21 years is a long time between drinks, and UK-industrial metal pioneers Kill II This return in 2024 with a full length entitled ‘Variant’. When you consider that the band originally lasted 8 years and put out 4 albums between 1995 and 2003 with varying line-ups you might expect that with almost three times the length of their career to write that this will be a classic…
It’s a tale of variants…
The band which now consists of: Mark Mynett (guitar), Pete Smith (bass), Jeff Singer (drums) and Simon Gordon (vocals) have their new long-player out on Revolver Records now, and in truth both the sound production and quality of songs is also variable…
Opener ‘Messiamic War’ sets you at ease with the sound of the band of old whilst the heavier ‘Less Human’ has more than a bit of late period Machine Head about it. It’s a nice opening salvo and whilst ‘Deus’ isn’t quite as inspiring the album peaks for me with the perfect storm of ‘Cosmakarma’ where everything clicks into place. ‘Heart Shaped Grenade’ that follows might just be the reason these guys were held in such esteem in the Industrial Metal world. For me it’s the best here and whist the rest might not grab my attention as much, had this been an EP it would have swept the field.
Nice return. Let’s hope for a swift follow up…
