King Parrot: Now there’s a name I haven’t heard in quite some time! Does anyone else remember this loony lot? Anybody at all? If these Aussie grind nuts have escaped your memory, I can’t blame you. It’s been a whole 8 years since they last flew into our orbit. In hindsight, they lurked around the ’10s metal interweb in an almost meme-like manner. Whenever they released an absurd music video, you could always rely on the likes of *ahem* outlets inferior to this one (take a guess) to share them on their platform, causing them to go pseudo-viral. In other words, King Parrot walked, or rather flew, so Sanguisugabogg and Bodybox could run.
Now in the years since we last heard from King Parrot, much has changed. The scene, and the ecosystem surrounding it, is not the same as it was in 2017. Would anyone even care about a new King Parrot album in 2025? Well, that makes no difference whatsoever to King Parrot, who remain defiant and confrontational as ever on their long awaited fourth full length, A Young Person’s Guide To. The title, and its accompanying cover art, is hilariously tongue in cheek, proving that while the times may have changed, King Parrot’s sense of humor has not.
The only musical aspect of A Young Person’s Guide To that I’m not completely sold on is one that becomes apparent right off the bat, and that’s the incorporation of metalcore influences. No, I’m not implying that they’ve thrown on their best eyeliner and are chug-chugging away on Schecter guitars like a Hot Topic infomercial circa 2008. Rather songs like “Get What Ya Given”, “Fuck You and the Horse You Rode in On” (great title), and “Glazed and Diseased in Deceit” sound like a hybrid of modern Napalm Death and new school metalcore trendies like Gulch or Harms Way. These songs are dissonant and chaotic in terms of delivery, and definitely see the band treading new musical ground.
That said, the Parrot are strongest when they do what they do best, and that’s old school grind with a thrash metal twist. Mosh-grind ragers like “Cunning as a Dunny Rat”, “It’s a Rort”, and “Pissing on the Fist of the Law” (Again, this band knows how to name ’em) sound like Municipal Waste trying to sound like Napalm Death, which spells pure braindead, ripping, blackout drunk at the backyard thrash kegger-fun for all. There is the occasional punishing Brutal Truth-esque deathgrind foray in the form of “Target Pig Elite” (killer riffs on this one) and the aptly titled “Look Away I’m Hideous”. However, the overall spirit on A Young Person’s Guide To is one of mindless absurdity.
Aside from the “modern” moments scattered about (which might just be the Parrot’s response to the ongoing hardcore-ification of metal), A Young Person’s Guide To is the exact record one would expect from King Parrot, whether it be 2025, 2015, or 2035. This band ain’t reinventing the wheel, nor have they ever attempted to do so, and you have to give them a hand for that. Their attitude is one of, “Like the album? Cool. Don’t like the album. Still cool.” As the closing refrain in “It’s a Rort” says, “When the going gets tough you can go and get fucked.”
6 out of 10
Label: Housecore Records
Genre: Grindcore
For fans of: Napalm Death, Brutal Truth, Blood Duster
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