Duff Dives: A Rock & Metal Deep Dive Podcast · Duff Dives | Rock and Metal Album Reviews

Cradle of Filth's Symphonic Fury | A Deep Dive into The Screaming of the Valkyries

·31 min·2 clips

"Juniors Gone Wild" was on this album in Europe, but not on the U.S. cassette.

1. Duff Dives covers King's X's self-titled fourth album, 'King's X,' and treats it as part of the band's first five records. 2. Duff, the host, is also a long-time metal and rock radio figure who says he has played these albums repeatedly and owns the record on cassette. 3. The episode asks why this album is respected but rarely anyone's favorite King's X release. 4. Duff says fans usually name 'Dog Man,' 'Gretchen Goes to Nebraska,' or 'Faith, Hope, Love' instead of this self-titled record. 5. He opens by saying King's X is 'one of the greatest bands of all time' and then admits he is using a YouTube-style promo setup. 6. He explains that his first copies of King’s X releases came from bargain bins, clearance racks, and physical formats like vinyl, cassette, and CD. 7. Duff says a lot of his listening history comes from the late 1990s and early 2000s, when cassettes were still common and cheap. 8. He brings out his cassette copy of 'King's X' on air and jokes that cassettes survived abuse better than repeated play. 9. 'The World Around Me' gets the first detailed praise because it has one of Doug's talking vocal parts and a strong harmony-heavy arrangement. 10. 'Prisoner' gets singled out for its funkier groove and for what Duff calls one of Doug's best chorus performances on the album. 11. 'The Big Picture' matters because Duff hears a gospel-like feel in it and thinks it shows Ty Tabor's most tasteful guitar part. 12. Duff says Ty Tabor is not about 'wank up the fretboard' playing and instead uses cleaner intros and drone notes that stand out to him. 13. 'Lost in Germany' becomes a possible favorite track for Duff, partly because of the lyric 'like a politician in disguise.' 14. He says 'Chariot Song' includes a callback line that references 'Gretchen,' which he thinks is a fun reward for long-time listeners. 15. Duff spends time on how King's X works as a band for fans who like references, callbacks, and inside jokes across albums. 16. He says the record is fun because the band is serious about musicianship but not serious about their public image. 17. The tone is conversational, digressive, and openly personal, with Duff jumping between album analysis and stories about cassettes, radio, and old stores. 18. The format is a solo commentary with occasional fake endings, side stories, and track-by-track remarks rather than a formal review. 19. Best for King's X fans, classic-metal listeners, and physical-media collectors. 20. Skip if you want a tight, spoiler-free album primer.

As heard by us

A loose, affectionate case for a King's X record that still divides listeners.

Duff Dives gives King's X's fourth album a patient, sideways look, treating it as a record that still splits listeners. Its strongest stretch comes when it links a gospel-like song to a larger case for Ty Tabor's guitar playing, which keeps the focus sharp even as the discussion…

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Why you'd press play

You want a less-obvious King's X album conversation, not a tidy recap.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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