In the 1980s, the often-repeated joke about
Kingdom Come was that the band should have called itself "Kingdom Clone" because it was nothing more than a shameless clone of
Led Zeppelin. And, to be sure, the headbangers'
Zeppelin worship was so slavish in the '80s that its albums were totally devoid of originality.
Zep influenced countless artists, but the most accomplished
Zep lovers (everyone from
Heart to
Mother's Finest) strived for uniqueness and ended up becoming quite distinctive themselves. Creatively, things hadn't improved for
Kingdom by 1991, when
Hands of Time was released. Whether rocking out on "Blood On the Land" and "Stay" or taking a moodier, more atmospheric approach on "You'll Never Know," "You're Not the Only....I Know" and "I've Been Trying,"
Kingdom was still without an identity of its own. Lead singer/producer
Lenny Wolf continued to emulate
Robert Plant, though he's never as soulful. With all of
Zep's great albums in print, why does anyone need
Kingdom Come?
Hands of Time is a CD to pass on. ~ Alex Henderson