Eco Death is the debut album of American artist King Bradley. A truly multi-media experience, each of its nine tracks come with a music video, telling an often surreal tale that reflects the absurdities of the modern world, from social decay to eco disaster.
By Graeme Smith
King Bradley is a solo project is every sense of the word. He wrote all the music for Eco Death, played all the instruments, took care of all the recording, and even acted as producer, mixer and master. It’s one of the things that makes the album a true one-of-a-kind. No-one else could have created it but King Bradley.
With over fifteen years of experience in music, he has taken on genres such as jazz, opera, musical theatre, rock and more, a lot of which features on this eclectic collection, which also brings in electro, funk, rap, pop and heavy metal. The early tone is set by the fuzzy riffs of Garbage Goliath Vs Trash Titan which plods along with garage and psych rock sensibilities before passionate vocals deliver cutting lyrics.
From there we get a delightful grab-bag of genre surprises. The textured and eerie ballad Numb Insides gives way to the urgent punk of Towering Terror. Pyramids of Geezer introduces rapped verses during its attack on income inequality while Fossilization is a contemplative pop odyssey. Upward Bound is jazzy with a compelling melody, Super Stall brings some severe rock, and Ionizer some meandering riffs and devilish vocals.
The album is then wrapped up by Terminal Command. Taking the themes of despair and desolation introduced so far, it ramps up the emotion with pleading vocals, cynical lyrics and a ponderous, dramatic style.
King Bradley is a true innovator. With his debut album, he applies his unique brand to issues that need to be highlighted. It’s certainly not a happy listen, but an important one, and quite unlike anything else out there.
Eco Death is out now via Dynasty Records, with CDs available to purchase via their website. You can also check out the album below.