Kingdom of Sorrow, a side project formed by Jamey Jasta (Hatebreed) and Kirk Windstein (Down, Crowbar), is set to release a new album titled Behind the Blackest Tears. Being a fan of Hatebreed, Down and Crowbar, I was obviously excited to get my hands on this album. Did it live up to my expectations, or was I left in my own kingdom of sorrow and disappointment?

This album is, to me, the epitome of all things metal! In their bio, Kingdom of Sorrow is mentioned as being an homage to great metal bands in the genre. Well the way I look at it, bands should be forming a line to pay homage to Kingdom of Sorrow. While drawing on influences of great metal bands, these guys release their own brand of definitive, take no prisoners metal. I can definitely pick out elements of sludge, southern, and just plain all out, in-your-face metal brutality.

Behind the Blackest Tears opens with “Enlightened to Extinction”, and right away the thick guitar groove is apparent. If this track doesn’t get your attention and get you ready for a metal beatdown, then perhaps nothing will. I was pulled in by this song, and held tightly for the rest of the album. The blistering fast skins and nasty guitar licks shredded my ear drums into extinction (no pun intended). Seriously, this is a great opening song, and a definitive taste for what’s to come with the rest of the album. Jamey’s vocals on this track sound much like they always do, but it works well. If I had not known he was the vocalist, I would’ve thought of Hatebreed immediately. And that’s not a bad thing.

“God’s Law in the Devil’s Land” is the second track on the album, and it delivers a much more southern metal sound than the opening track. Again, Jamey’s vocals come through perfectly, making me realized that Kingdom of Sorrow’s amazing mix of musicianship allows them to release such great albums. Riff after riff and groove after groove, the guitar work throughout is utterly phenomenal.

Everything about the production is absolutely stellar. Kingdom of Sorrow definitely have their own sound; and each track on the album stays within that sound, but it’s never repetitious or boring. The band slows things down a little for the intro of “From Heroes to Dust”, only to speed things up again, thrash style, for “Sleeping Beast”. Overall, it’s just totally solid all the way through.

Behind the Blackest Tears boasts twelve tracks of purely unadulterated brutality sure to appeal to a wide audience. If you’re a fan of metal in general, then you should love this album; and it should, without a doubt, be in your music collection as soon as it’s released. Buy this album – you won’t be disappointed!

5.0/5