SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: GUIDED BY VOICES – STRUT OF KINGS

GUIDED BY VOICES
STRUT OF KINGS
ROCKATHON RECORDS

Sometimes a band finds a sound that just works, a sound that acts almost as a fingerprint. Guided by Voices is a band that has solidified their trademark sound for the better part of 40 years, but with their newest release Strut of Kings I believe that their trademark is in dire need of a refresh.

As always with a Guided by Voices album, the instrumental is a superb listening experience, even for a casual listener of the band. However, if you’re looking to start your Guided by Voices experience, I beg you to find another album. Strut of Kings is without a doubt an album for cult fans of the band, as even I struggled to find any amazing take-aways from the album. Going into my initial listening, I simply expected more from such a seasoned group of musicians, and to put it simply, I found myself bored, and then I found myself wishing the album would end. That is not a sentence I type easily, as Guided by Voices has been in continuous rotation in my listening for a long time.

As previously mentioned, the album does have some amazing musical elements, such as in songs like “Serene King” and “Caveman Running Naked”, wherein if they were simply instrumental tracks, I would have ranked this album much higher. While I am aware of lead singer Robert Pollard’s characteristic production of his vocals and how they truly are a highlight of Guided by Voices sound, on Strut of Kings they simply snuffed out the flame of what could have been a decent album. However, it’s not all loss for Pollard’s performance, he still has an amazingly creative sense of songwriting and remains an amazing lyricist.

Strut of Kings in my opinion, is best listened to via muted lyric video to get the absolute most out of the album, and at any point if the band happens to release an instrumental cut, place that on a higher priority for listening.

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