King Parrot is back to savage metalheads far and wide with their unrelenting new album, A Young Person’s Guide To.
I’ve listened to this album a few times now and it makes me want to throw a TV through a window or headbutt a wall, such is the intensity A Young Person’s Guide To brings with every angrily gnarled note. A ferocious frolic into the cage King Parrot sees our society slipping into, destined for an Orwellian disaster.
But King Parrot isn’t here to fuck around—they’re here to tell you how it is and ram their message of defiance down the throats of the people who resist the mandate of the men and women of this once exceptional country.
Opening up this can of worms is “Get What Ya Given”, a masterclass in how to start an album. So full of vigour and wrath that it spills over into the other 9 songs, creating a kind of “fuck you” flow to it.
Bass and guitars are so feverishly executed by “Auntie Slatts” (Wayne Slattery), “Mr White” (Ari White), and “Squiz” (Andrew Livingston-Squires), that I pitied the strings. And the aggression “Toddy” Todd Hansen brought to the drums—don’t even get me started. Fast, hard and heavy, much like me when I was a teenager if you catch my drift. “Toddy” has since left the band, and Max Dangerfield has jumped into the drummer’s seat. Going by his name alone, Max will deliver every note of spite to the King Parrot brethren with passion and potency, ready to live up to the legacy Toddy leaves behind.
“Youngy”, Matthew Young, is venomous—growling, screaming and spitting his way through 10 songs that stand as a middle finger punched into the face of overwhelming tyranny on behalf of King Parrot’s worldwide audience.
A Young Person’s Guide To King Parrot Track-by-Track Breakdown
“Fuck You and the Horse You Rode in On”
A clear message of defiance. The name of the song kinda gives it away, right? Rules and regulations? Fuck your rules and regulations! A heated and intense song driven by demanding drumming and garish guitars, this one’s all about the message—and the message must be heard.
“Cunning as a Dunny Rat”
An old, but typically Australian saying, carved into a revealing track about the scheming ways of our overlords. All conniving rats, talking their way out of the shit to make us think they’re fixing problems when they are the problem. For non-Aussies: a “dunny” is an outdoor toilet, and a dunny rat always finds a way to survive. Remind you of anyone?
“It’s A Rort”
Fast, unrelenting, and furious. “When the going gets tough you can go and get fucked” perfectly encapsulates the woes of the downtrodden in our throwaway society. I can already hear the crowds shouting it back in unison, like a modern metal “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again?”
“Punish the Runt”
The breakdowns in this song are brutal. Starting halfway through, it’s intense, claustrophobic, and heavier than a cement wall ready to crush your bones.
“Target Pig Elite”
Any guesses what this one’s about? One of my favourites on the album. For a sub-3-minute track, it’s packed with more breakdowns than you can poke a royal cane at. The elites—greedy, thoughtless, money-hungry fuckers. King Parrot are coming for them.
“I Got the Right”
You can tell King Parrot are from Melbourne. This is a song that hits home—hard. During and after COVID, rights were stripped in the name of safety, and many never returned. This one punches.
“Look Away I’m Hideous”
Just under 2 minutes, but delivers a punk-heavy wallop. This one’s for the elites who look down on us—the plebs—as nothing but hideous cogs in their machine.
“Glazed and Diseased in Defeat”
Slightly slower in the beginning, but builds into a cranial-crushing crescendo sure to please King Parrot fans.
“Pissing on the Fist of the Law”
The finale. And what a way to close things out. A feral, rebellious statement that captures the frustration of a world gone mad. Disobedience, defiance, and rebellion—this is King Parrot at their best. There’s more of us than there are of them. Right?
Final Verdict
A Young Person’s Guide To King Parrot is a consistently commanding cracker of an album that never lets up. It spits in the face of our waning humanity and gives a middle finger to the puppet masters pulling the strings. King Parrot grind all the way through with aggression, attitude, and a message of sovereignty and independence.
Our lives have been taken from us—A Young Person’s Guide To is the call to take it back.
🎧 Pick of the Pack:
Get What Ya Given — with an honorary nod to Target Pig Elite.
🔥 Rating: A fucking fair dinkum 9.5/10.
Review By Brett Parmenter
