Review Summary: Infectious melodies and progressive leanings with a big helping of psychedelia. Worth checking out.
Kingbathmat describe themselves as an 'independent/psychedelic/progressive/alternative rock band hailing from Hastings in England'. When I first heard their music a few years ago I found it quite hard to categorise but their description above just about nails it. The project started back in 2003 as a solo venture by multi-instrumentalist John Bassett but eventually evolved into a 3 piece band for the recording of 'Fantastic Freak Show Carnival' in 2005.
This is a sort of loose concept album, or rock-opera if you like, which is centred on a bunch of surreal characters who supposedly make up the 'Freak Show' of the title. At least that's what it seems like but since I might be wide of the mark here I'll move onto what really matters...the actual music.
Well, it's off the wall, catchy, quite progressive in parts and has a sort of innocent enthusiasm about it that is really quite entertaining. It falls over in a few places but taken as a whole it's really rather impressive and endearing. Some of the songs are so instantly appealing that you feel that you must have heard them somewhere else before. 'King's Ransom', with it's simple boppy hook, infectious chorus and cheerful lead guitar passages is a prime example of this. In fact one of the major strengths of Kingbathmat seems to be their capacity to cram memorable hooks and melodies into nearly everything they write. 'Ghost in the Fire' opens with a heavily tremeloed guitar sound that screams retro at you and floats along dreamily before throwing a gorgeous chorus of overdriven guitars and harmony vocals in your face. The title tracks leads you to believe you are going to hear some standard prog rock fare before warping into something quite reminiscent of Sgt Pepper era Beatles and then throwing another killer chorus into the mix. The way that the band seem to dip in and out of different styles is one of the most compelling aspects of the music and it's hard to get bored listening to such flamboyance.
So, it's quirky, fun, infectious and laden with memorable hooks...but is there anything of substance ? Ah well, yes they've got that covered too. 'Soul Searching Song' is a sort of prog/space rock mini-epic that includes Pink Floyd-esque elements and clocks in at over 11 mins. Dreamy psychedelic ballad 'Wonderful Life' will grow and grow on you and 'Illuminous Pups' is a shifting instrumental which starts off as a swirling proggy mood piece before serving up some excellent doomy space rock riffage.
Kingbathmut's later work has tended to portray more of a serious prog rock leaning and this release is probably not the most representative of their current music. However, taken in isolation this is a great little album that may just get under your skin as long as you don't take it all too seriously and just sit back for the ride.
Note: if their music appeals to you please note that they sell albums very cheaply on their own website and often provide lots of free downloads.
