Amanda Fish Kingdom VizzTone

Kingdom (VizzTone Label Group) is the first studio release from Amanda Fish in six years, a time gap that included the pandemic, riots, and political corruption, as well as personal issues, all via the perspective of Fish as a new parent and frontline healthcare worker, an experience that shaped her as a person and a performer and songwriter.

Fish wrote all ten tracks, with musical support from Paul Niehaus IV (bass), Terry Midkiff, Jeremiah Johnson, Dylan Farrell, or Billy Evanochoko (guitars), Billie Baumann (percussion), Glen James (drums) and Dom Knott (sax), Richard Rosenblatt (harmonica) with background vocals from Mama Moo.

The opening track, “Mockingbird,” discusses the theory regarding the CIA directing misinformation and propaganda put out by the media to sway public opinion (google “Operation Mockingbird” for background), and the searing blues rocker “Sell The Record” is a biting criticism of the commercialization permeating the music and recording industry. Meanwhile, “The Hard Way” is a more serene, but no less intense, rocker, while the haunting “Unbreakable” has a swampy feel.

“The Great Reset” describes the prospect of losing all freedom to the state, and imploring listeners to “wake up and fight before you lose everything,” and the countrified “Broke Ass Blues” hits close to home to those struggling to get from paycheck to paycheck. The inspired “Work” is a gritty blues rocker, with harp from Rosenblatt, and “The World We Leave Behind” is a soulful blues that finds Fish lamenting about the world she leaves behind for her children.

“Mother” is a powerful and moving track that finds Fish reflecting on the passage of loved ones in her life. The title track, which closes the disc, is a gospel rocker with slide guitar and a Delta feel as Fish describes her spiritual reawakening.

Kingdom is packed with impressive songs and musical performances, but the robust vocals of Amanda Fish raises the album to an even higher plateau. She takes an unblinking look at issues that threaten to bring our world down and the direction that we need to take to make things better.

--- Graham Clarke