Review Summary: Music music, I hear music...
For the most part, Gretchen Goes to Nebraska picks up where the preceding Out of the Silent Planet left off. All the tropes that made King's X stand out are in place with a fuller but still very eighties-friendly production job surveying the mix of bright psychedelia, soulful vocal harmonies, and funk beats posted by a heavy metal crunch. However, King’s X takes this extra time (literally with this album being ten minutes longer than the last one) to push the various facets of their sound even further.
Right off the bat, it seems like the band’s psychedelic side is given priority with more devotion to abstract layouts and softer textures. The wistful guitar work and dreamy vocals on “Summerland” provide the most obvious instance of this in action and “The Difference” completely halting the momentum for an even deeper contemplation. Elsewhere, “The Mission” complements its stomp with opening keys and lyrics openly questioning the Christian establishment that they had been pegged as supporting while “Fall on Me” follows it up with more warped guitar effects. These elements reach their apexes with the tripped-out dynamics of “Pleiades” and “The Burning Down.”
This method results in hooks that are subtler than those on the debut though still incredibly catchy. The choruses on songs like “Everybody Knows a Little Bit of Something” and “Don’t Believe It” are delivered in a sing-song fashion that thankfully comes off as easygoing and inviting more than it does saccharine. They can admittedly take a little more time to sink in compared to the immediate hooks on the debut, but they ultimately have their own earworm quality.
Of course, the bombastic “Over My Head” is a huge contrast to everything else that the album is going for. The combination of heavy metal overdrive, hyperactive gospel wails, and call-and-response choruses is an unlikely fusion but one that works incredibly well thanks to its life-affirming atmosphere and a structure that guaranteed its status as a permanent live fixture. If King’s X had indeed reached the mainstream success that eluded them, this song would likely have been overplayed to hell and back in its heyday. But considering how much I’ve personally overplayed it, I don’t think I would mind hearing it so much. There's a reason why it's universally hailed as the band's greatest song ever.
Overall, King’s X develops in top form with Gretchen Goes to Nebraska. I personally tend to see it as a transitional album, not quite as immediate as Out Of The Silent Planet and the expansions would reach their peak on the following Faith, Hope, and Love. However, the album has earned its status as one of the band’s most defining efforts with plenty of staple songs showing off their distinct elements. You can’t go wrong but with having any of the albums in the Megaforce trilogy as an introductory point, but this probably would be the most balanced pick.
And if you don’t like “Over My Head,” I’m not sure if we can be friends.
