Fit For A King responds to chaos with a new album.
In 2025, Ryan Kirby (vocals), Bobby Lynge (guitar), Daniel Gailey (guitar), Ryan “Tuck” O’Leary (bass), and Trey Celaya (drums) return for their eighth album, Lonely God, still backed by their label Solid State.
Begin The Sacrifice opens the album with a fairly calm, ethereal melody, but the jerky Metalcore quickly takes over, mixing its most aggressive parts, where screams are the order of the day, with softer passages. Keyboards contribute greatly to the tranquility, but the guitars are never far away to propel us to The Temple, where the contrast is once again very marked, but the band doesn’t hesitate to become even more virulent, thanks in particular to a devastating double pedal and explosions that herald the mosh parts. The tone becomes much more disturbing with the short Extinction, which is nothing but oppression, heaviness, and violence, then the catchy tones return with No Tomorrow, which also brings back clean vocals in the choruses, making them more soothing before the screams resume. We pick up again with the haunting melody of Shelter, which starts off fairly slowly but quickly picks up steam with its saturation and becomes much more punchy, then Monolith literally explodes thanks to its distressing cybernetic sounds that make the riffs very menacing. The break is perfect for letting loose at a live show, but it’s fairly short, giving way to the groovy Lonely God, which hits us almost continuously while introducing a touch of permanent, intoxicating dissonance. There’s another moment of uncertainty with the introduction of Between Us, which remains very tender in its first half, then lets its riffs energize the second half to join Sentient, where the atmosphere is explosive once again, and where the rhythm section doesn’t hold back in making us bang our heads. There’s no doubt that this track will be one of the most unifying on stage, preparing the crowd for movement with the break, but the band returns to disturbing tones with Blue Venom, the shortest track, which doesn’t waste a single moment and goes straight to the point, even flirting with trap at times. We find these dark touches again on Technium, which ends up becoming catchy as its waves of rage are brought to the fore, as on Witness The End, the last composition, which feeds on its contrast with hypnotic keyboards that make it majestic, accompanying the most intense passages beautifully.
Some may say that Metalcore is modernizing, but that doesn’t mean it’s becoming generic, as is the case with Fit For A King. Lonely God is a very balanced album that perfectly echoes its violence and interesting rhythm.
90/100