Kings Kaleidoscope has been one of my favorite bands since I first heard “Becoming Who We Are” in 2014. Since then, they’ve blessed us with a bunch of new albums. Kings is one of those artists where it’s hard for them to make music that I don’t like. And there aren’t many bands that do that for me.
It kind of surprises me and makes me feel weird when there’s a song, or a part of a song from Kings that I don’t love. I realize that those standards are ridiculous, but it’s really Kings’ fault for being ridiculously good.
Before I get to actually talking about this new album, I just wanted to share this post that Chad from Kings Kaleidoscope shared to the band’s Instagram. Here’s what the caption said in one of their recent posts:
We started writing ZEAL almost a year ago, tired of deconstructing every part of our faith. The truth we once believed wholeheartedly like children felt hollow. Swimming in the privilege to overthink everything, judging the church like she wasn’t who Jesus died for. Flat on the inside, missing the rush of God’s presence, we wrote an album because we needed it for ourselves. Friday we get to share that journey with you, and in three weeks every night we’ll sing our hearts out together on tour until we feel alive again. ❤️Chad
I just wanted to get that out there before I go into actually talking about the album. I think what Chad and the guys were trying to do with this is really beautiful. I hate talking about someone else’s music when I know that they’re pouring their real, raw thoughts and feelings into it. But that’s what we do here; we talk about music.
Zeal is the first album from Kings Kaleidoscope that has surprised me, and it wasn’t in a good way. A good number of the songs are just not my cup of tea. But others are exactly what I want to hear.
“Backwards” is the 4th track on the album and it’s just simply put, bad. You can listen to it yourself and leave your opinion in the comments, but I can’t see how anyone would enjoy listening to it. In contrast, you look at a track like “Oxygen” and that’s when I get confused. Oxygen is one of those tracks that is exactly what I want to hear.
Don’t get me wrong, there are a few really great songs on this album. That’s really all you can expect from any normal band. But Kings Kaleidoscope isn’t a normal band. Like I said earlier, my standards for Kings are different because they’re different.
I’ve listed out all the tracks and my decision on them. If I listen more and change my opinion on any of them I’ll update it here. But I’ve listened through the album several times now and these are my initial thoughts.
| 1) The Coma | Good |
| 2) Hero Over My Head | Bad |
| 3) Naked Feet & Holy Fire | Neutral |
| 4) Backwards | Bad |
| 5) Flat on the Inside (A Word) | Clichè |
| 6) About to Break | Bad |
| 7) Aimless Knight | Neutral |
| 8) Same Blood | Good |
| 9) Breathing Infinity (The Rush, Pt. 1) | Great |
| 10) Jumping from Jaded Heights (The Rush, Pt. 2) | Good |
| 11) On to the Light (The Rush, Pt. 3) | Good |
| 12) Oxygen | Great |
| 13) A Little Bit of Faith | Great |
Before I end this article, I want to say that the songs they released early (‘The Rush’ and ‘A Little Bit Of Faith’) have been replayed by me about a thousand times. Like seriously, they are sooo good.
So that’s it. Do you agree? Leave your thoughts below.