King Mothership – The Ritual
Release Date: 2nd October 2020
Label: 3DOT Recordings
Pre-Order
Genre: Theatrical Rock, Progressive rock, Funk Metal.
FFO: Endur, The Mars Volta, Nik Mystery, The Dear Hunter, Devin Townsend.
Review By: Ryan Shearer
This has been a long time coming! Fans of Spencer Sotelo, vocalist of progressive metal titans Periphery as well as his other projects Endur & Nik Mystery, has added yet another notch to his already impressive toolbelt: The theatrical rock project, King Mothership. The project also features Matt Halpern (Periphery) performing percussive duties and ex-Slaves drummer Tai Wright on bass guitar duties.
‘How is Babby formed’ was a demo Spencer was working on since 2012. I remember listening to it around the time Periphery II came out, 8 years ago. How time flies! The song eventually transformed into the fifth track, Babby, tightening the production from demo territory to a polished and textured song. Spending some time in the back of the cupboard gathering dust allowed Spencer to almost forget about the demos for this project, and come back to them much later with fresh ears and finally release the debut album, The Ritual.
The album follows the concept of “a failed musician who’s tired of living a mundane life and basically makes a deal with the devil to become a rock star”. The eclectic and shifting styles do feel transitional, with Gold feeling like the track where the ‘protagonist’ of the album is at his highest, and I Stand Alone feeling like the tense endgame. Cosmic Meltdown was the first single released and encapsulates the overall vibe of the album effectively. There is a lot of bouncing between styles, ideas, and tonality; from a piano driven pop hook to black metal-esque growls, it’s a great choice for the second track, introducing you to what to expect in the following 10 tracks. Ego 101 really stands out with Spencer’s emotional vocal lines in his distinctive falsetto creating an incredibly memorable chorus hook. Gold has a jazzy style evoking similar stylistic choices you might see in a Nik Mystery song, one of Spencer’s other projects. Goodnight My Darling is an ethereal, Devin Townsend-esque unexpected lullaby acting as a soothing palette cleanser before revving back up for the hard hitting, riff-filled Death Machine. The Devil’s Train channels some clear theatrical rock influences. Imminent Distortion, a just-over-a-minute electronic interlude reminded me of the Session/ Cure for the Itch type break in Linkin Park’s earlier albums.
King Mothership entirely owns its own identity but influences from Spencer’s other projects definitely make themselves known. The electronic outros Jake Bowen of Periphery normally commands have time to breath at the end of the title track, The Ritual. Learning lessons from the superb Juggernaut Alpha & Omega, The Ritual, the title track also has a homage to Cosmic Meltdown akin to how Periphery often re-use motifs from earlier in their album as a pseudo-story device. The motif from the intro Hope is also found in Ego 101, one of the best moments on the album. It’s one of these little treats; I’ve picked up two of these but I imagine there are more subtle moments of call-back or repetition I’ll pick up through more familiarity.
The Devil’s Train’s and I Stand Alone are great but don’t feel as memorable as the rest of the album. Plini, the Australian virtuoso guitarist, performs a sweet and intricate guest solo in the latter. There are a few moments that prevent this don’t sit right, mainly around lyrics. Well executed, but some lines just feel like nails on a chalkboard compared to everything else. “Just a boy with a shit stain on his ass” is a prime example. I understand Spencer trying to make the lyrics fun and quirky as the album vibe generally asks for, but they just don’t land well. Babby feels slightly different to the other tracks, likely as it was created before Spencer became a much better song writer. It’s not bad, but you can’t help but notice a slight dip in quality.
Expectedly, the vocal performance is the main focus of the album. The soaring melodies over the theatrical synths and power-house drums drive the album forward.
During the review period for this album, I found myself waking up with the Cosmic Meltdown melody in my head. I was cooking and found myself singing (or at least attempting to) the chorus of Ego 101. I was humming the melody for Goodnight My Darling while I was trying to sleep. This album has got some of the tastiest, most memorable hooks I can remember from the last few years; they will infect your mind like a melodious parasite. It’s an interesting listen and certainly not for everyone, but with its grand theatrics, fantastic choruses and Spencer’s phenomenal vocal talents, you will enjoy being beamed up by King Mothership.
(4 / 5)
