Music Street Journal - Music News & Reviews

Kong Traders Of Truth Review by Gary Hill I think that if this were the first album from Kong I'd heard, I'd probably land it under heavy metal. It would be a pretty odd metal album, though. Given the history and reputation of the act, though, I think progressive rock is the right place to put it. Most of this is instrumental, although a few songs have some vocals. That said, they are so far down in the mix that it might still count as instrumental. This is always interesting, and there is a healthy range here. This is definitely heavier and more metallic than the other disc from this act that I reviewed. This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2023 Volume 3 More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2023.

Track by Track Review

Radiance Metallic guitar comes in as this gets underway. There are some bits of ambience that serve as punctuation to those lines of sound. Eventually this works to some decidedly metal jamming from there. There is a short respite that has a definite proggy vibe to it, but the metal concepts return with a vengeance to take control from there as this instrumental continues its journey.

Hit That Red This is fast paced and extremely heavy. Yet, there are proggy, almost King Crimson like elements at play here and there. Vocals are sparse and fairly low in the mix, with some feeling like sound bites added to the mix.

Fringing Another that definitely leans heavily on the metal side of things, this instrumental isn't a big change, but it is an intriguing piece.

Rök There are some cool rhythmic elements to this. While there is still plenty of metal in the mix, this does get tempered by more prog and art music things.

Mirrorizon This is much more of a prog rocking piece. I can make out hints of Rush, particularly on the bass work. There are still some metal angles, but I'm a lot more comfortable putting this one under progressive rock.

Glasslands Now the artsy concepts are all over this, yet it's also packed full of stylistic cool. This feels a bit like some kind of spooky rock and roll with some definite Americana in the mix.

Ripper This has a good mix between mellower and heavier stuff. It's also another that brings some Rushisms to the table.

Chaos As Law There are some intriguing percussive drop back sections built into this. Beyond that this lands very much in metal territory. It has some particularly mean riffing.

Stray Marks This has some pretty cool jamming that has a real proggy element. Yet the metal fury and crunch are also firmly in place. It does get into a mellower King Crimson-like section mid-track. This is another that has some vocals that are sparse and deep in the mix.

Flat Earth Sobriety Built on a cool artsy groove, this has some spoken sound bites built into it. There is a feeling of danger and mystery to it.

Destressed & Unrestrained While this is decidedly crunchy and heavy, it's another that has some Rushish leanings to me. It drops to mellow territory for a time. There are some sampled bits of voices in the mix during that section.

Return to the Kong Artist Page

Artists Directory

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
© 2025 Music Street Journal Site design and programming by Studio Fyra, Inc./Beetcafe.com