Review by Alexi on May 6, 2005.

King + Fredrick = Kinrick

[sarcasm]Holy shit, what an brilliant band name![/sarcasm]

Does Kinrick deliver groundbreaking, original material on Sense Your Darkness? The cleverness of the bands’ name (ed.: and album title!) speaks for the quality of their music. Even the most easily influenced aficionados of heavy metal would label Sense Your Darkness as poor.

Hailing from Atlanta, GA. Kinrick consists of former Firewind vocalist, Stephen Fredrick and Vainglory axeman, Corbin King. Rounding out the lineup are bassist James Martin and drummer Stian Krsitoffersen.

The album emphasizes and is structured around the guitar. King writes three or four commendable riffs throughout the course of the first five songs, as exemplified in “Call of Honor,” the dramatic opener. However, the sparse originality of the first half of the album disappears for the final seven tracks. With no commendable leads and a few tasty riffs to his credit, King could have been replaced with a session musician to achieve a similar result.

The other aspect of the music which eats away at your nerves about one-third of the way through the record are the vocals. With all due respect to Fredrick, his vocal range is not suited for this music at all. He was somewhat successful in Firewind, however, that does not mean he can automatically assert himself into a role for which he is clearly inappropriate. If I could go back and change one thing on this record, I would have found a vocalist who could sing some falsettos, rather than one who half-assed screams lines of cheesy heavy metal lyrics, reminiscent of a constipated 40-year-old in the midst of a mid life crisis.

If you are a promoter, label executive or band member, you know you are in deep shit when the two selling points of the album lose their potency after four songs. It’s safe to say that the people at Leviathan Records made a poor investment in a band which is so uncreative that they couldn’t even think of a good band name, let alone put forth a valiant, creative effort. If you want to waste some money, go for it. I challenge you to buy this record and have a more enjoyable listening experience than when you bought St. Anger by Metallica.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 3
Atmosphere: 4
Production: 4
Originality: 2
Overall: 4

Rating: 3.4 out of 10