To Kill a King

To Kill A King is one of the years best dark trip hop cds. The cd tells the tale of a lonely and miserable Queen who desperately seeks to be free from the cruel bondage of her King. The Insert of the cd booklet gives you the storyline that follows the tracklisting beautifully. The songs are all emotive and filled with such eleborate beauty that just makes this cd breathtaking. I was a fan of the bands first album APPARITIONS and liked GLO...But, This album is by far the best one yet! Some people consider this music gothic trip hop or Dark Electronica...But, to me, this cd is just beautiful. There really is no LABEL to put on it. Check out WWW.CDBABY.COM for sound samples of the album if you hate buying cds without hearing them first. This album is an excellent addition to any collection of gorgeous soundscapes. The cd even comes with 4 remixes of songs, which are excellent!

A conceptual tale of a Queen summoning the courage from within herself to leave her unloving husband, 'To Kill A King' is Hungry Lucy's third release, and quite possibly their best endeavor yet. It's rare to come across a group that not only lives up to prior achievements but actually surpasses all expectations. Hungry Lucy just keep growing as musicians, outdoing themselves with each new album. I absolutely adore 'Apparitions' (it's destined to become an underground classic) and 'Glo', for me, was an amazing accomplishment but 'To Kill A King' is simply phenomenal and I haven't praised a record with as much fervor as this in a while. Christa Belle's vocals are sweetly enchanting, the beautiful yet melancholy lyrics contain the strongest songwriting I've heard from them thus far, and War-N-Harrison's ingenious musings are as haunting as ever. The melodies here are a lot tamer then they've been in the past but I was hardly disappointed by that. Quite the contrary, I feel their more subtle approach was a smart direction for them to take. They've proven they can do more than simply put some good beats together (and, believe me, they can!). There's still some synthy electronic stuff present, however, they've shifted gears a bit by incorporating more acoustic instruments this time around. There's even a piano solo on "A Lifetime Remains" and what sounds to me like a violin, though there's no mention of it within the credits, giving the Null Dull Mix of "You Are" a Middle Eastern flair. The song I especially love, though, is the emotional ballad, "My Beloved", including additional vocals by Alexx Reed from ThouShaltNot and Kristy Venrick from The Azoic. At first I was bummed to see there were only four remixes, unlike previous releases, but they are all so incredibly done, it was probably wise of them to merely choose the best of the best, making this a very solid album with absolutely no flaws.

To my ears this is PERFECTION. Hungry Lucy is one of the finer groups in the Gothic sub-genre today and I urge you to give them a chance if you're looking for something fresh and inventive for a change.

You won't be skipping tracks with this CD, I promise you that. Instead you'll be hitting replay, over and over again.

"To Kill a King", the title track on Hungry Lucy's third album is by far the best and most creatively written song on the entire album; but not representative of the album as a whole, either in terms of musical style or lyrical composition. Musically, this album runs a gamut of musical styles, from recognizable trip hop, to piano led compostions, to minimalist, slow beat electronica with a folky new age style reminiscent of Love Spirils Downwards. Lyrically, there are songs of triumph and tragedy, inspiration and desolation, survival and sorrow. As a novelty, the album is supposed to represent an integrated whole consisting of pieces that elaborate the tale of a queen and her escape from a King and lifestyle that feels alien to her. In my opinion, it doesn't really work. I don't feel like I'm listening to the score of an opera or musical, but to an album of individual songs. Each song feels like it stands alone and the diversity of musical styles and themes from song to song lends this impression. There are thirteen tracks and four remixes of four songs. Additional remixes of tracks on this ablum are available from the Reigndance EP available exclusively from alfamatix at www.alfa-matrix.com. The lyrics to all hungry lucy songs are available on their website www.hungrylucy.com. I recommend this album to people who like trip hop, darkwave, goth-pop, projekt music, or introspective, emotionally evocative lyrics. I don't really think this is their best album yet, 'Apparitions' made a stronger impression on me, but perhaps because I had never heard them before.

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