Top 10 Fit For A King Songs

By: James Southworth

I have been wanting to do another top 10 songs for a band for a couple months, but they can be time consuming. I only want to do them for bands that I am super passionate about. Fit For A King are definitely a group I absolutely love. Plus, they came out with "Dark Skies" very recently, so I find it fitting for my next list to be for them. This list was not easy to make, but here it is!

Honorable Mentions: "Shadows and Echoes", "Oblivion", "Hollow King (Sound of the End)", "Slave to Nothing", "A Greater Sense of Self", "Dead Memory", "Keep Me Alive", "Stacking Bodies", "Kill The Pain"

10. "Selfish Eyes" (Slave to Nothing)

There are so many metalcore bands out there who try to make ballads that are trying way too hard to be emotional. More often than not, these ballads come across more as a clear attempt for these bands to get some radio traction. This is far from the case with Fit For A King. While the band keeps their sound really intense for the most part, they do have a couple entirely clean vocal lead tracks (spoiler alert, you'll see another ballad in my top 10 eventually). I couldn't resist putting both of the ballads on this list. This song is just beautiful in every sense of the word. Clean vocalist Tuck O'Leary made his first appearance on the band's third album "Slave to Nothing", and man did he impress throughout the whole album. Giving him one song to sing by himself was a great decision, as he simply kills it on the vocals. The great guitar and drum work serves to accentuate the emotion of this track further. And oh man, the lyrics are something else. I'd debate that this song has some of the band's best lyrical moments to date. Tuck describes how materialistic greed ultimately adds up to nothing: "Do you love, when you're breaking at the seams?/Do you love, when you forget what it means?/Do you love, when you have nothing?". There is an understated poignancy to this track that makes it stand incredibly tall in FFAK's song roster as a whole. Even if you're not a big fan of metalcore, I feel like you need to take some time to listen to a this song.

9. "Identity" (Creation/Destruction)

Out of all the songs I'll be talking about on this list, I'd say this one is the most underrated. Whenever I see people talking about FFAK, hardly anyone ever talks about this track. I just have to ask why. There's something about this song that's incredibly unique in comparison to everything else in the band's discography. There's actually a little bit of piano that plays throughout this song, and the electronic effects are quite intriguing. Ryan Kirby lets loose some of his most impassioned screams on this song. The chorus is one of the band's best, because it is just so freaking catchy. Any time I hear this song, I can't get the chorus out of my head. It hooks you in and doesn't let go. Lyrically, the visual imagery in this song is intriguing and has a certain beautiful poetry that isn't typically present in the band's more intense tracks. This track has both Ryan and clean vocalist Aaron Kuvera asking whether their identity lies in their soul or the demons that surround them. Both feel like such a part of them that it's hard to distinguish between the two. The symbolism throughout this track makes it one of the most connecting songs on "Creation/Destruction", as I feel like there's some part of this song that almost every listener could relate to.

8. "Ancient Waters" (Descendants)

This the only song that is going to appear from FFAK's debut album. While I wouldn't call "Descendants" a weak album by any means, it still has content that just can't compare to the far more stellar material the band has put out ever since. However, a track like "Ancient Waters" was an early indicator of where this band was going to go in the future. Everything about this song embodies what the band is known for: intense guitar riffs, talented drum work, powerful screams from Ryan Kirby, a catchy chorus which effectively embodies the thematic arc of the whole song, and some headbanging breakdowns. If you want to know what FFAK sounds like, then this is a good song to start with. I wouldn't call it a particularly legendary track by the band, but I still have a great affection for it. It isn't even the song that got me into the band (that would be "Warpath"), but it is a track that I appreciate for showing evidence that the group has been full of talented individuals from the very beginning.

7. "Pissed Off" (Deathgrip)

"Every day is another war/We live and die in a hopeless world/Laying waste to the innocent/With no regret I'm sick of it". These are the lyrics that lay out the brutal, apocalyptic feeling that permeates the whole of "Deathgrip", which is easily the band's darkest album they've ever released. I'm not sure if the band could go much darker than this album, which tackles issues like genocide, abortion, war, and the loss of loved ones. There's a sense of hopelessness that is through a lot of the album. But not necessarily in "Pissed Off". This track is angry, and justly so, as the band goes after everyone for being culpable in letting our world go to ruin, and in effect, letting ourselves go to ruin. The band speaks a powerful truth in one moment of this song where they say "We're slaves to nothing but the blood on our hands". This one line aptly and hauntingly describes how we willfully enslave ourselves to sin. We choose to be slaves to the sin. But, Ryan Kirby doesn't say this is the endgame. In fact he says that we have to "end this terror". Musically, this track is one of the most intense songs that the band has ever done. The guitars explode throughout the whole song, and the drums are some of the most complex that Jared Easterling has ever done. And man, this song's ending is something else entirely. Ryan lets out this incredibly long, intense scream that has my jaw dropped every time I hear it. Brutal, angry, and furious: these are all the things I love the most about FFAK, and they're all part of this track.

6. "Skin and Bones" (Creation/Destruction)

Here is the other ballad from FFAK. While I love "Selfish Eyes" a lot, "Skin and Bones" is in a league of its own. As you probably know, this band is Christian and lets their faith shine through a lot of their tracks in incredible ways. But, the way they present their faith in this song is a little different. There's something quietly touching and powerful about it. The band asks the biggest and most complex questions of the Christian faith: "Is there a life beyond the grave?/Will I make the same mistakes day after day?/There must be a better way". The band does something even more bold in acknowledging that the answers to these questions will most likely be things that they ever know. Yet, they express a confidence that they will still see God face to face, but maybe not in the way that they will expect. "Creation/Destruction" is the only album with Aaron Kuvera on clean vocals. While I wouldn't say he's as good as Tuck, he still more than holds his own on this track. His performance is subtle and filled with emotion in every moment. This song also has a sort of indie rock vibe to it, something you won't see in any other song by this band. This track proves that the band has always been willing to innovate within the metalcore genre, even in their earliest days. This is one the band's most popular tracks, and there is a good reason for that.

5. "Break Away" (Slave to Nothing)

If "Pissed Off" is FFAK's angry call out to everyone to let go of their sins, "Break Away" is the far more optimistic and personal call to action. Instead of Ryan discussing about everyone collectively being responsible for the sings they commit, he is very honest about the sins that he has been enslaved to for his whole life. This song is, quite simply, a desperate cry out to God for him to deliver us from sin. I love the line "If we know that Hell wants my body/But Heaven wants my mind/How can I come to grip/With all the choices in my life". There's a chilling admittance in this line that so often we as Christians actively work against the changes that God's trying to implement in our minds through the actions we commit with our bodies. FFAK is committed to promoting accurate theology, and this song proves it. There is a desperation in this track, but there's also so much hope that permeates through, as Tuck encourages the listener that it's possible to let go of the sins that have held us captive for so long. Just to hone that point home, Ryan screams out "Serpent/Burn in hell". Ultimately, as long as we are putting up a fight, the enemy will remain in hell where they belong. This track has always stood out to me from the first time I heard it, so of course it was going to make my top 10!

4. "Deathgrip" (Deathgrip)

Since "Deathgrip" as a whole conceptually paints our world as an apocalyptic wasteland, it only makes sense that the title track would be depicting the apocalypse itself. The apocalypse here, however, is not on a world scale. It's a personal apocalypse, telling the story of a person who is burning on the inside from the knowledge of all the horrible things they've done. Something I've always appreciated about this song is how it sonically reflects the album artwork. The art work for this album is stark black and white. But those harsh colors are somewhat contradicted by a beautiful rose. This song puts the dichotomy of the rose's beauty against the brutality of the black and white reality. Tuck and Ryan interchange vocals, with Tuck's soothing cleans being directly contradicted by Ryan's intense screams. It makes the song work so well, as the character of the track has anger for the choices he has made, and he also has a sense of overwhelming sadness. The sadness is obviously represented by Tuck, while the anger is represented by Ryan. This is one of the band's most creative tracks, as it keeps interchanging between musical, vocal, and even lyrical intensity. This song is a masterpiece, pure and simple.

 3. "When Everything Means Nothing" (Dark Skies)

This song just came out, so the fact that it is already within my top 3 favorite FFAK songs speaks volumes to how good it is. The track is undeniably deserving of this spot, as it once again sees FFAK taking risks. This is the first song of theirs I've heard that combines strings, electronics, and guitars together in a wholly compelling way. This song also stylistically shifts between rock and metalcore. The chorus has an almost epic rock feel to it, and Ryan comes in at unexpectedly effective points to scream his heart out. I feel as though one of the biggest themes the band has always been interested in exploring is trying to find a sense of identity and belonging in a broken world. They have often done this idea on a more epic scale. Here, however, it is deeply personal, and I would say it's one of the band's most introspective and honest songs. This track's chorus is simply gorgeous and you can feel the emotion and passion coming from Tuck as he sings out "Yeah I was born in the rain". "Dark Skies" boasts some of FFAK's most interesting songs to date, but this song right here is sort of in a league of its own.

2. "The Lioness" (Creation/Destruction)

I had a really tough time choosing what would make the top of my list for this countdown. For a while I've considered this song my favorite FFAK song of all time. It's only after I've gone back to another of the band's songs a couple more times that I changed my mind. Still, just to let you know, my number two and number one are neck and neck with one another. Many of this band's completely unclean vocal tracks are considered dark and gritty. But this one takes the cake. In fact, I'd debate that it is the darkest song the band has ever penned. It needed to be dark, as Ryan Kirby depicts a personal testimony of how deep he fell into sin and how close he was to facing the darkest parts of Hell. This song could be considered a cautionary tale, one about how easy it can be to fall into darkness if we let our guard down. The lyrics describe this truth in a way that still sends cold chills up my spine: "I've seen the darkest things a man can see/These demons that once taunted/Have now become a part of me/And now my hope is gone/Pull at my limbs and drag me through the gates/Welcome to the abyss/A place that you created/A place you won't be missed". I had to put that whole line down for a reason. For one, it's one of the best lyrical moments the band has ever done. For two, Ryan Kirby gives a brutal, haunting vocal performance here that is unmatched. This is his best vocal performance to date, bar none. The fact that he was able to do a song like this on only the band's sophomore effort is impressive to say the least. If you like your metalcore music to be amped up to an absolutely intense volume, then this song is definitely for you. I can't emphasize enough how much I love it for how bold it is in comparison to so many other Christian acts.

1. "Young and Undeserving" (Slave to Nothing)

It's interesting for me to say that my number one pick has sort of been a slow burn grower on me. I've always considered "Slave to Nothing" as a whole album to be FFAK's undoubted magnum opus. But, at least in my earlier years of listening to this album, I would've put several tracks above "Young and Undeserving", including some of my now honorable mentions. Here we are, though, with this song at my top spot. And now, I absolutely adore it and think that this song is practically unmatched by any other of the band's songs (besides my number 2 pick of course). This song describes in heartbreaking detail a friend that Ryan lost far too young. The implication seems to be that this person was a generally happy and good person, and yet he died suddenly. The song never tells his cause of death, which I think works for the song. The focus more seems to be on Ryan questioning God's decision to take a good person at such a great time in their life: "Why won't you answer me?/Have you turned your face away?/Answer me/Is it heaven or hell where will he stay?/I'm done wondering where he went and how a good man lives to die". The lyrics of this song make me emotional every time I hear it, as Ryan's screams feel more raw and desperate than they usually do. The chorus only further cements the emotion, with Tuck making something that can only be described as one of the most gorgeous metalcore choruses I've ever heard. Questioning God is something that any Christian, and to an extent non-Christians, can relate to. There's an honesty in this track that, at its core, is simply human. Nothing more, nothing less. It's a man's desperate sadness about why someone so good left the world so soon. What a great track. It's more than deserving of my number one spot. Please, if you have the time, go listen to all these songs, and then go listen to the rest of Fit For A King's discography. You won't regret it!