If you weren’t one of the capacity crowd at Assembly last night for aKING’s launch of their second album, Against All Odds, then you having something to regret. I arrived at Assembly with a wet appetite and was satisfied beyond expectation.
It seemed I was not the only one who expected great things, the queue on arrival, at a fairly prompt hour, was longer than it has been for a while at Assembly, and all this on a school night. The crowd was expectant and energised, which I think only spurred the bands to preform better.
Thieve opened, playing now their third gig, with all guns blazing. Andrew’s voice is great, it polishes a neatly constructed pop/rock sound, which Thieve are close to perfecting. Their sound is very much like that of early Razorlight, while you can’t help but notice the Kings of Leon influences throughout their set. A full length debut album is on its way and I wait with bated breath.
aKING were entertaining, skillful, crowed pleasing, but most of all, outstanding. The vocals were of the highest quality as per usual, while the band was tighter than I have ever seen them before. My favourites ‘The Dance’ and ‘Safe as Houses’ were yet again performed to perfection, the crowd almost in anthem like fashion belting out the respective chorus’. I now have a new addition to my list of aKING favourites, ‘Against All Odds’, the title song of the second album.
They mixed some of the old in with the new, which was great, as their first album was of top quality and was extremely well received. I am very much of the opinion that a band should be judged by their whole discography and not merely their last album.
This said their second album, at first impression, seems to have the goods.
See the photos from this night here.
