic keyboards and power guitar. Full of force. Then, a dancing rhythm takes over as the keys bounce between the cool guitar licks. Diego sings, “Clean sensation of being a fraud, Walking failure as I always thought. But I can read the signs. It’s my mind. My own flying circus returns. But I can read the signs. It’s my mind. That screws up all same direction, it’s where the wind blows. Warm sensation of being something more. I better hold on tight. It’s my mind I’m done with this kind of shitshow. I better hold on tight. Now it’s time I know I can go all the way. Bear with me now, I have to learn. Lend me your light along the road, my own road. Watch them burn and then glide. Playing tag in the sky and you try to make sense of this tireless dance”. The empathy to understand what we all pass through from time to time. The music is out of this world, an epic closer for the ages. By the end of the song you understand why there was no other possible title for the album. This was the song they waited years to surround with a symphony of sounds to help enshrine it. The piano playing at the end is awesome. Piano, one of the best album ending instruments, since Abbey Road.
But no, it’s not over…if you get the bonus track as I did. “Come Through”, is a perfect addition to this album and a must, if you are choosing between album options. “Come Through”, opens with soft played acoustic guitar. Diego sings, “Maybe something went off in your eyes. Walking towards long and dawn less nights. You keep fallin’ and fallin’ and fallin’ and fallin’ again. And you can’t and you can’t, no you can’t, even ask for some help. Stuck in this hell of guilt and loneliness”. Then, an almost choir of oohs. Diego continues, “On an old train running without brakes along those tracks it’s your life at stake and you’re fallin’ and (you’re) fallin’ and (you’re) fallin’ and (you’re) fallin’ again and you can’t and you can’t know, you can’t even ask for some help. Hold on! Until the light wins the dark. This is not the end. Going all the way. It’s not impossible. Hold on! Sometimes the pain tells you lies. Find a friendly hand. You can cross that bridge it’s not impossible”. Don’t give up, be persistent!
So, why is Hopium, such a new beginning for Kingcrow?
Well, let’s talk about that now…shall we…
Kingcrow is making music that can now be embraced by all. No, they have not lost their metal edge. They just improved and matured their sound with music and more importantly lyrics, that shake you up and make you listen. This is an empathetic voice that we all need right now. It is the power of persistence and the hope that things will improve…over time. The music has evolved from simply guitar and drums to deep, intricate keyboards, soundscapes and symphonic ambiance. Please give this album a chance and join the many reviewers and music magazines which will laud this latest effort by a band that is now established with their peers and should be considered ready for prime time. They have tightened up production and the mixing of their albums. Diego Marchesi’s voice is only getting better. And those keys…he really is stepping out! There is not an error on this album. Another perfect creation. Take a bow and a hat off for the new sensation, Kingcrow, and their album of power and empathy Hopium. Let it bring hope to our desperate world.
Production Credits: Produced by Diego Cafolla and Thundra Cafolla. Sound Engineer – Diego Cafolla. Mixed by Giampiero Ulacco at Holofram Studios (Francavilla al Mare, Italy). Mastered by Marco Vannucci at Spitfire Mastering Studio (Italy).
Recording Studio – Sound Under Pressure (Rome, Italy). Cover Art – Devilnax.
Track List:
1. Kintsugi (3:53)
2. Glitch (3:56)
3. Parallel Lines (6:46)
4. New Moon Harvest (3:30)
5. Losing Game (5:28)
6. White Rabbit’s Hole (6:55)
7. Night Drive (5:48)
8. Vicious Circle (4:21)
9. Hopium (8:24)
10. Come Through (Bonus Track) (4:21)
Total runtime: 53:27
Band Website and Social Media Links:
Official Website: https://www.kingcrow.it/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Kingcrowband
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kingcrow_official/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/KingcrowBand
Bandcamp: https://kingcrow1.bandcamp.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3nnSgQo8TIgiO5M5pv3mlV
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/kingcrow/594989536
Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/1002506
TIDAL: https://tidal.com/browse/artist/6519112
Stream & Order: https://orcd.co/kingcrowhopium
YouTube and Music Video Links:
https://www.youtube.com/user/THUNDREX
Pineapple Tree , I think that you meant Pineapple Thief . I forgive you.
Fixed. Thank You.