The members of King Giant changed the band’s name to Pimmit Hills after David Kolwalski left in 2017. The first release from the newly-named band is an EP titled Heathens & Prophets.

Under the earlier name, the band released three full-length albums, an EP and a demo. That is a lot of music, and an impressive legacy for King Giant. The current band is David Hammerly (vocals), Keith Brooks (drums), Todd Ingram (guitar), and Floyd Lee Walters III (bass). They are playing a bluesy Southern Rock with a Desert Rock mysticism and melancholy. I’ve read them compared to early ZZ Top and there is a hint of that fuzz in there, but the music of Pimmit Hills is darker and more serious – and there is a clear difference between the local flavor of guitar-heavy music in Texas and in Virginia. Compared to King Giant, the new music is consistent with the earlier work but more earthy, I’d say.

Heathens & Prophets might technically be an EP but with four 7-minute songs it’s a full meal. A crisp solo guitar lick cracks the set open with “Baby Blue Eyes.” Hammerly’s husky voice puts a precise picture in your head of the story he tells: “You look at me with sadness / I look at you with regret.” O man, that’s a punch in the gut. “Ginger” fades in on a peppy drum beat and growing guitar feedback to set up a song about murder. “Lost River” has a swampy warble and backing keyboards that give it a solemn fullness. The lead break has both a somberness and a ruthlessness to it. “Beautiful Sadness” wraps the set up with a fierce bluntness, and seems more like the end of Side 1 than the last song on the album.

Out this Friday, September 18, you can find Heathens & Prophets in the digital everywhere. I am hoping it will pop up on Spotify so I can follow them there. These four songs are just part of the album the band was working on when the pandemic put the slows to the world. They have continued to write more material and will release it when recording becomes practicable. I can’t wait to hear the other songs, too. Recommended.

Band photo by Shane Gardner.

Links.

https://www.pimmithillsmusic.com

https://www.facebook.com/PimmitHillsMusic

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