KING PARROT - “A Young Person’s Guide to KING PARROT”
Written by: Tom Wilson | Thursday 29th May 2025
Uglier Produce!
The world has become a very different place to when KING PARROT last dropped a full-length, 2017’s Ugly Produce. COVID, the cost-of-living and housing crisis, world events … none of this has gone unnoticed to frontman Matthew Young, who has aimed his poison pen at social elites and the chaos they create for the rest of us.
Opening with the warp-speed punk savagery of Get What Ya Given, Australia’s only ARIA-nominated grindcore band wastes no time grabbing us by the throat. “All the people feel this way,” Young shrieks over the maelstrom, a line that perfectly sums up the relatable lyrical themes explored on this record. Fuck You and the Horse You Rode in On is a snarling mix of hammering drums and vitriol delivered with their trademark sense of humour. This album serves as the last recording of Todd Hansen, who had to be replaced after he cut off his hair and lost his drumming powers (citation needed), but the percussive prowess on display here is remarkable, and whatever band he plays in next is going to be envied because of his involvement.
It's A Rort is a brutal examination of today’s society and the people getting kicked around while doing it tough (which Youngy would know all too well through his work as a drug counsellor). “What makes a person want to be a cop?” Bassist Slatts Everyday asks at one point, disgust dripping from his voice, and the gang vocal sums up our country’s attitude perfectly: “When the going gets tough, you can go and get fucked.”
The album’s apex is Punish the Runt, which sums up everything that makes the band great in less than two-and-a-half minutes. Opening with a blitzkrieg drumming display from Hansen and a career-best vocal performance from Youngy, it soon shows that they aren’t afraid to take a creative risk, as guitarist Andrew “Squizz” Squires busts out KING PARROT’s first ever guitar solo to stunning effect. This is going to be chaos live.
I Got The Right is a furious punk rock number perfectly engineered for circle pits, with some more guitar wizardry from Squizz to add some colour. Young has established himself as one of the great voices of the genre, putting him alongside greats like Barney Greenway and Kevin Sharp, so it’s only appropriate that he recently got the grindcore logo tattooed on the back of his neck. Several times throughout this record, his trademark shriek pushes into Daffy Duck territory, and it’s glorious. I just hope his throat can withstand it. And just in case you got to the end of the record and were still confused about how they feel, the last track is called Pissing on the Fist of the Law.
KING PARROT have evolved into something uglier and nastier, and considering how much time they’ve spent playing with PANTERA, it seems appropriate to compare. If Bite Your Head Off is their Vulgar Display of Power and Ugly Produce is their Far Beyond Driven, then this is their Great Southern Trendkill – harsher and darker than what has come before, and which will probably be looked back on as a fan-favourite in the years to come. Fans, rejoice, because this just might be your new favourite KING PARROT record … and if it isn’t, tough shit, you’ll Get What Ya Given.
A Young Person’s Guide to KING PARROT is out June 6th. Pre-order here.
