ALBUM REVIEW: King Adora – Vibrate You
BEST TRACKS: Suffocate, Bionic, Big Isn’t Beautiful
FCC Violations: Bionic, Aceface
Vibrate You is the album that propelled British glam rock band King Adora to number 30 on the UK Albums Chart. The album received a lot of criticism for the third track, ‘Big Isn’t Beautiful,’ which seems to glorify anorexia and bulimia with lyrics such as “I’m gonna shed me some skin, get me real, real slim. I want to feel my bones on your bones.” but others see the song as satire, pointing out that the song is from the perspective of someone suffering from an eating disorder, who is blind to the harm that they are causing themselves, as evident in the lyrics “I love myself too much to see, it haunts by dreams” Musically and lyrically, I think that ‘Big Isn’t Beautiful’ is the best track on the album, simply because it comes from such a twisted place in the artist’s mind.
This album is spotted with clever rhymes that make the songs memorable and catchy, my favorite being the lines “I got the wind on my back, Like the good Frank Black, I gots to get me some speed, Like the Lord Lou Reed.” From the 2nd track ‘Bionic’. The way Maxi Browne sings these lines with stress and emphasis makes them all the more brilliant. Browne’s vocal versatility is iconic, ranging from scratchy growls and full-throated screams to feminine, high-pitched vibrato. His vocals are a match made in heaven with Dan Dabrowski’s intense, thrashing drumming style, and Martyn Nelson’s fuzzy, hardcore guitar riffs.
Vibrate You encompases everything that I like to see in music. This album is dark, intense, sexually deviant, vulnerable, and raw. It’s definitely one of my top albums. You won’t be able to find this album on spotify or bandcamp, but all of the songs are on youtube in pretty good quality. I recommend this album if you like bands like Silverchair, Nirvana, or Pearl Jam.
-Safia