King King

Since the groundbreaking heyday of British blues-rock in the '60s and '70s, there haven't been many younger worthy contenders in that genre from across the pond. King King are currently the cream of that crop, and this solid second album shows why. There's nothing radically new or different here, and KK main man Alan Nimmo is clearly inspired by the vocal style of Paul Rodgers (Free, Bad Company). It's no surprise that one of two covers is Free's "Heavy Load," with the other being of "Jealousy," a song by the great Frankie Miller (a Glaswegian, like Nimmo). The original tunes come from Nimmo and bassist Lindsay Coulson, but their songwriting doesn't quite live up to that high standard. Nimmo's fluent lead guitar work and gritty vocals are the core of the King King sound, and the group mix up the tempos enough to keep things interesting, as on soulful album closer "Let Love In." It's unlikely they'll have the same impact that earlier generation did, but this is a decent effort nonetheless. You get the sense they'd shine live as well.