ONE MAN'S GRIEF

From Budapest, Hungary, DEPOSED KING is the duo of Daniel Kriffel and Dominique Király who together have released their debut album ONE MAN'S GRIEF in 2023. Characterized by an eclectic progressive rock meets electronic sound with influences directly lifted from the Steven Wilson playbook with obvious references to post-rock acts like Bark Psychosis and other mellow proggers such as Lunatic Soul, Blackfield and Riverside, all of whom are notable for crafting spaced out rock compositions with thick ambient atmospheric accompaniments.

Upon first listen ONE MAN'S GRIEF threatens to deliver an entire album of post-rock with the first two instrumental tracks "First Light" and "Caves" churning about for a good while (over 8 minutes in total) just to get warmed up before morphing into the Lunatic Soul / RIverside style on "Endless Hours" except DEPOSED KING imbues its music with heavy layers of ambient production which gives the album more of a space rock feel for the most part but the strangest thing about this album is that once you settle in on a certain style the duo shifts gears and takes you somewhere else entirely.

In its near 56-minute wake with a total of 9 tracks DEPOSED KING takes us through the world of post-rock, psychedelic ambient rock, progressive folk, subtle jazz influences, some heavier prog moments as well as some pure classical musical influences. "Path of Forlorn" follows and while starting off with folk flavors meanders around in true electric prog form finding many twists and turns that add up to the album's second longest track just shy of 8 minutes. "Half-Light" follows with a similar trajectory of slinking chord progressions, post-rock like cyclical loops that find echoey synthesized reverb decorating the backdrop.

"Fading Shadows" is a mopey number and sounds exactly what Steven Wilson would release on one of his solo albums, a subdued style of ambient prog with plenty of time to meander from the completely mellow build ups to heftier guitar work that crescendoes into soloing. "Sirens Of The Sun" provides a piano driven short mood building piece that cedes into the album's longest track, the 9 1/2 minute "Ceasing To Exist" which is not only the longest but the heaviest with a stronger emphasis on heavy guitar work. The track excels at slinking around and changing things up sufficiently but with a clear ringer for a Steven Wilson vocal clone the track ends up sounding too much like a reworked Porcupine Tree track. "Last Light" closes the album with a sleepy lullaby type instrumental which ends as nonchalantly as the album begins.

With many influences from the mellower space rock side of prog with similarities to Steven Wilson, Blackfield, Riverside, non-metal Opeth, Lunatic Soul, OSI, mellower Anathema and perhaps even The Pineapple Thief, DEPOSED KING more than anyone sounds like yet another Porcupine Tree worship band and for my personal tastes have little tolerance for. While Porcupine Tree is one of my favorite bands of all time, i don't find these followers very convincing in its stylistic approach.

The simplicity of the music at times doesn't offer a lot of variations to distance themselves from the original source. The ambient atmospheres are brilliantly composed as is the album itself but unfortunately my sensitive ears can detect exactly which phase of Steven Wilson's career ideas were borrowed. Another thing that totally bugs me about this album is the canned use of drum machine programming. Yes, some of us can tell the difference between a real drummer and machines. It adds a sterility that i just can't shake. Good album but nothing more.