The King Blues
Long Live The Struggle

There is no doubt that the King Blues will be one of the great unfinished works of English music history. We're talking about one of those bands so highly praised by magazines but, if you dig a little deeper, not quite the best you can find out there, much like what happened with the Libertines, just to give an example. Nevertheless, the previous album "Punk & Poetry" ended up proving to be a good work, fluctuating between moments of great impact ("We Are Fucking Angry" above all) and weaker ones. This "Long Live The Struggle" remains in the same vein as its predecessor, with 2 major differences: the first is that the overall quality level lowers, the second is that to season the already varied sound of the King Blues, the musicians thought it would be a good idea to sprinkle in some dubstep here and there, thus managing to ruin what could have been some good tracks, like "We Are The Future" and "Can't Bring Me Down" (but how much damage is Skrillex doing??).

If, by the time you read this review, you still haven't listened to "Long Live The Struggle," I'll tell you straight away: the album starts in a discouraging manner with "We Are What We Own," perhaps the most insipid and dull opening track a man could ever write. Let's be clear: you've made a name for yourself with your angry lyrics and your music of 'revolution in the square' and then you start off your latest album with an exceptionally boring track? Contradictions aside, the better tracks come with "Modern Life Has Let Me Down" (with its singalong chorus), the Ska-P-esque "When the Revolution Comes," and the concluding "Keep The Faith."

It’s surely worth mentioning the lyrics by Itch Fox, always actively discussing politics to try and change a country already in ruins, although sometimes the lyrics can be predictable ("Give power to the people, because people have the power," he says in "Power to the People"). That said, it must be noted that the rest of "Long Live The Struggle" offers very little, as we are dealing with a handful of acoustic songs, slow, boring and predictable, with melodies certainly not suited to the overall theme of the album.

In short, this album was said to be the last studio album from the King Blues before their breakup, and we all certainly expected a better work, with more punch. "Long Live The Struggle" is definitely not the best way to bow out.

SCORE: 5 (out of 10)