Palace Of The King is a hard rock band from Australia formed in 2012, spending the first decade of their career touring across Australia, Europe and America, sharing a stage with the likes of Airbourne, Rose Tattoo, Baby Animals and Quireboys – not to mention the band’s prolific discography! In just ten years the band have released three E.P.’s – ‘Palace Of The King’ (2013), ‘Palace Of The King II: Moon & Mountain’ (2013), and ‘Palace Of The King – Limited Edition’ (2014), and four albums – ‘White Bird/Burn The Sky’ (2015), ‘Valles Marineris’ (2016), ‘Get Right With Your Maker’ (2018), and ‘Friends In Low Places’ (2023).
Quite the resume from such a young band – a young band full of energy, delivering high-octane live performances, building a reputation on stage as a “take your breath away” act! And as Palace Of The King enters their second decade, there’s absolutely no sign of the band slowing down, with their fourth album ‘Friends In Low Places’ expanding their musical horizons much further than ever before! With ten songs on offer across just thirty-six sizzling minutes, you’re gonna find classic hard rockers, bluesy swaggers, a little fuzz, soul and groove – the band has an incredible arsenal at their disposal! ‘Children Of The Evolution’ hits hard and instantly, oozing with energetic thrust and a highly sing a long-able chant-style chorus – the kind of chorus reminiscent of the early days of rock evolution when bands such as T-Rex, The Who, and Led Zeppelin re-wrote the direction of rock music…
…and then along came hard rock and the rest is history! Yet some bands refuse to let the old days die – Palace Of The King is one such band, the album striding on tall and proud with the blues-tinged ‘A Run For Your Money’. Along with the blues, you’ll find the groove and a touch of the iconic AC/DC boogie, ‘A Run For Your Money’ an infectious head-nodder guaranteed to nod the head of every single listener everywhere. A sumptuous opening double from the Australian five-piece, incendiary devices begin to explode left, right and fucking centre – the title song ‘Friends In Low Places’ a frenetic fast-paced rocker that runs very close to planting one “foot on the monitor” to adopt the classic pose of traditional heavy metal. Yes, there’s the iconic gallop of all-out metal, yet the band remain firmly in rock territory, inviting metalheads to jump the border wall to join the party! A party that’s now in full swing, the album waltzing on with a hip-swinging swagger courtesy of the blues-soaked ‘Get Right With Your Maker’, blending balladry with a mid-tempo hymn-like nature to echo the sound of legendary American rockers Aerosmith.
Many of the songs featured on ‘Friends In Low Places’ (the album) clock in at less than four minutes in length, paving the way for a quick-moving album with very little time to catch a breath! Returning the AC/DC boogie style of rock to the fore, Palace Of The King delivers ‘Down On Your Luck’ with elegance and poise, the band maintaining the album’s overwhelming air of catchiness. Ever since ‘Friends In Low Places’ (the album) began, the infectious level has been through the roof, every listener, fan and follower is one hundred percent hooked to everything the band’s thrown at them! ‘Tell It Like It Is’, is brashier than anything heard so far, Palace Of The King adopts a harder-edged style of rock for a moment, yet incredibly, strains of seventies classic rock pour outta ‘Tell It Like It Is’ like the water pouring over Wallaman Falls! And with the word “blues” in its title, surely it was expected that ‘I’m Sorry Blues’ would be a blues rocker – the band pounding the ground harder than at any other time on the album! The mix of blues, boogie, and classic rock is phenomenal, the band running the gamut of rock styles to deliver something for every rock fan to enjoy.
And enjoy you will, for the breathless barrage of rock ain’t over yet – ‘Tear It Down’ featuring a dramatic change of pace and tempo! Palace Of The King is strutting majestically here, throwing every style of rock in their locker at listeners – listeners who are drooling like a Saint Bernard at dinnertime! And probably have been since the album began, every song on offers a salacious slice of rock – ‘One Of Those Days’ a slow to mid-tempo swagger of bluesy boogie rock! And that right there is the essence of ‘Friends In Low Places’ (the album), punctuated now and again with a blast of faster-paced hard rock, the band as effervescent as ever! Bringing the album to a close, ‘Dead End Blues’ features the strongest hint o’ the blues, the band hitting hard, stomping hard, and punching harder! The bold, shoulders back, head held high stroll is majestic, Palace Of The King ending ‘Friends In Low Places’ (the album) with a double dose of bluesy rock!
Overall, an elegant swagger of blues, classic, and hard rock, ‘Friends In Low Places’ is a head nodding, foot-tapping bundle of joy.
TRACKLIST
Children Of The Evolution
A Run For Your Money
Friends In Low Places
Get Right With Your Maker
Down On Your Luck
Tell It Like It Is
I’m Sorry Blues
Tear It Down
One Of These Days
Dead End Blues
Palace Of The King: Facebook
Release Year: 2023
Label: self-released
Category: Album
Country: Australia
Reviewed by Iron Mathew for Frenzy Fire and Metal-Roos.
