JOURNEY IN TIME

UK band KINGDOM COME was the band of British artist Arthur Brown in the first half of the 70's, releasing three critically acclaimed albums before they folded in 1974. The keyboardist in the final line-up, US musician Victor Peraino, was given and used the opportunity to continue using the band name, and released a single album in 1975 as Victor Peraino's Kingdom Come. Since then news around the band have been fairly quiet, although it would appear that there's been a bit of activity. Featuring Arthur Brown on vocals again, "Journey in Time" is the second full-length production issued by the US based version of the band, and was released through the Italian label Black Widow Records in 2014.

Kingdom Come as of 2014 comes across as a band that still has a bit of development to do before they manage to combine their individual talents into a greater whole. Their brand of melodic vintage hard rock liberally flavored with cosmic effects and multi-layered keyboard arrangements does have its charm of course, and at best they explore some truly intriguing landscapes, but at this point the end result is somewhat uneven. If you enjoy this classic 70's band this album is worth taking a look at of course, and if you do find the description of the music interesting you can do a lot worse than giving this album a spin. A somewhat uneven production, but with some very fine moments worth experiencing.

Almost 40 years passed until Victor Peraino, the keyboard player of Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come, wanted to make a reunion and release a new album under the name of Victor Peraino's Kingdom Come (that name was conceived when Brown left the band); what is great, is that the same Arthur Brown accepted and joined this new record, so it is interesting to listen to this recent production entitled "Journey in Time", which consists of 10 songs and a total time of 48 minutes, and which was released in 2014 via Black Widow Records.

The music here has that 70s essence, it is progressive rock with a symphonic tendency but with some heavy rock hints that are reminiscent of British rock bands from that era. "We Only Come Up To Help You" is the opener track; loads of keyboards and guitar riffs can be found here creating a very good prog song with some spacey effects, that can be easily enjoyed. I think they chose a great first track. The following one is "Future" whose first minute is completely spacey, then some funeral drums enter, far voices can be perceived and also a violin is added. Male vocals appear first in a dark way, but later the color of the voice changes and becomes a bit friendlier. The music easily takes you back to the 70s, it is undeniable. The violin gives a raga sound, producing some oriental nuances.

"Journey in Time" is a very nice song full of keyboards. Symphonic heaven reminiscent of British and Italian bands from the 70s with a very good slice of spacey rock. This is a purely instrumental track. The next one is "I Put A Spell On You", which is sang by Arthur Brown and man, he did a great job! As you can imagine, the mood is bluesy but adapted to prog rock, however, the disarming essence lives here with a wonderful vocal performance. There is a nice instrumental passage where violins sound, but honestly this track's highlight is definitely the voice. Superb!

"Empires of Steel" is the longest composition here. It starts with some computer-spacey noises whose intensity increases until there is an explosion and keyboards & drums appear, creating a new structure with a fast bombastic sound. Vocals appear after two minutes and that heavy rock 70s feeling strikes again. Later it makes a change, it becomes slower and more melodic, the guitar makes beautiful solos and the music naturally flows. At minute 7 the rhythm changes again, but honestly I did not like that change, it sounds forced to my ears. "Walk with Angels" has again Brown's vocals that contrast a little bit with the violin and angelical voices as background. Not a bad track, but far from being memorable. I would skip it.

The next track is "Time Captives" which on the other hand, is one of the highlights of this album. The space rock element is element since the first seconds, and the symphonic sound joins later along with Brown's voice; here, the vocals help a lot and make the song better. This is like Hawkwind meets Eloy, a tune characteristic of Arthur Brown's and Victor Peraino's Kingdom Come. "Sunset Sail" is a nice track with Peraino's vocals, and as you can imagine, keyboards are everywhere creating different nuances. Here I like the bass work, very original, accurate.

The last two songs are "Demon of Love" and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood". The earlier has an Atomic Rooster meets Uriah Heep sound, it is a rockier piece with heavy rock moments and the inherent keyboard solo; the latter is a cover from The Animals, a nice rendition and adaptation to that classic song.

Journey in Time features also an extra DVD with live performance of the band and an interview. Honestly, I think it wasn't necessary to include this bonus material, and though it is nice to enjoy some minutes watching it, unless you are a die-hard fan of Kingdom Come, you could avoid it and nothing will change.

Enjoy it!

(This brief review was originally written for the Finnish prog magazine Colossus in 2014.)

The keyboard player Victor Peraino has continued steering the space ship that used to travel under the name of Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come, releasing two albums this far. The legendary vocalist -- best remembered for the smash hit 'Fire' from the album The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (1968) -- is guesting on this release too, on five tracks out of ten. The science fiction spirited heavy prog dominated by over-the-top keyboards is bound to slip into childishness here and there on this rather uneven album. But especially with Brown's still powerful vocals it all works pretty nicely, if you're fond of this kind of acidy tradition.

Also cover tunes such as 'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood' or Leonard Cohen's 'Future' have been made to sound truly their own. The package contains a relatively short bonus DVD featuring live cuts from Detroit & Los Angeles. I agree with the former reviewer that it's far from being a must to anyone else than a die-hard fan.

This album wasn't among the best I received to be reviewed 2-3 years ago. I think I gave it to some of my prog-minded friends, but certainly I haven't been missing it ever since.