Kings of Mercia Debut a Royal Success
Jim Matheos and Steve Overland team up to produce hard rock goodness.
Welcome back to another issue of Michael’s Record Collection, and I extend my most sincere thanks to you for spending some time with this newsletter today. I hope you enjoy today’s story.
A good crossover can be fun, whether it’s two TV shows joining forces for a story, multiple comic book characters teaming up to fight the bad guy du jour, or musicians stepping out of their usual style and partnering with other artists to create something different from what they normally do.
Jim Matheos, guitarist of Fates Warning, has put together a new band and has written and recorded an album of standout, melodic rock. The vocalist of this new endeavor, known as Kings of Mercia, is Steve Overland of the UK blues rock band FM — not to be confused with the Canadian prog rock band by the same name. I spoke with Steve about the new record and working with Matheos.
Let’s get to that story.
Fates Warning guitarist Jim Matheos is well known in progressive metal circles for his technical ability, but his new band, Kings of Mercia, is a much more mainstream effort that neatly slips his considerable instrumental prowess into a catchy cradle of melodic hard rock. The band released its self-titled debut on Metal Blade Records on Sept. 23 and I have found the positive reviews to be accurate in their assessment of this modern-day, album-oriented rock (AOR) classic.
Matheos started writing the album in early 2021 but without a clear direction in mind or a plan for what to do with the material. After putting together a few song demos, a direction presented itself, as the tracks were more in the hard rock genre than his more well-known prog metal offerings.
When he started to search for a singer to work with him on the project, a friend suggested veteran FM vocalist Steve Overland, whose band worked in the same general style as Matheos’ new material but with a more bluesy approach. Rock journalist Dave Ling (Classic Rock, Prog, etc.) put the two musicians in touch with one another.
“(Matheos) wanted to make this album where he jelled two styles,” Overland said. “He wanted to have like a blues rock singer, like a Paul Rogers kind of vibe, with parts of his music too.”
Matheos and Overland collaborated on one song to see if the partnership would work. It did, and the result is Kings of Mercia, a latter day melodic rock masterwork that somehow avoids sounding much like anyone else.
The band has the musicians involved excited enough that the word “project” never came up in my conversation with Overland.
“(The band) needs to be a living, breathing thing, not just another thing we do when we’re off the road with our other bands,” he said. “That’s not what we want it to be at all.”
The opening track, “Wrecking Ball” hits about as hard as the titular object. It’s a straight-ahead rocker that opens with a quick drum break by the legendary Simon Phillips, who lends his considerable talents to the effort. Phillips and bassist Joey Vera — Matheos’ Fates Warning bandmate — lay down the song’s bedrock, providing a groove to support the crunch of Matheos’ chords and riffs. Overland’s vocals soar above it all, with some layering in the chorus to fill out the sound and provide a bit of harmony.
Overland’s voice works exquisitely with Matheos’ guitar work. The opening rocker never fails to have me nodding along and the chorus sticks in the mind without becoming cloying.
“It’s the first track we released out to the world,” Overland said of the album’s opener. “And it’s just a straight-to-the-point song, isn’t it?”
“Humankind” is that fateful first song Matheos sent to Overland to see if the collaboration would bear fruit. The vocalist went to work on it, adding his lyrics and his voice, and sent it back. The two knew they had captured something special, so the entire band and album sprung from there.
“(Matheos) sent me a backing track and I listened,” Overland said. “Jim’s stuff, when he sends you what he calls demos, sounded like an album. They’re fantastic. He’s a very clever man. So I got this track, wrote this song called ‘Humankind’ — that was the first song we wrote — sent it back to America. I thought it came out great, not knowing what the response would be. But all of a sudden it was like Jim just came back to me within 15 minutes of me sending it to the studio and he said, ‘This is amazing, Steve.’ He said, ‘I’ve got to play this for the record company.’ Sent it to the record company and we got the deal based on just one song.”
There are layers of guitars doing different things but all working together throughout the verses and the anthemic chorus of “Humankind,” and his solo is as good as you’ll find in a rock song. Overland’s unique, soulful voice works well on the lead line as well as in the layered chorus.
“You never know how these things are going to work when you try to jell two styles,” Overland said. “But it’s worked fantastically well, and it did from the first song.”
My favorite track might be “Set the World on Fire,” due in large part to Phillips’ drumming. Even in a straight-ahead AOR song, Phillips manages to play interesting parts. It might be a more mundane song in another drummer’s hands despite its catchy chorus. Matheos’ guitar work on the song is straight fire.
“Too Far Gone” begins acoustically, presenting the first major tonal shift on the album, but the song evolves into an edgier, electric guitar number as it moves along.
“‘Too Far Gone’ was one that (Matheos) sent me that he said, ‘See what you think (about) this, because it's different.’ It starts off like a Bad Company, acoustic-guitar song, then goes into this huge, heavy section in the middle of it,” Overland said. “When I did the first part of it, it was quite pretty and it was a bit Paul Rodgers-y. And I thought, ‘Is it going to work? Will Jim like it?’ And he just came back and said, ‘This is beautiful. This is amazing.’ And so, that's what it was like. Everything he sent me, it was like, ‘This is fantastic.’ At not one point did we go, ‘Hmmm, you know, I'm not sure about this.’ It just seemed to work.”
“Liberate Me” chugs straight ahead like a chunky, rocking, freight train built on a killer, crunchy riff, and the song features one of Matheos’ most scorching solos on the record. “Nowhere Man” is not a Beatles cover, but another chunky rock song that again shows off perfectly from the opening fill what Phillips brings to the table behind the drum kit.
Every melodic rock album needs its power ballad, and “Everyday Angels” is unlike everything else on the record — not just because of the tempo change, but it’s more acoustic driven and includes perhaps the most vocal layering in the chorus. It’s stunningly beautiful and Overland alternates power and delicacy with his vocal performance. The song carries a positive message and one can easily envision an arena of fans waving their lit-up cell phones back and forth through the uplifting end of it.
Kings of Mercia ratchet the rock back up to 11 on “Is It Right?”, the album’s penultimate song. This is a straight-ahead rocker with Overland’s sing-along chorus and yet another standout solo by Matheos. Overland’s recollection is that “Is It Right?” is the last song the band completed for the album. “
Your Life” closes the record with a dramatic and atmospheric opening. A scorching guitar riff slices through that atmosphere in somewhat of an Ozzy Osbourne-esque intro, but the song that follows that opening is closer to a grungier version of a cross between Bad Company, Whitesnake, and Deep Purple.
There is no hiding Overland’s enthusiasm for this album. His pride in it is apparent and he can’t stop talking about it or smiling while doing so.
“I think they all work so well together, all the different styles,” he said. “My voice, Jim’s de-tuned, massive guitar sound, Joey’s got that growly, aggressive style, and then you’ve got Simon, who is just the most brilliant drummer ever — or one of them. It’s a great band.”
After hearing just the first album by Kings of Mercia, I’m inclined to agree. Kings of Mercia is a worthwhile inclusion to the collection of any fan of melodic hard rock. Metal Blade also believes in Kings of Mercia and has put its money where its mouth is, as the band has a three-record deal.
There are plans to get the band in front of some live audiences and to quickly move into the songwriting process for the follow-up to take advantage of the band’s momentum. It will be interesting to see where the second album goes musically, although it will likely stylistically stay in the same bucket.
That’s fine with me, because this debut is a great listen.
Tracklist:
Wrecking Ball
Humankind
Sweet Revenge
Set the World on Fire
Too Far Gone
Liberate Me
Nowhere Man
Everyday Angels
Is It Right?
Your Life
To find out more about Kings of Mercia, visit the band’s website. And while you’re at it, visit Steve Overland’s website.
For my entire conversation with Steve Overland, covering topics that include his musical background, the album’s writing and recording process, how he’s going to make being in both FM and Kings of Mercia work, and more, check out the video below or listen to Episode 81 of the Michael’s Record Collection podcast. The podcast version includes some brief music clips and can be found on all major podcast platforms.
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