Full disclosure here, when I saw the words “acoustic EP”, my toes curled up so far they nestled in my intestines and set off a chain reaction of cringing and shuddering. While King Creature may have established as a sturdy, powerful, energetic Blues Rocking act of growing repute, the acoustic EP is a difficult beast to digest (even without toes clogging up the tracts), with very few examples coming close to Alice In Chains Sap / Jar of Flies (Columbia) levels, and many more being indistinguishable filler littering the bargain bin of many a record store.

And yet, while To The Bone (Marshall) cannot claim credence of being at the level of the Seattle masters, it is a very enjoyable and well-crafted affair. There are similar elements to AIC, in fact, in the delivery, though the Cornish (UK) rockers lean more towards the Southern and Bluesy side of things.

Leadoff ‘World Of Sin’ sets the tone with a classy, yet dirty grunge-tinged groove while follow-up ‘Down In Flames’ is a slinky toe-tapper. In Dave Kellaway, King Creature possesses some warm pipes to carry the tunes, at times smooth and clean, at others adding a touch of Pepper Keenan grit where needed.

The reworking of tracks from their Volume One debut, alongside a couple of exclusive numbers, make this worth checking out for something easy and fun to pass the time with. Not every song is great (‘Money’, in particular, is lightweight), and while To The Bone hasn’t cured me of my overall aversion to acoustic EP’s, it has reminded me that, sometimes these sorts of things do work, and work well.

6 / 10

STEVE TOVEY