Fit For A King – “Deathgrip” [Album Review]

Oh boy… Fit For A King’s last album, Slave To Nothing, was a burrito filled with fresh riffs, extra guac and awesome performances all-round, but their new album Deathgrip kicks it up a notch! I just finished my first cover-to-cover listen and my hands are trembling as I fight back the urge to flip the table I’m typing behind and two-step my way out to the balcony and stagedive into the neighbor’s kiddy pool.

Opening track “The End’s Beginning” swells some lingering notes into a brutal instrumental that segues into “Pissed Off”, which starts out with some super-aggro yells, leading me to believe that “pissed off” is an understatement. If you recall the moment from “Slave To Nothing” where Ryan holds a scream, you’ll remember a) how awesome it was, especially the first time you heard it and b) that it lasted forever. He’s still holding that scream – I’m pretty sure. Well, “Pissed Off” gives you that and a side of fries as you near the end of the tune. I can only imagine that the live version will either leave everyone stunned in awe or conjure the second coming. Either way, it’s gonna be epic.

“Dead Memory” picks up the torch next, continuing the high energy, aggressive writing with a disgusting drum fill into a blast beat, taking a dynamic twist for the choruses, which introduce clean vocals, and nearing the end of the song, the entire track deconstructs into a clean vocal with electronic backing and some ethereal guitar leads. Personally, I love that kind of thing. It’s like opening a fortune cookie and finding a Keebler elf and Papa Smurf playing Dance, Dance Revolution inside. Don’t tell me that wouldn’t just make your day at least a little bit brighter. The ending of “Dead Memory” is JUST like that.

“Cold Room” brings you a clean guitar lead over chugs, which, for all guitar nerds, is a fist pump moment. As the tracks progress, there are more and more creative elements, I found, to help create rises and falls in the dynamics while retaining a constant tension, culminating with the title track. There’s an incredible vocal break with some haunting lyrics before a serious beat-down ensues. Ugh… love this band.

Deathgrip Track Listing:

01. The End’s Beginning
02. Pissed Off
03. Dead Memory
04. Cold Room
05. Disease
06. Shadows & Echoes
07. More Than Nameless
08. We Are All Lost
09. Unclaimed, Unloved
10. Stacking Bodies
11. Deathgrip

Run Time: 36:34
Release Date: October 7, 2016

Check out the song “Pissed Off”