Today, King Kraken release their new album, March Of The Gods. A thunderous step forward, blending heavy riffs, refined songwriting, and groove-laden Metal, this is a must-hear 2025 album. All of a sudden, the band has airplay and Bloodstock to distract them, and then we remember that there is a showcase gig coming up tomorrow evening at Hangar 18 in Swansea.
Time to focus lads! “Yeah. I’m buzzing for it,” bassist Karl Meyers told MetalTalk’s Paul Hutchings. “We haven’t gigged all year and that’s my main thing. I just love to play live.”
Rich [Mears, drums)] confirmed that the band are on point despite the distractions. “We will make sure that we’re ready, we’re all singing from the same hymn sheet and we’re tight as a duck’s arse,” he laughs. “Well, that’s our goal anyway. We’ve actually even booked six weeks of practice in Cardiff, but these are using our own gear and trying to take everything as seriously as we can with it, really. This is going to be a showcase. Exactly the same way as the last one was.”
King Kraken will be opening this year’s Stonedead Festival in front of 5000 people in August. Mark Donoghue says the album launch show will be a glimpse of what King Kraken will do at Stonedead. “There’s going to be a glimpse of what we do with KK’s and everything going forward at the end of the day.”
“I think that’s what we have to remember,” Rich says, “is that we’ve played Bloodstock, we played Rockstock, and we got Stonedead coming up. We have Winter Gathering coming up. Now, with our album launch, which is probably one of the most important gigs of the year, we have to show people that we belong on those stages.”
It’s evident that King Kraken are determined to show people why they are on those bills and that they are going to do this at every show they do from now on. Regardless of how you feel, this band are now three or four levels above where they were at that debut album launch at the Redhouse in Merthyr in 2023.
Their CV is already impressive, as I remind them. Double Hammerfest at the O2 Academy in Birmingham, where they played the main stage, Hellarocks and a headline show at Station 18 Festival in 2024, as well as Breaking Bands, Love Rocks and many others.
Some of those building blocks have been put in place over the past 18 months to two years, and therefore, anyone wondering who this band is will probably be unaware of the work that they have put in.
“I think we look at everything from Station 18 onwards,” says Rich. “We went up there, and we’ve tried to keep it there. Then move up and up. That was the first big opportunity we had and it was special for me. I’m sure it was special for the rest of the guys. But it was so special, and I think people see it now.
“I know one gig in particular was booked on the strength of that show, and we have to ask ourselves, how do we take that forward? How do we take that to Birmingham? Gig-wise, from that first headline slot, it’s kind of gone up, and now with March Of The Gods doing as well as it’s done without even being released, it is just amazing.”
“That’s the thing,” Karl says. “The album isn’t even known yet. I mean, if you look at it, we’ve been fortunate to play all of those gigs that you mentioned. But it’s not just about fortune and, as you know, Paul, we all work full-time. Then, to put so much effort into achieving these goals and to get what we want is just double the amount of work.
“I’m not saying we’ve done more than any other band. It’s just it’s time-consuming. It takes a lot of energy and a lot of effort.”
It’s always worth looking back as you move forward. What is the biggest change that King Kraken have experienced since those early days of 2018, I wonder? “It’s from Green Rooms to green fields,” laughs Rich. “The change in the band is so cohesive. I believe we’ve come together as a unit and know what work has to be done.
“Leading up to the first album, it was let’s write what we want to write. I say this in every interview: we were literally trying to find each other on the first album. But now we’ve found our sound on this one, and it’s become more centred, more focused. For every one song on the album, there are 10 rejected ideas.”
Mark has been reflecting before adding his thoughts. “I would say that that first album was where we learned a hell of a lot. We had no clear PR worked out. We didn’t have a clue how to approach radio stations or anything like that. We were just a local band and just doing what we could. And we thought, do you know what? We’ve got an abundance of songs. None of us had produced an album. Let’s put out the fucker! Let’s do it.
“I mean, if we’re gonna spend this money, we need to spend money on doing proper PR for it as well, which again, none of us had ever done. We learnt so much through that first album, not just about the scene, even down to writing songs.
“We learned what we needed and what was needed. I think a big part of March Of The Gods has come from learning so much about our first album. I think I referred to it earlier. The first album felt much harder to release. I think with this album, because we learned so much in a short spare space of time, this one just feels so much easier. As I said in a previous interview, the first album feels like we were learning about everything.”
Speaking to King Kraken, it’s evident that they have taken so much on board but also considered where they need help and have invested wisely. They have been much more focused on March O The Gods, and tell me how they are so much better prepared this time around. A deep dive into the planning of everything from artwork to the PR made everything a lot smoother.
Although there is a fine line between confidence and arrogance, King Kraken are clearly on the right side of it. Grounded and held to account by their fanbase, King Kraken will never forget where they came from.
“None of us are getting younger,” Mark says. “This is an opportunity that we’ve always wanted. Every single one of us has always wanted this opportunity to play all around the country and abroad. We have these opportunities in our lives where we think, Oh my God, I’m going to remember this moment for all of my life. And that really holds true. We hold on to those memories.”
“I was sitting in the car the other day,” Rich says. “Hero came on. I literally just sat there, and I was like, fucking hell. We’ve worked hard for seven years, and I’ve wanted this for 20-plus years.”
Whilst Mark continues to avoid the song on the radio for personal reasons, the rest of us could continue to enjoy Hero on Planet Rock ahead of the arrival of the full March Of The Gods album.
Keep an eye on these boys. 2025 is a huge year for King Kraken, and I think they are going to blow the roof off many venues in the next few months. MetalTalk will be with them every step of the way.
Part One of the King Kraken Interview can be read here. You can read Part Two here. King Kraken will self-release March Of The God on 18 April 2025. The album can be pre-saved from here and pre-ordered from here.
