Blog Post
KK’s Priest- 'The Sinner Rides Again' NAPALM RECORDS Release Date 29th September 2023
Kevin McCallum • Sep 29, 2023
Album Review
I think back to those times as a 14 year old in ’79 as a typical teenager, working hard at school (sort of) and working so hard to listen to as much rock and particularly heavy metal as my young ear drums could take. Bring on the visual masterpiece of a Japanese style font on an album cover, then I heard for the first time the dual guitar prowess of two great players, KK Downing and Glenn Tipton.
This was the awakening for me of witnessing and realising the existence of an iconic and unique sound that has stuck with me through a continual and ever evolving rock n roll education.
Fast forward from ’79 to ’23, here we have one of those two dual players KK Downing releasing his band ‘KK’s Priest’ follow up to the ’21 album ‘ Sermons Of The Sinner’- here we have ‘The Sinner Rides Again’.
A 9 track release featuring KK (Guitar) ,Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens (Vocals), A J Mills (Guitar), Tony Newton (Bass) and Sean Elg (Drums), the same line up that gave us the ’21 release.
‘Sons Of The Sentinel’ opens up this new album, in a typical welcoming dual guitar and vocal onslaught, sets the pace, blows away the cobwebs and gets you sitting up in your seat. Next up is ‘Strike Of The Viper’, different guitar tones bring you through this one. It has a west coast US metal feel to it, quality track.
‘Reap The Whirlwind’, could’ve been on an album listing that the 14 year old mentioned at the start might have listened to in an early Priest album back catalogue.
As we hit track 4, this is my album favourite ‘One More Shot At Glory’ has the best vocals from Ripper, then 2 minutes in more quality guitar work. I guess expert guitar sounds from KK and his sparing partner Mills, should be expected, but are still a pleasure to hear. It speeds you up slows you down then its done.
The haunting ’Hymn 66’, brings a darker side to the playing. It must be said though that the rhythm section of Newton/Elg drive quality through the whole 9 tracks. Title track ’The Sinner Rides Again’, is next up fast paced, atmospheric and shares with you some great lyrics. It talks about ’… glory days again’ , ‘…singing out loud’, ..stage is set’, yep all clear messages that KK’s back and raring to go. With UK dates fast approaching in October, don’t miss your opportunity to go and hear these guys deliver quality metal. There’s a dynamic gothic/mystical undertone to ’Keeper Of The Graves’, this wouldn’t be out of place in a ’Lost Boys/Viking/Tolkien’ type setting. Great song.
The album closes with the final two tracks, ‘Pledge Your Souls’, which takes you back to the style of the album opener ‘ Sons Of The Sentinel’. Then the final track, ‘Wash Away Your Sins’ makes you think that until about 2 minutes in you’re getting a ballad, but quickly bursts into an epic closer. This track keeps you going with the message that ‘KK’s Priest’ are raring to go and hopefully this won’t be the last from them.
If you liked ‘Sermons Of The Sinner’ you’ll like this as well.
Kevin McCallum