![[Image]](../../Images/kingbathmat1.jpg)
Tracks: Unfortunate Soul, Post Traumatic, Black Horizon, King Of The Fairies, Virtual Cartoon, Uncle Remus, Beg & Steal, Asking The Gods, Johnny's Wedding
More Info: www.kingbathmat.150m.com
Verdict (& Rating): Alternative, Beetles & psychedelic music is a combination that doesn't work for me (65%)
King Bathmat (aka John Bassett) is a musician hailing from Hasting, England playing music which could be described as progressive/alternative rock. With a name like King Bathmat and suitably bizarre biography at his web site, you'll soon realize that John is trying hard at being 'left of centre'. In fact, he describes his music as a combination of alternative rock, Celtic, leftfield and pop melodies and himself as a 'legend in his own mind'.
Opening track, "Unfortunate Soul", has a psychedelic start, before developing into what could be described as a grunge infested jig with synths swirling over the top. "Post Traumatic" is a more straight forward track and all the better for it. An acoustic verse is backed up by a modern 'post-grunge' chorus. The start of "Black Horizon" had me thinking of White Zombie or something like that, but not nearly as heavy."Virtual Cartoon" has a similar feel to it. "Black Horizon" ends with a spacey progressive trip that seems a little divorced from the rest of the track.
"King Of The Fairies" and the final track, "Johnny's Wedding" are Mr Bathmat's interpretation of the traditional tunes, giving them a sound that fits in with the other tunes on the album.
"Uncle Remus" & "Asking The Gods" both have more of a traditional progressive style and are the tracks that make the best impression on me. "Beg & Steal" and "Not Born 2 Share" sound psychedelic and evoke thoughts of later day Beetles, which kind of turns me off a little as the I have never seen the attraction of the Fab 4.
Alternative/post-grunge, psychedelic & the Beetles all crammed onto, and being the majority of one CD, is just too much me. After listening to a track like "Uncle Remus", I'm tempted to say that Mr Bathmat should forget trying to be trendy or weird and just get on with creating what suspect is his first love anyway - some conventional prog rock.
