Reviewed by Andy Long

Not as immediate to my ears as previous KX outings, 2000's 'Please Come Home.Mr Bulbous' had much to recommend it. It does have that familiar cocktail of angry guitar strangulation and beautifully layered harmony vocals - melodic rock with an aggressive edge. This album is a well blended mix of the conventional and the unorthodox. The songs have trademark King's X catchy hooks that will worm their way into your subconscious so that you find yourself humming them on the train on your way to work, but at the same time there are curious moments, like the eerie spoken section of "Fish Bowl Man" and the strange foreign phrases in between songs. Lyrically full of cryptic spirituality and psychological dissection 'Bulbous' has some strong material. Favourites for me were "When You're Scared" and the soul searching "Move Me". When released as a bonus with this album you got a free CD Rom video of the documentary which charted the early history of King's X including concert footage of the band when they were called The Edge, video footage from when they were Sneak Preview, combined with in-depth interviews. Well worth searching out.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

Interested in reviewing music? Find out more here.