Bush – The Kingdom

Gavin Rossdale’s Bush was both a big hit of the alt-grunge nineties, and a bit of a punchline....
Bush : The Kingdom
7.2 BMG
2020 

Bush : The Kingdom

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Gavin Rossdale’s Bush was both a big hit of the alt-grunge nineties, and a bit of a punchline, such as being huge in America but not in his native Britain. He brought back the band name a decade ago with Sea of Memories (QRO review), and has kept it going through his divorce with Gwen Stefani, and recently losing the last other original member, drummer Robin Goodridge. New album The Kingdom definitely stays inside the man/band’s wheelhouse, but you weren’t really looking for anything more, were you?

The Kingdom is a record that harkens back to the days when Beavis & Butthead said, “Soundgarden rules!”, with the big, emotional rock of such tracks as opener “Flowers On a Grave” and closer “Falling Away”.  There are also the harder-hitting title track (QRO review) and “Ghosts In the Machine”, as well as the requisite darker-over-harder “Our Time Will Come”, plus of course the release has a quiet & heartfelt track, “Crossroads”.

Longtime Bush fans have never cared about the group being popular with the avant-garde set – and Homer Simpson’s Sadgasm did do their own version of Bush’s grunge breakthrough “Glycerine”.  The Kingdom is for them.

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