Making their mark in 2017 is Melbourne Grindcore band King Parrot with their aggressive new single Ten Pounds of Shit in a Five Pound Bag off the soon to be album Ugly Produce. The last the world heard of King Parrot was Dead Set in 2015, and that definitely left many wanting more.
And King Parrot delivered.
Ten Pounds of Shit in a Five Pound Bag starts off with classic King Parrot style, with some comedic dialogue, taunting, which then moves into a piano solo. I’m sitting here thinking “what the fuck is going on?”, and then it hit me.
As subtly as a freight train, and probably as fast as one too, the King Parrot the world knows and loves is back. Distorted guitars, heavy yet crisp drums, and a metal sound that could bring anyone to their feet, to jump around, mosh, maybe even break stuff!
Ari “Mr. White” White, and Andrew “Squiz” Livingstone-Squires bring us some heavy guitars that feel as if they are strumming as fast as possible. As is true throughout punk music, the chords are completely repetitive, but in no way boring.
I will say that the one disappointment was that no matter how many times Ten Pound of Shit in a Five Pound Bag was played, I could not distinguish anything that Wayne “Slatts” Slattery did on the bass guitar. That’s probably why he is so featured in the film clip, but I will let all you readers watch that for yourselves.
Todd “Toddy” Hansen, on drums, sets a fast-paced punk feel to begin with, filling in the gaps with some great, fun, fills and lots of cymbal. He then accelerates into drumming more suited to Metal with some great double kicks and off-beat hits. But the best is still yet to come!
Matthew “Youngy” Young’s trashy punk metal vocals hits with nostalgia, like a kick to the chest for a dark dungy room, lots of sweat and a complete loss of voice once it’s over.
It is safe to say that King Parrot have definitely produced a banger and I for one can’t wait to hear what the rest of Ugly Produce will sound like!
– Georgina Bolam Gannon