Kings N’ Fools is an obscure Swedish band that, to my knowledge,
only released one single “Former Life / Early Dawn” What we have is a pretty
decent showing of hard rock that I feel came out five or six years too late.
Dropping in 1990, the sound on this single certainly feels dated and was
nowhere near the sound needed to breakthrough.
“Former Life” is a solid, fist pumping rocker with some very
nice riffs and good use of keyboards. The drums tap away and keeps the beat
steady, but are quite tame themselves. Michael Löfgren has a voice that fits
the style nicely, which I have no overall complaints about. Overall, “Former
Life” is a pretty good song. Nothing ground breaking, but certainly one with
promise.
“Early Dawn” is your classic ballad of the time. If you
wanted to make it in the rock world in the 80’s and early 90’s, you better have
had a solid power ballad up your sleeve. There’s no way you were going to
compete with the likes of “Mr. Big”, “Skid Row” or “Extreme” if you didn’t have
an A-game ballad. Unfortunately, this is the area where Kings N’ Fools seems to
come up short. “Early Dawn” is a fine ballad, but fine wasn’t going to cut it
in terms of marketability.
At the end of the day, I’ll stand by the notion that, Kings
N’ Fools tried to enter the game at the wrong time. I feel that this single
would have gotten more attention somewhere between 84-86 when glam had a
strangle hold on the music industry. Just like many fine thrash acts that
entered the game either at a time when the sound was no longer desired or at
the brink of collapse, Kings N’ Fools would become victims of a similar fate.
Highlights: "Former Life"
Rating: 2.5
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