Kingdom Come is probably best known for their 1988 debut album which spawned several top rock hits including “What Love Can Be” and “Get It On” and the comparisons early on in their career to Led Zeppelin. They have a new album due out soon, “Outlier,” featuring their first new material since 2009. Lead vocalist Lenny Wolf was in charge of the project, recording all the instruments himself in his Hamburg studio with the exception of the guitar solos which were done by guitarist Eric Forster. Wolf was also responsible for all the production and engineering duties.
“Outlier” takes the band in a bit of a new direction as Wolf experiments, as so many bands are, with industrial elements which he combines with a traditional hard rock style. Lenny’s distinctive voice combined with soulful lyrics and melancholy melodies are the highlight of the record. The electronic/industrial combination works ok and is featured on the opening track “God Does Not Sing Our Song.” But what I really enjoyed on this record were the old school rock tracks like “Let The Silence Talk” which reminded a lot of their first album and “Skip the Cover and Feel” which is a terrific little bluesy number with a killer riff and nice solo.
“Outlier” isn’t the best thing I’ve heard from Kingdom Come but it has some real gems on it that are worth a listen. I’m not sure whether this experiment will be a success or not but commercial success has never been an issue for Wolf. With Lenny, he creates what he feels and puts it out there. If you happen to love it, that’s great. But if not, he’s ok with that too.
