The Netherlands does not only have huge tulip fields and windmills to offer, which is why it is keen to be called "The Netherlands" and no longer "Holland", but also quite outstanding music bands like the King of the World, who see themselves as kings of the national and international roots & blues scene. This is a rather heavy claim, but it cannot be denied, as they are undisputedly considered the number 1 blues band in the Netherlands with a growing reputation abroad. The band was founded eight years ago. In addition to frequent live and TV appearances, they found the time to produce five albums, all of which have been successfully marketed: Can't Go Home is from 2013, KOTW from 2014, Live at Paradiso from 2015, Cincinnati from 2016 and Connected from 2019. "Connected" is the band's first album together with the young Belgian guitarist Stef Delbaere, who has already had a remarkable career at the age of 25, succeeds the guitarist Erwin Java, who is considered a living blues legend, and gives the band, with Ruud Weber on bass, Govert van der Kolm on keyboard and Marlon Pichel on drums, a push towards even more youthful liveliness as a youngster and contributes vocals and songs just like his band colleagues: Connected, like the earlier albums, contains songs written exclusively by the band. It should not be forgotten that the band has also won several domestic blues awards before Stef Delbaere as best drummer, best keyboard player, best bassist (3x), best guitarist and best band.
Connected starts with "Love Don't Come from You", a riff based in the blues, clearly structured by the drummer's beat and the low tuned vocals of Ruud Weber, who underlines the beat with his bass. The guitar solo by Stef Delbaere ennobles this blues with a touch of rock and Govert van der Kolm exaggerates the whole thing with a formidable organ solo.
The song "Connected" shines as a blues shuffle with a lyrically woven, often varied melody, which transports the ballad-like lyrics perfectly. Not only in this song the enormous talent of the band to create emotion is shown. The newcomer Stef Delbaere is on the same line in this discipline as his older colleagues. Even more, he succeeds in audibly increasing the blues feeling of the band.
Connected proves to be a completely successful album from King of the World, which with the new guitarist of the band is clearly on the same level as the band's previous albums, who succeeds in adding new highlights to the band's sound.
King of the World