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

The Masterpiece Song King's X GAVE AWAY | Self-Titled Album Deep Dive

·31 min·2 clips

"Junior's Gone Wild" was removed from the album and moved to the Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey soundtrack.

1. Duff Dives covers King's X's self-titled fourth album and keeps circling back to why it is less often named as a favorite than "Dog Man" or "Gretchen Goes to Nebraska." 2. Duff, the host, speaks as a longtime rock and metal fan and references his other project, the Heavy Metal Hangover podcast with Rex, which gives the album talk a collector's and fan's perspective. 3. The episode asks whether King's X is a great band with a strangely under-celebrated album and whether the record's songs justify its place in the first five releases. 4. Duff opens with "The World Around Me," saying the song captures many of the things he likes about King's X, including the harmonies and the talk-sung vocal style he associates with Doug Pinnick. 5. He moves to "Prisoner" and calls out the funk-driven intro and what he describes as Doug's strongest chorus performance on the album. 6. "The Big Picture" gets singled out for two features: a gospel-like feel and Ty Tabor's guitar playing, which Duff calls "tasty" rather than flashy. 7. Duff contrasts Ty Tabor's style with shredding players like Michelangelo Badio, saying Ty's cleaner intros and drone-note choices are what he likes most. 8. "Lost in Germany" becomes Duff's possible favorite track because of the chorus and the lyric "like a politician in disguise," which he says he loves. 9. "Chariot Song" stands out for its roaring bass line and for a callback line that references "Gretchen," which Duff treats as a nerd-friendly in-joke. 10. He says King's X are "fun" as well as serious musicians and describes them as the kind of band that rewards listeners who catch references across albums. 11. Duff frames his reaction to the record through physical media stories, including cassette-bin finds, a copy of the album on cassette, and the durability of tapes through multiple moves. 12. He says his first copies of other albums came from cheap bins and clearance racks, including Anthrax's "Sound of White Noise" and records by Merciful Fate and King Diamond. 13. He argues that first exposure matters, saying the first record a listener connects with often becomes the favorite, and he invites listeners to explain why this album might be theirs. 14. Side B gets treated as weaker than Side A overall, but Duff still highlights "Black Flag" as a song he loves and remembers hearing outside the cassette copy. 15. Duff says one guitarist friend heard "Black Flag" first and never checked out King's X again, which he uses to show how a single song can distort a band's reputation. 16. The episode ends with Duff saying he would recommend other King's X albums before this self-titled record, even while still calling it a strong album in the context of the first five. 17. The tone is loose, conversational, and heavily digressive, with Duff repeatedly breaking off into side stories about records, cassettes, and comedy references. 18. The format is a solo commentary track with track-by-track reactions, self-corrections, and a late "fake ending" where Duff realizes he forgot his favorite song reveal. 19. King's X fans who like album deep dives and gear talk. 20. Casual listeners wanting a tightly edited music review.

As heard by us

A loose, personable defense of King's X's overlooked fourth album, anchored by gospel-like feel, Ty Tabor's guitar, and a few memorable detours.

King's X's self-titled fourth album is framed as the kind of oddball record that rarely tops anyone's list, even while listeners keep sorting through their favorites.

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Why you'd press play

A King's X deep dive that argues for the band's self-titled fourth album.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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