UMUR "Ogre Tones" is the 11th full-length studio album by US hard rock/alternative rock act King´s X. The album was released through InsideOut Music in September 2005. It´s the band´s first album released through InsideOut Music after a longer collaboration with Metal Blade Records.

The music on "Ogre Tones" is hard rock/alternative rock delivered by a very skilled trio of musicians. The sound production is professional, clean and polished. The tracks are very simple vers/chorus structured and the band´s reputation as a progressive rock act doesn´t shine through on this album. Most of the tracks on the album are around 3 minutes long and feature hook laden choruses with lots of mainstream appeal. It´s not often it happens, but when the band decide to rock out, they are actually able to conjure up some really nice hard rocking grooves, but it doesn´t happen enough. Most of the tracks are more sweet and polished pop/rock material with some really nice harmony vocal arrangements, and to my ears the album end up a rather tame affair.

Of course the excellent musicianship, the professional sound production and songwriting craftsmanship that should make most musicians green with envy, are all features that secure a quality stamp and a 3 star (60%) rating. A bit more bite would have suited the album though.

Nightfly After quite a few years of average, at times even poor albums and speculation of a split King's X returned in 2005 with Ogre Tones, a massive improvement and return to form for the Texan trio. In fact it was their best since 1994's Dogman. All the King's X trademarks are in place in their distinctive brand of heavy rock/metal from Doug Pinnick's soulful lead vocals and the instantly recognisable Beatles influenced backing vocals. Ty Tabors guitar playing is once again churning out his heavy yet melodic riffs with that lush, rich sound so prevalent on earlier releases. There are no great leaps in progression musically on Ogre Tones but simply put, King's X had learnt to write great songs again.

Even on their least satisfying albums King's X always managed to slip in at least 1 or 2 quality songs. Fortunately Ogre Tones is full of them. While the up tempo Alone is far from King's X best album opener it at least gives an indication that things are back on track but following track Stay hits all the right buttons combining Tabors melodic guitar arpeggios on the verse with a heavy riffing chorus, something King's X do a lot. Ultimately though, it simply has an instantly catchy tune.

Hurricane and Fly keeps up the quality, once again with great hooks and some strong backing vocals and some of Tabors best riffs for years.

Other strong tracks include the mid pace Bebop with its stop/start verse and driving riffing chorus. Honesty brings an acoustic interlude with a Tabor lead vocal and minimal instrumentation but Open My Eyes restores the power quotient being another great riffy moment and one of my favourites on the album. Freedom is reminiscent of so many great King's X songs with its chiming guitar arpeggios and melodic vocal work, once again Tabor getting another shot at lead vocals. Sooner or Later is more laid back and at 7 minutes giving room for an extended and spacey Tabor guitar solo.

A bit pointless but nevertheless a great song is a reprise of Goldilox from their 1988 debut, Out Of The Silent Planet. With no real changes or improvements on the original I don't understand the reasoning behind this but that's a minor complaint for such a strong album and welcome return to form for King's X.