Manchester duo We Three Kings set themselves an incredibly high bar with debut By Royal Appointment, its blend of punky muscle and intelligence making it an indispensable purchase for any right-minded music fan when it was unleashed last year. Hot on its heels, sophomore album Stone Cold Kiss more than fulfils that promise and, in fact, provides a bigger and harder punch as guitarist and vocalist Rich and drummer Pete refine their sound even further.
We Three Kings – Stone Cold Kiss
Release Date: 10 April 2026
Words: Paul Monkhouse
This sharpening of the We Three Kings sound certainly does not take off any of the gloriously rough edges but instead gives the propulsive Red Bull-fuelled rush a greater velocity and aim, the visceral thrill still very much there.
Wasting absolutely no time, the title track kicks things off with a sound that brings to mind The Cult at their most feral, the rampaging sonic attack reiterating that this is a band with nothing to lose but everything to prove.
Big, nasty and noisy, Nothing Without Me is like being hit by a truck, the sheer force of it all likely to dislodge teeth and eviscerate anyone in its way.
Recent single Joyrider absolutely thunders along, the huge hook and snotty attitude making it utterly unsuitable to listen to whilst driving or in control of any heavy machinery, twisted love song Your Love Is My Disease absolutely glowering with its confrontational barbs.
So far, so full pelt, but this is far from the old heads-down charge of the Ramones, every song blurring into the next. There is light and shade, some nice little production touches that give each number a distinct character without going off on odd tangents and in this, there’s the real craft of what they do.
The songwriting is compelling too, the whole an irresistible experience that gives it all a longevity that means that the potential is there for We Three Kings to really go the distance in the same way that the very best of their inspirations have.
Like its predecessor, Stone Cold Kiss mainlines into the adrenaline of where punk and Metal meet, the pure, old school buzz that recaptures very first connections with mind and body that only loud guitars can.
The primal and furious snarl of Shotgun and Dirty Devil are howls into the night sky, full of pain, menace and no little brutality, but none of it loses its human edge nor is full of any self-pitying navel gazing.
There is a raw honesty here that connects, and by the time that the last, swinging notes of Son Of A Gun fade, it will be time to either take a breather to recover or hit the play button straight away and experience the whole thing yet again.
Few second albums are this good, but We Three Kings have knocked it solidly out of the park. Right now, they are looking unstoppable.
We Three Kings release Stone Cold Kiss on 10 April 2026, with an (already sold out) album release show at Off The Square in Manchester the following evening. To pre-order the album, visit linktr.ee/we3kingsband.
