National Diet – The King in Yellow – National Diet (from Portland, Oregon) have evolved into that rare thing, a properly progressive prog rock band, a band who want to genuinely challenge. This is melodic yet complex experimental prog rock that, this time around, fits in rather nicely somewhere alongside the finest of find bands like Extra Life or Cheer-Accident. As much a piano based thing as a guitar driven thing, they are at times nodding towards chamber pop. “The themes of the songs mostly centre around a breakup of a long relationship. I had trouble processing the breakup and wasn’t sure how I felt on a conscious level. So my feelings are wrapped here in allegory based around themes of Gothic literature: Madness, cults, multiple personalities, and sociopathy through the lens of Robert Chambers’ The King in Yellow and Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos as well as American Psycho and Fight Club, among others” says main man Jake Rose (guitar, vocals, keyboards). There’s a loose quality to it all, not slack, something real, when so often prog-leaning bands can feel uptight, too perfect, this has a edge, that thing IQ had in their early days maybe? That bit there possibly has a touch of Dazzling Killmen about it? IQ of course had a very English sound back there (they probably still do), this is most definitely a North American thing and that there is the unmistakable voice of Cheer-Accident superstar Thymme Jones guesting as vocalist in just the right way on a rather crimson coloured song called Carcosa. Elsewhere The Mercury Tree’s Ben Spees (who also wrote additional vocals) adds his voice and another slice of different colour and this is an album full of colour, full of warmth, full of so much. The production might not be to everyone’s taste, it is;nt immediate, the production sounds great to these ears, spot on actually and the way The Audit evolves around the seven minute mark is wonderful enhanced by that production (is some of this reminding me of Diamond Head’s very underrated Canterbury album?).
Now I do suspect The King in Yellow is something you have to grow into, something that you need to allow to brew in the pot properly before pouring yourself a cup and allowing yourself time to savour the contents. I suspect it might take a number of plays before it starts to dawn on you just how good the almost eight minutes of Angle Game are and how perfectly that piece leads you back to the Thymme Jones voiced Carcosa again – the way that Carcosa is sung, the drama of that piece is just so so right in the context of this album (there’s something about that track that I just can’t put my finger on, it has me pacing up and down here, the way it moves is just so so right, has it got a hint of Bowie’s last moves about it or is that a ridiculous idea?). The King in Yellow is an album that might not reveal itself on first listen, it is an album that grows with every play, it does take time to get it, to really know it, but once you do then you will be more than thankful that you stuck with it (do please stick with it). This is an excellent album, do please allow it to let you in. (sw)
THE ORGAN 