Marcus King Gears Up Big ’70s Classic Rock Sound On Polished ‘Young Blood’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

Modern music fans who jones for that big 70’s classic rock sound need to look no further than Marcus King’s Young Blood out on Rick Rubin’s American Records for their fix. The retro rocking eleven tracks here pull from all the legends of the past while allowing the young artist to put his own twist on the formula. 

Produced by Dan Auerbach and co-written with a host of writers (Desmond Child, Greg Cartwright, Angelo Petraglia), King shoots his wooly, electric booging blues shot at the big time with confidence. The distorted “It’s Too Late” opener gives space for King’s killer guitar work over a fuzzy thudding bottom. While Marcus’ guitar has earned him well-deserved praise, King’s vocals are also a major plus on the album; sounding as if CeeLo Green was soulfully fronting The Allman Brothers

That Allman’s influence can be felt directly on the stuttering, badass, hard rocking guitar-based blues of “Good and Gone” and the easier rolling “Whisper” while a host of other influences seep into the well-worn tracks. The stomping “Aim High” and excellent “Pain” both flirt with the best of early Gov’t Mule as strong vocals, topflight guitar solos, and moving bass synch in power trio fashion as King plays with Chris St. Hilaire on drums/percussion and Nick Movshon on bass.

Both the bayou groove of “Blood on the Tracks” (with Auerbach on mellotron) and “Rescue Me” recall a Creedence Clearwater Revival sound, copying the swamp rock almost too much, however, both tracks avoid plagiarism via King’s haunting singing and lyrics about repeating sins, anxiety, and pain.

That personal struggle and hurt are everywhere lyrically as the young artist certainly has earned his position in the blues world. Both “Lie Lie Lie” and “Dark Cloud” try to cover the visceral heartache and depression around upbeat, hip-shaking, groovy, rock and roll, boogieing away the pain behind guitar solos. 

King has also contributed his anthem/theme song with the single “Hard Working Man” inspired by Free. It features Auerbach on guitar with the tune custom made for FM radio glory via its background ooh-and-aah’s, clean riffs, big drums, and a catchy chant-along chorus. While successful efforts like this will push King towards larger and larger audiences, he can also directly connect intimately, cracking open and letting the pain drip out in slide guitar fashion on closer “Blues Worse Than I Ever Had” as the torment hits home ending the album on a powerful note. 

Young Blood doesn’t break any new ground; its goal is quite the opposite. It successfully mixes Marcus King’s arena-yearning ambitions and familiar rock tropes with the gritty realism of aching hurt everyone can identify with. The stout full length should propel King to desired heights as the hard-working, guitar-blazing front man rolls on. 

Related Content

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

New to Glide

Keep up-to-date with Glide

Twitter