Out of Silent Planet

King's X | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: March 22, 1988
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Megaforce / Wea
• ASIN: B000002IM7
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,577 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: KING'S X
Title: OUT OF THE SILENT PLANET
Street Release Date: 03/22/1988
Domestic
Genre: HEAVY METAL

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Out of the Silent Planet, November 7, 2004

By 

Mr. S. St Thomas "suckerfly" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Out of Silent Planet (Audio CD)

This first of the four 'must have' King's X albums is their debut release.

I bought this album virtually when it came out, and it is one of the best purchases I ever made. In an entire evening of watching 'Headbanger's Ball', I only saw one band that seemed different to all the Bon Jovi's/Slayer's/Warrant's/Poison's/Judas priest's etc. of the time, that were played in constant rotation. I saw King's X's ''King'', and though it was the second release ''Shot of Love'' that actually made me run down to the store to buy this album in 1987, I liked what I was seeing for a number of reasons.

1) King's X have an amazing vocalist named Doug Pinnick.
2) They were an interracial band in a world full of hairsprayed, mid-80's glamrockers.
3) Their guitarist played with 'soul', but was as good as the Yngwie Malmsteen's of the day.
4) They took elements from The Beatles / Jimi Hendrix / Sly and the Family Stone / Black Sabbath / Stevie Wonder, and made something very brand new out of all this.

I had found the band I was waiting for.

When I first played this King's X album to my friends, they had no clue what I was playing them, but I insisted this was the best band out there, forget about Guns & Roses, who were just making waves at this point. Pinnick could outsing most of the heavy metal hairpsray boys in a heartbeat. But it wasn't that. It was the sheer quality of their songs, and this unexplained energy that was happening in them. Whether this was the production of Sam Taylor, or a combination of Tabor/Gaskill/Pinnick and where they were at the time, Out of the Silent Planet is one of the most influential hard rock albums of its time. When Pearl Jam made waves in 1990 with 'Jeremy' from 10, I sat pretty amazed that this band was having huge success with what was, in sound and design, King's X with Eddie Vedder singing instead. Pearl Jam emerged 3 years after King's X's debut, and even though their formation started with Mother Love Bone, by 1990, Pearl Jam sounded like King's X. and had more success with it. That I never understood at all.

An actual influx of bands came out around this time that took King's X's sound and had a great deal of success with it, but King' X lurked somewhere on the borders of commercial success.It was infuriating. Here was a band that influenced quite a number of musicians, that couldn't get the time of day, until 1990's ''It's Love'', and by that time many were sounding like King's X enough to make it sound as if King's X were joining their own bandwagon. The first album alone defines the King's X sound between 1987 - 1992. Definitive years for a definitive band.

Another tag that gets associated with King's X is the Christian one. And I can honestly tell you I never ran to church after listening to their albums. The thought never crossed my mind. They had something far greater than just the excuse to quote the commandments or moralise. There was something mystical in their songs, and their live concerts were almost Revivalistic in energy. They had that much power. This changes after 1994's Dogman, but the first 4 albums are full of this certain type of energy that made me think King's X were one of the greatest bands I ever heard.

This album needs remastering, as it is mixed a bit low compared to today's standards, and I hope the band's efforts to convince Atlantic to remaster their catalogue are fruitful.

All 10 tracks are standouts. It's just the whole vibe the band puts on to these tracks that doesn't make just one person stand out over the other two. This is a band in all manner of the word. A must have album. It made me a fan of theirs for the past 17 years.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE BEST DEBUT RECORD OF ALL TIME, March 24, 2003

By 

DreamScape - See all my reviews

This review is from: Out of Silent Planet (Audio CD)

To start with, thanks for reading. I'm a man on a mission.

I'm currently making a kind of private retrospective of King's X, devouring its entire career, and taking some notes during the journey.
King's X are a special band for me.I met them by a friend, who I never thanked enough. They came to my ears,brain and heart in a moment where my soul was seriously damaged and seeking some peace of mind.Music can't change your life dramatically, but it can give you lots of support, sensibility and even courage.
King's X summoned all that for me.
Well, this is their first effort, and in a few words, my opinion is the subject of this review. I'm not exaggerating, this is a musical time bomb. It grows and explodes, blowing your mind to smithereens.
King's X scape smoothly from the fact of being labeled.Their music is alive,it breathes and walks as a human being.It's beautiful and haunting.It will give you enough input to make you dream awake.
Yes,hints of Kansas,Beatles,Queen or Rush can be found, but there are only little stones in the bottom of an ocean.First,you got to listen to it and lately try to describe it, because I honestly can't.
The first song, "In the new age" has an irresistible power; you'd never listened something like that.POWERFUL is the word, but it doesn't mean that BEAUTY is left.You have to listen to it.
Doug Pinnick,the bassist and vocalist, has an supernatural feeling.He can make you either rock or cry.At the end of "Far,far away" (one of my fav KX tunes), his screams will make you elevate from the floor.Sure.
"Goldilox" is a beautiful song, with some chorus to fly with.The kind of song that echoed in my head when girls were giving me down.MELANCHOLY...
There are some crunchy songs too, like "King","The power of love" (with a cosmic ending) or the fantastic "Shot of love", that reminds me of an endless summer, peace and understanding.
I can be a bit extreme yet subjective with my opinions (I love them so bad), but I feel this is a work of art that has to be appreciated by music fanatics everywhere.This is a must.Go and buy it,please.
King's X can reach you the same way they did to me.

Next chapter: "Gretchen goes to Nebraska"...stay in tune, please, and thanks again!

PEACE,folks.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars forgot how good this album is, March 25, 2007

By 

C. Benner (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Out of Silent Planet (Audio CD)

Funny to listen to this again after so many years. Lotsa great tracks and the songs just get better and better the more you listen. You can really hear the influence Kings X must have had on Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden, etc. "In the New Age" alone has elements borrowed by each if those bands. "Far, Far Away" has some of the best vocals dUg has ever done and the key change coming out of the bridge is just sick. "Shot of Love" hasn't aged well though, sounds pretty geigh, but is the only blemish on a great record that started the whole "D" tuning craze.