Album Review: Palace Of The King – Friends In Low Places

Review by Peter Coates – www.facebook.com/InsideEdgePhotography

PALACE OF THE KING
FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES

Released – 14^th December
Reckless Records

Australian hard rockers, Palace Of The King, have marked the end of a triumphant decade filled with multiple European tours as headliners and guests with the mighty Airbourne, three visits to the USA, and relentless touring across Australia as headliners and alongside iconic acts such as Rose Tattoo, The Angels, The Screaming Jets, Baby Animals, The Tea Party, Endless Boogie, Kingswood, The Quireboys, and many more.

Packed with powerful riffs, fuzz-filled hooks, and blazing performances, Palace Of The King reaffirms their position as a formidable musical unit of musicians, performers, and songwriters. Fourth album Friends In Low Places showcases everything from head-banging riff monsters like to soulful grooves, and introduces some new elements at the grungier end of the blues spectrum that they have merged with that slightly psychedelic swagger from the previous albums.

Production on the album has been masterfully handled by guitarist Tim Henwood at Medici and Beachside studios with mixing duties being nailed perfectly by long time collaborator Ricki Rae at Lighthill Studios, with individual tracks handled by Steve James, Rick Will and Jonathon Burnside. The overall production values of the record are superb, and each of the key elements of the band gets clarity and space, with some glorious backing vocals all the way through, but without losing any of the energy and rawness that the band delivers onstage.

The album kicks off with the punchy discordant riff of Children Of The Evolution which sets out the stall early, with a crunching dirty riff, solid, tight drumming, and the perfect vocal delivery from Tim, and some wicked backing vocals – think Black Stone Cherry meets T-Rex! A bit of the southern rock swagger is back for A Run For Your Money, with some bar-room piano over the chorus, that includes some quirky guitar fills, and a funky little mid-section breaking the stride, before the crowd vocal interlude drives us into the main guitar solo.

Song 3 and another change of pace, with the rip-snorting punk of the title track, Friends In Low Places, which roars out of the gates like the Ramones, both guitarists slamming out the riffs, with Tim snarling the vocals, a couple of short sharp solos sandwiching the choruses, and does not let up until the brief false ending – and then another couple of choruses to close it off! Phew! We really don’t get to something that feels POTK familiar until Get Right With Your Maker – which of course was the title of the 2018 album. I have listened to the original again, and they have not changed much at all, still with that slight groove in the tempo, and the Hammond organ adding the extra layers of harmony behind the guitars. This is the very best vintage classic rock, with a great solo, and a more mature and powerful lead vocal and a bigger drum sound maybe the only differences – with the same joyous gospel feel of the stripped back middle-eight that steers the track towards the fade-out! This is just glorious!

Down On Your Luck brings a solid dose of 12-bar blues to the party, powered along by bass and drums like old-school AC/DC, but with the piano, guitars and chorus much more Black Crowes, which proves an insidious mix of influences. There is an eclectic mix of guitars that takes up the last minute of the track, and promises to deliver some fireworks live. The band revert to the 1970s for Tell It Like It Is, with the raucous vocals, punchy beats under the chorus, and a heavily fuzzed guitar sound. If you were a regular gig-goer back in the day, POTK would be the ideal openers for the likes of The Who, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep Quo or Cream.

I’m Sorry Blues is another fuzz-heavy monster, softened by Seany Johnston’s keyboards, and with Cam McGlinchey showing off his chops on the kit. The band throws in some spoken word stuff while Tim and Leigh Maden thrash out some clashing riffs over the complex bass and drum patterns that is almost overwhelming, and it is a relief to get back to the slightly less chaotic chorus to close.

Tear It Down is more of a straight-ahead blues rocker, with some full-on guitar thrashing, and double-time drumming, and lots of crowd-shouted backing vocals, which runs off into a classic Status Quo final segment. There is a brief pause in the frenetic pace with One Of These Days, which gets back to that more deliberate POTK groove, and sees Tim excel on the lead vocal line – he really has stepped up for this album. The closing choruses sees some more of those sparkling lead breaks between the vocals.

The record closes with an absolute banger in Dead End Blues – dirty guitars, gritty vocals, pumping beats, and sleazy harmonica from Leigh. This is just superb, and we get Seany going ballistic on the Hammond Organ while Anthony Licciardi rips it up on the bass, before the fuzz pedal gets triggered again. The outro features some indistinct voices, more harmonica and some casual feedback as it fades away – the perfect ending to a no-frills, no filler record.

There is so much to talk about with this record – the first listen is pretty startling in terms of the intensity and variety of the tracks, and just how gritty and heavy much of it is. It immediately jumps right up to the Top 5 albums of 2023 for me, and is a real progression for the band into the upper echelons of Aussie rock royalty, and should get them more of the recognition they deserve in 2024.

The band have just done a run of Aussie dates to launch the album, and if you were lucky enough to catch them, then you will have heard much of the record live already. Hopefully there will be more dates in early 2024.

Seany Johnston – Keyboards, Guitar
Leigh Maden – Guitar, Harmonica, Backing Vocals
Anthony Licciardi – Bass, Backing Vocals
Cameron McGlinchey – Drums
Tim Henwood – Lead Vocal, Guitar, Percussion