Album Review: The Kingcrows – Brute Force & Ignorance

It’s been three years since The Kingcrows unleashed “Funland“, their last full length, and two years since I last caught them live, sometimes you wonder how a band has evolved when it’s been a few years since you last encountered them, questions run through your mind about how they might have changed, but not today, this is The Kingcrows and there is a reassuring determination to deliver full tilt punk ‘n roll that I doubt will ever change. Back in the pre-pandemic years when last I caught The Kingcrows live, when gigs were still a regular feature of our social lives, tracks were previewed “from their shortly to be recorded and as yet untitled new album”, so even before the pandemic assorted spanners appear to have been put in the works, but now they are back with the appropriately named “Brute Force & Ignorance“.

“Brute Force & Ignorance” explodes into life with ‘Psycho Radio‘, a straight up shot of punk ‘n roll that is the perfect track one side one, the energy levels never once drop out of the red and introspection and subtlety are just things that happen to other bands. “Brute Force & Ignorance” is an album that captures the spirit of rock ‘n roll and contaminates it with a punk attitude and style and whatever it was that kept Lemmy going into his 70th year. “Brute Force & Ignorance” is is an adrenalised buzz, a life affirming forty minutes that celebrates everything The Kingcrows love about life, with the sole exception of ‘Z List Celebrity’ that raises a middle finger at celebrity culture, but otherwise this is a headstrong and hedonistic album.

As I’ve hinted at previously “Brute Force & Ignorance” has been fermenting a while now, it’s been a long wait but it’s been worth it, more so than any of their previous releases this album captures the essence of The Kingcrows live, if you’re not singing along to the choruses by the time you’re on your second listen then I’d check for a pulse. Some might argue that this is punk and roll by the numbers, but I’ve always maintained that if you’re going to do something then do it right, and with “Brute Force & Ignorance” The Kingcrows have released their finest studio album to date, one that does justice to their live reputation.

“Brute Force & Ignorance” is now available via digital service providers and can be purchased on CD and vinyl via The Kingcrows website here