To Kill a King haven’t chosen their name with the internet generation in mind: Googling it also throws up plenty of results for a US hardcore band and the 2003 Tim Roth film about Oliver Cromwell. Still, they’ve done things right. They play orchestrated folk music, with the kind of exuberant choruses that raise hands in the air. Known for intense live performances, they’ve taken the same energy into the studio. The likes of Compare Scars (“keep your head straight!”) and Love Is Not Control (“so let go!”) are instantly, insanely catchy, with feverish rhythms and call-and-response routines. It’s not empty celebration, though. Wonderfully named singer Ralph Pelleymounter sings of love and death with a soulful croon and strong falsetto, and the haunting standout The Chancer uses musical metaphors to address “life’s endless drum”. Nothing here reinvents the wheel, but their musical palette stretches from Mumford stomp to Orange Juice prefab funk, and this rousing spirit will win them many friends.
