Kingdom Come (Sir Lord Baltimore album)

Kingdom Come is the debut studio album by American heavy metal band Sir Lord Baltimore, released on Mercury Records in 1970. It was one of the earliest heavy metal albums and is considered an important influence on the genre.

Writing and recording
All of the songs on Kingdom Come were co-written and arranged by Mike Appel, who would later become Bruce Springsteen's manager. Co-produced by Appel and Jim Cretecos, the album was recorded at Vantone Studios in New Jersey before being mixed by Eddie Kramer and Kim King at Electric Lady Studios in New York. Kramer is well known for his work with Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie and Curtis Mayfield.

Musical style
This album is notable for the fact that its 1971 review in Creem contains an early documented use of the term "heavy metal" to refer to a style of music. It features distorted guitars and bass, enhanced by extensive use of multi-tracking, and has been compared to Deep Purple, Blue Cheer, Van Halen, Kiss and the Stooges.

Kingdom Come is also considered a pioneer in stoner rock.

Release
Kingdom Come was released in December 1970.

It was reissued on PolyGram in 1994, on Red Fox in 2003, and on Anthology Recordings in 2007. The 1994 and 2003 re-releases also contained 1971's Sir Lord Baltimore. The re-release has a different track listing than the source material, transposing the original records' A- and B-sides. This compilation featured the same cover image used on Kingdom Come, only with that album's title removed.

Reception
Kingdom Come has received acclaim from critics, and its influence on heavy metal music is well-noted. In his retrospective review, Marcos Hassan of Tiny Mix Tapes called it "[one] of those great records where not a second is wasted". Loudwire named it in #68 in their list "Top 70 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the 1970s" and has called "one of the earliest true hard rock albums." The album ranked on the list "10 Essential Proto-metal Albums" by Classic Rock.

Track listing

 * Note

The cassette release of the album transposes the tracks "Lady of Fire" and "Hell Hound" in order to even the runtime of sides A and B.


 * 2007 reissue

Anthology Recordings' 2007 re-release contains an altered track listing, transposing sides A and B of the original record. (Polygram and Red Fox's reissues also used this track listing.)

Personnel

 * Sir Lord Baltimore
 * John Garner – lead vocals, drums
 * Louis Dambra – guitar
 * Gary Justin – bass


 * Technical


 * Mike Appel – production
 * Jim Cretecos – production
 * Eddie Kramer – engineering
 * Kim King – engineering