Kingston Wall - I (1992)

Throughout the twenty eight years of my life I’ve heard some really exceptional music. The amount of bands out there and songs I’ll cherish ‘till the day I die is almost scary sometimes. However throughout all these years I’ve never, ever heard anything as utterly spectacular and mesmerizing as Finnish rock legends Kingston Wall. I’d be lying to both myself and you my loyal Lunar Hypnosis readers if I said anything less than calling the debut album ‘I’ from Kingston Wall one of the best albums ever recorded.

Kingston Wall from Helsinki, Finland was formed in 1987 by guitarist, vocalist and all around mastermind Petri Walli and Bassist Jukka Jylli. Heavily influenced by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, Kingston Wall’s sound was an energetic psychedelic, progressive, acid rock style of music with Eastern Indian themes that would serve as a huge influence to future Finnish rock and metal bands, most notably Amorphis who in 1997 honored the band by doing a cover of their song ‘And I Hear You Call.’ Of course as you can probably imagine this is the cover song that introduced me to Kingston Wall and a sound that’s beyond imaginable in its vast magnitude. After hearing this cover song I had to hear this enigmatic band called Kingston Wall that was seemingly unknown in the music world.

However before going any further into my own personal discovery of KW I should tell you a bit more about the band. While KW became extremely popular in Finland selling out the biggest venues in Helsinki the band only played one gig outside of Finland. Besides that the band was always on the Finnish top forty charts and their albums that were originally released by Trinity Records quickly sold out over the bands active years. In 1994 KW called it quits after only three albums and a few singles, and a year later, after a stay in India Petri Walli tragically jumped to his death from atop a church in Helsinki. He was only twenty six years old.

Thanks to file sharing though in recent years KW has started to gain recognition for their enormous musical efforts. And in fact the very first time I heard their song ‘On My Own’ I knew I had to hear all three albums from this band. Much to my surprise I found out that their albums only existed as imports, and as such I ended up paying $30 for this album, and yet I consider it one of my most meaningful purchases ever. Never mind having gas in my car or even having fancy food on the table. As long as I have this album to listen to I’ll be alright.

Now you’re probably wondering why I’m so enthusiastic about KW, and let me tell you this is some of the catchiest and talented music these ears I’ve mind have ever heard. The three members were at the absolute top of there game and especially Petri who has got to be one of the best guitarist ever. You’ll never see him mentioned in Guitar World Magazine though, nope sorry that’s reserved for egocentric cocks like Eddie Van Halen and Yngwie Malmsteen, and also probably some completely talentless guitarist from a hardcore or nu metal band. Petri’s guitar work is simply implausible. This man had the ability to create some of the most unique riffs and outright astounding guitar solos. Most of the time his guitar work was rocking and just downright feel good kinda bang your head, tap your foot like mad kinda guitar playing. Ya know the type where you roll the window down all the way, stick your arm out, put the shades on, and let the cool air blow through you hair? Yeah he was really good at making those type a riffs. But there are also times when he could sound doomy, groovy, psychedelic, soothing, dreamy or even a little melancholic, and of course the Eastern influenced sound was also quite apparent. Furthermore he was an excellent versatile vocalist and brilliant lyric writer. Truly someone I wish I could have interviewed or at least just sent him an e-mail to so I could tell him how amazing he is.

Of course Petri’s comrades, Bassist Jukka and drummer Sami Kuoppamäki were top notch musicians as well using their abilities to the top level and helping Petri to further advance the remarkable sound of KW. So many good songs grace this album the whole thing is a complete musical monument! Be it the excellent opener ‘With my Mind’ or the totally rocking, ‘Used to Feel Before' & ‘I’m Not the One,’ this album is perfect. There’s also the slower very psychedelic ‘Nepal’ or the doomy melancholic instrumental ‘Tanya.’ Plus there’s the nine part twenty one minute song Mushrooms, which goes through a variety of moods, but sounds at its absolute best during, ‘On my Own,’ and the goofy psychedelic, ‘Mushrooms.’ Mushrooms closes out this album perfectly. Problem is once your done listening to the entire sixty minutes you’ll just want to start it over and listen again. It’s that good. Really! I absolutely guarantee it!

Absolutely essential for anyone that even considers themselves a music fan; I consider it without any hesitation at all to be one of if not the very finest hard rock albums I have personally ever heard. Hop onto your favorite file sharing program and please, please check out this outstanding underrated band from Helsinki Finland called Kingston Wall. I'm quite sure you'll be hooked in no time and will find yourself laying down your hard earned cash for this brilliant band too.