In time, when anime and manga from Asia are particularly in vogue, there is interesting Korean rock. Because not everything boils down to kpop and „Gangam style“. HarryBigButton is a comparatively new band, and „King’s life“ from 2012 is their first full-length album after the debut EP „Hard ‘n’ Loud“ the year before that. And so does the band describe its style – hard ‘n’ loud/ post hard rock.

Sungsoo Lee (vocals, guitar), Neil Smith (bass) and Dae-Hui Kang (drums) have picked nine rock ‘n roll/hard rock compositions, most of which are, commendably, in English. The album starts with „Angry face“ and passes through faster and slower songs with a bluesy flavor – like „Stand for you“, „The road“. More guitars and 80s-rebellious lyrics and melodies can be felt in the unambiguous „Fxxx you very much“ and the eloquent „Everything is fine except money“. The two works in Korean language here are „TV show“, and the last in „King’s life“, „A whale in a bowl“, with which the album gets catchy and fitting end.

Without further prevarication, within 3-5 minutes each track shows the musicianship enthusiasm and desire for development. By not having anything to do with what is intruded to us for Korea and particularly, Korean music, HarryBigButton is promising a dose of fresh air in a stable amount of clear and unpretentious hard rock, at times, moderating the pace for a little bit of pure rock.

Rating: 6.5/10