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Band: King Dude
Album title: Sex
Release date: 28 October 2016
Label: Ván Records (Europe)/Not Just Religious Music (USA)
Tracklist:
01. Holy Christos
02. Who Taught You How To Love
03. I Wanna Die At 69
04. Our Love Will Carry On
05. Sex Dungeon USA
06. Conflict & Climax
07. The Leather One
08. Swedish Boys Drum
09. Prisoners
10. The Girls
11. Shine Your Light
“You don't really love me girl and I can see in your eyes when you smile....
Shine your light on me….”
A dark haze, that hovers over very intense feelings of fullness and pain. An intriguing mind, above worldly coincidences. Everything here, I said, everything in the art of King Dude (TJ Cowgill) represents what really means to have a brilliant dark mind. A deep soul, such a rare creature. This artist doesn’t need a label so to speak, he's unique. He's LUX. Not everyone in his life is capable to achieve this level of omniscience. Since the beginning of his career in the band Book Of Black Earth in mid-2003, he showed that he was not just one more among many.
After about three years, TJ Cowgill, the mastermind behind King Dude, actually started his unique project in folk tradition. He has always maintained a complete aesthetic, being the one directly responsible for the creation of everything, from the covers of the albums to the shirts. This eventually led to the creation of his clothing company, Actual Pain, around 2006 as well. To keep his aesthetic even more unique, he has also created his own label, Not Just Religious Music. And it was this unique label like Cowgill that in October 2016 released the album named Sex. Sex is a themed album, the tracks are strongly character driven. Yet, as in every "tale", the truth is "hidden in plain sight".
I am very fond of the contained perversion, the passion, the desire, the power, the sarcasm, the self-confidence and at the same time the pain, that only an immortal could feel and express in such a pure, direct and honest way. King Dude uses his bewitched dark folk sound with primal archetypes, to explore the depths of human feelings. His ability to combine influential elements of country, blues, dark folk and traditional hymns with metal beats, creating deeply resonant music, makes the art of King Dude impossible to go unnoticed by my soul.
The human being most of the time uses his previous knowledge to aggregate, compare and classify new experiences and knowledge. And so I withdraw the explanation to certain critics and listeners when they refer to certain songs from the Sex album, such as being based on David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, The Cramps or even Type O Negative. I'm sorry, but this is not the case. From the beginning, the art of King Dude is in constant evolution and change. The artist's growing in search of spiritual enlightenment. I see it clearly and he already achieves a level of consciousness far superior from the mass. This pleases me a lot. Sex is another great journey into the ecstasy of sweet emotional experiences and the depths of the darkest despair.
The tracks that caught my attention were "Who Taught You How To Love", "I Want To Die At 69", "Our Love Will Carry On" and "Shine Your Light". For me all four tracks that I have mentioned have a very specific and particular meaning. It's all about immortality, deep love, despair, lust and latent pleasure. When I was listening the track “Who Taught You How To Love”, I closed my eyes for a moment to “feel” the lyrics. And the music took me on a journey of sensations. I could remember my lover stroking my cool skin with his fingertips. I felt sexual arousing listening to this song. That’s great! I heard about this tracks being compared to Type O Negative. Come on, don’t bore me with superficial evaluations. If you just listen to all of the tracks, you'll perceive your mistake. We have no negativity here, quite the contrary; we have a hot veiled sex drive.
“Conflict & Climax” a 2:39 track, is kind of a crude dense track. You will be wrapped and threw in a short chaotic lucid delirium. “Swedish Boys” another amazing one. Typical old school rock'n'roll, blends kind of soft hardcore with the "surfingbird" beat from late 60s. Again, the master of disguise and his impressive obscure mark in each accord, makes this, another great surprise. Undoubtedly an album for intelligent people, who like the artist they admire are in search of personal improvement through spiritual enlightenment and physical experiences. Hail Lux Mundi! In honor to Lúcifer my bows to thee King Dude.
Review written by: Felin Frost
Rating: 9,5/10
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