Review: Kingdom Come “Outlier”

Kingdome Come’s debut came back in 1988 and the hit “Get It On” helped the band to platinum status.  They were also part of the “Monster’s Of Rock” tour with Van Halen, Scorpions, Metallica (yes that’s right) and Dokken.

They had one more album in them (“In Your Face”) before the scene started to change in the early part of the 90’s.  Many forgot about them here in the states, but vocalist Lenny Wolf continued to forge ahead with different versions of the band.  He experimented with different sounds and style as he got further away from the original sound of the band.

“Outlier” is the latest and again it show’s Wolf’s imagination and ability to fit the band into modern times.  His voice still has the high-pitch of Robert Plant that will separate him from the post-grunge modern style, but musically the band fits in the modern rock world.

The German-born Wolf returned to his homeland in the 90’s and escaped the L.A. Scene Hair Band that seemed to haunt his career for years.  Now he implements more techno-trance sounds from his native land into the music.  Don’t get me wrong, the Metallica guitar and edge still remain, but the music is laced with sounds you wouldn’t normally hear on a rock record.  Personally I find it refreshing and almost “relaxing” the way he infuses it into the music.  It’s a little trippy and psychedelic.  It’s almost like he took the 70’s into modern times.

Much like his last 4 or 5 releases there’s no overpowering song, it’s more of a collection of interesting tracks that flow seamlessly from one to another.  There’s a video for “God Does Not Sing Our Song”, but it’s really no stronger than any other track.

So, if you can get over the fact it’s not going to sound like their first couple releases and that Wolf still sounds a LOT like Robert Plant, I think there’s a lot here to really appreciate.  It will take a few listens too, it’s not going to hit you right away, but give it a chance, THEN go back and find their other releases, you might realize this band was never categorized or marketed the way they should have been.