AK & The Red kites // Hotter Than The Sun // Album Review

UK Rockers AK & The Red Kites are dropping their highly anticipated debut album, Hotter Than The Sun, this coming Friday, May 8th. The band is a glorious collection of styles and influences from a wide array of sources, but it culminates in a beautiful vibe all its own, which harks back to classic roots with a modern twist.

This is good old-fashioned rock’n’roll at its very best. The album is a collection of bangers that will have you tapping your foot along and raising your fists with glee. The album’s opener, ‘Broken Love’, sets the pace with a riff-tastic earworm that raises the bar, repeated over and over throughout a perfectly crafted collection of songs with AK’s signature sound.

‘Stronger’ harks back to AK’s bluesy roots with some tasty guitar playing that showcases his depth beyond his rock angst. AK’s voice also has to be praised as he delivers some stellar performances across the recording, too. The album itself had AK working with multi-platinum award-winning producer Mike Krompass (Everybody Loves An Outlaw, Steven Tyler, Smash Mouth) and recording at the previously UK-based state-of-the-art Base Culture. Mike has allowed AK’s music to soar, bringing out all the subtle nuances to the fore. There are plenty of heavy hitters for you to sink your teeth into, like Karmic Rituals and Pearls Before Swine, which allows AK’s love of modulated guitar to tear it up like a man possessed.

The album follows their debut EP’ Proverbial Storm’ (2024), which made waves and was seen as a statement of intent by many, and has been justified by a killer album. Hotter Than The Sun delivers on the foundation that their debut EP promised, and I can only imagine where this will take them from here.

Hotter Than The Sun lands this Friday on CD and 100 limited-edition, numbered and signed colour vinyl, available for pre-order now, direct from the band HERE.