Kings Of The Inland Empire

Kings of the Island Empire is yet another Sammy release that reveals far too much of an uninspired Pavement fascination -- the 4 tracks on this EP might not be quite as derivative as Debut Album, but that's only because the band winds up falling back on conventional and rather banal indierock moves much of the time. It sounds fine, of course -- and as of 1994, Pavement imitation wasn't quite as horrible of a thing as it was later on in Sammy's career -- but fans of this sort of sloppy rock would be far better off with the genuine article, or at least a more inventive follower. ~ Nitsuh Abebe, All Music Guide