Fit for a King
Slave to Nothing


4.0
excellent

Review

by cloakanddagger USER (17 Reviews)
November 27th, 2014 | 79 replies


Release Date: 2014 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Fit For a King provide a much needed oiling to the rusty metalcore formula.

All too often when I'm listening to metalcore I listen to it halfheartedly. There have certainly been some good bands that have come out of it, but each good band seems to be plagued with 3 or 4 bands that follow the same generic formula with no emotion. Just looking at this year alone, Emmure's Eternal Enemies, Sonic Syndicate's Self Titled album and Attila's Guilty Pleasure are all examples of metalcore done badly. However, Unearth's new album, Watchers of Rule, is a good example of how metalcore can be done well, so maybe there's a spark of hope in this stale genre.

Fit For a King's latest release, Slave to Nothing, was labelled as "their heaviest album yet." When metalcore bands say this, usually this means that breakdowns will be aplenty, with very little actual riffing or technicality. However, this is quite the contrary in this case. On the first single released from this album, A Greater Sense of Self, the listener is greeted to some rather nice and somewhat technical guitar work, both in the riffs and in the overlying melody. Now, that's not to say that this band has abandoned the use of breakdowns. Breakdowns are still marked all throughout this album, some of the heaviest being in Young and Undeserving. However, the breakdowns actually flow quite nicely throughout the album, rather than abruptly standing out like a sore thumb.

Vocally, the album exceeds everything the band has done in the past. I always had an issue with the old clean vocalist, as I feel that his vocal style didn't fit the bands sound. However, the new clean vocalist, Ryan O'Leary, has a voice which has a lot more power behind it, and also more of a rawness to it. These two factors put his voice right at home amongst the more melodic sections of this album. He can really show off his vocal abilities on the album's 'Ballad', Selfish Eyes, which he passes with flying colours. Harsh vocalist Ryan Kirby continues to impress on this album; his vocals have always been a strong point of this band, but here they are at their best.

Being a Christian band, Fit For a King will naturally have a Christian theme to their music, but it can still be listened to by a secular audience, since the Jesus themes are relatively subtle, and the songs can be interpreted both from a Christian and a Non-Christian perspective for the most part. This band does have the ability to write good songs, but sometimes the lyrics can fall into the realm of mediocrity, such as in Forever Unbroken:

"Mark my words, I won't back down
Spit out your lies
Nothing you can say will change my mind."

The drumming on this album has some very good fills in it, but for the most part the drummer simply keeps the rest of the instrumentation together. Some of the best fills in the album can be found in Young and Undeserving as well as the title track. As with many modern metal and metalcore bands, the bassist simply underlies the guitars, and at times it is questionable whether he's playing because it's almost inaudible, but thankfully he's also the clean vocalist, so he can shine through in a different way.

Overall this album is extremely impressive coming from a band which is quite early in its career, not to mention the previous 2 albums were a tad underwhelming. On Slave to Nothing, Fit For a King follow a very specific formula, but they do it extremely well with good songwriting and not being totally reliant on breakdowns. If you can handle the lyrics, this album is definitely proof that metalcore can be great when actual emotions are portrayed and songwriting is on par.

Recommended Tracks:
Young and Undeserving
Slave To Nothing
Selfish Eyes
A Greater Sense of Self



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user ratings (219)
3.6
great


Comments:Add a Comment 
cloakanddagger
November 27th 2014


764 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

Second review, I feel like I rushed it a little but hopefully it's turned out alright. Feedback and constructive criticism are appreciated as always.



This album was so much better than I expected, really really impressed.

Gameofmetal
Emeritus
November 27th 2014


11738 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Good review. Would recommend putting song titles in "" and album title in italics though.



So the band actually riffs now? The last two albums seemed like just a load of breakdowns passing as riffs. I liked it a little bit but still.

betray
November 27th 2014


9392 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

IMMA SLAVE IMMA SLAVE TO NOTHING



EEEUUUYYYYGGHHH

cloakanddagger
November 27th 2014


764 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

"So the band actually riffs now?"

Yes they do, quite a lot. Listen to A Greater Sense of Self, the riffs on that are actually pretty impressive.

cloakanddagger
November 27th 2014


764 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

Though I will reiterate what I stated in the review, breakdowns are still used a lot here. But they work much better.

Gameofmetal
Emeritus
November 27th 2014


11738 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Cool. Will probably listen sometime. I liked the clean vocalist for the last album.

cloakanddagger
November 27th 2014


764 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

The new one is miles better than the old one IMO, but I'll leave you to decide which one is better.

betray
November 27th 2014


9392 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Wtf game you havent jammed this yet? cleans are so much better here

TooLateToGoBack
November 27th 2014


2108 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Kill The Pain is so damn good.



Really glad they have tolerable cleans now.

Insurrection
November 27th 2014


24844 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

first song is great but the rest isnt doing it for me

Beardog
November 27th 2014


5392 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Really good album but there are too much breakdowns imo

Nocturnalize
November 27th 2014


2463 Comments


Does this bible jun or what?

Gameofmetal
Emeritus
November 27th 2014


11738 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

"Wtf game you havent jammed this yet? cleans are so much better here"



nah haven't been jumping on many metalcore releases too quickly of late



too busy getting my cold wintry black metal fix down

AtomicShane
November 27th 2014


2121 Comments

Album Rating: 1.5

"Fit For a King provide a much needed oiling to the rusty metalcore formula"



lol album sucks and follows the exact formula

cloakanddagger
November 27th 2014


764 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

"lol album sucks and follows the exact formula"

Read the review, I stated that it follows a specific [metalcore] formula, but they do it very well. It's cool if you don't like the album, not everyone's going to, but make sure you read before you speak.

Beardog
November 27th 2014


5392 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Lol get rekt

artiswar
November 28th 2014


14747 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

I can't get into this one for some reason and I've spun it several times... Production sounds weak compared to Creation, not feeling the new cleans that much, and no killing tracks like The Resistance or Broken Fame... Good review, I will give it one more listen to see if it sticks this time. Only good thing is breakdowns have been toned way down. (Creation/Destruction was like 75% breakdown)

Gameofmetal
Emeritus
November 28th 2014


11738 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Both of their previous albums were more like 80% breakdowns



Got through about half of this so far. Pretty good, although I dont' like the production too much.



Also the reviewer might want to research some technical riffs because this doesn't have much of anything of a high technical caliber. Maybe technical for this band's standards.

AtomicShane
November 28th 2014


2121 Comments

Album Rating: 1.5

I got told to read before I speak on sputnik...hahahaha

Gameofmetal
Emeritus
November 28th 2014


11738 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Did you neg the review just for that little spat?



That's pretty dickish



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