Kill the Kong (2016)
Track Listing
1. The Creature
2. Black Bones
3. Torn Apart
4. Caged
5. The Destination
6. Ignite
7. No Lights
8. Wrath
9. This is the End
3 words: Menacing, Pressure, Domination
Overall
Kill the Kong, the monster that conveniently lives on the island you're stranded on. Saturated with over driven guitar riffs, Kill the Kong establish a massive atmosphere coupled with intense percussion passages and seasoned with cynical lyrics. This 7 piece from Sweden brings us a new dish to add to the Metalcore/Hardcore potluck. Approach this album with your darkest thoughts in front, and your volume knob maxed. Be prepared to fight off this percussion driven monster if you can survive the first track.
Best Tracks:
Caged
No Lights
Ignite
Black Bones
If you like: Parkway Drive, As I Lay Dying, Slipknot
Associated Genres: #Metalcore #PostHardcore
Musically
Kill the Kong as a band have a unique sound, but must hone in on key elements and focus to achieve their true potential.
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Vocals: The vocals on
Kill the Kong are as straight forward as they come. The screams are full and have clear diction, while still maintaining the necessary amount of grit to feel the wrath behind the screaming passages. There are an array of different types and tones of screams in this album, including subtle traces of Eurometal inspired screams.
Kill the Kong does offer the occasional clean vocal 3.
Torn Apart (1:01) which can come across as very typical and a bit forgettable. The clean vocals provide the listener with a typical note choice, and average execution. Lyrically
Kill the Kong is particularly straight forward, 1.
The Creature (1:28)
"Blood has never tasted this sweet
Total control of my heart and my soul
Crash, burn, you'll get what you earn".
The lyrics have dark and cynical undertones which focus on themes such spitefulness and vengeance
Guitars: The guitars on Kill the Kong are an underdeveloped element. They provide support for the other elements in the band to stand on. The guitars in Kill the Kong approach this album with a traditional PostHardcore style, with the two lowest strings being their most common outlet. The riffs are dirty and chunky full of "rootstring//hammer-on//pull off" riffs [7. No Lights (00:50)]. Clean sections from the guitar section also contain kick-synced straight stumming patterns with the occasional power chord or octave strum passage. The leads on this album are undeniably weak in presence. Sometimes the listener can even forget they're listening to 2 guitarists. When the leads finally reveal themselves they appear with boring metalcore/emo'esk octaves or an unoriginal clean arpeggio to lightly dust the top of the track [2. Black Bones (1:08)]. The tones from the guitar section is just as traditional as the playing. Strongly overdriven with tons of presence seems to be the "go-to" tone for guitars of this nature.
Bass: The bass on this album is low and tight. With so much low end in the band the bass on this album generally follows the guitar, staying out of the way and keeping the song afloat. This bass is solid and dependable.
Percussion: An element that is uncommon but not unheard of in bands. The percussion section in Kill the Kong can be heard occupying any space at any time. The percussion section rotates from being the primary focus of the song to being a backdrop for the other instruments. Though, when the percussion does step into the limelight it immediately changes the atmosphere of any song.
Drums: Strong and stable is how drums operate on Kill the Kong. Being only half of the literal percussive section the drums provide the solid layer needed to hold this band together. The drums have an excellent understanding of musical space and play just as straight as they need to be. There are no wild insane fills, just the minimum of what the song requires. In some of the clean sections it would be nice to see more, but the same could be said about the other elements occupying the same section.
Secret Weapon: Percussion
The percussion section is what makes Kill the Kong anything other than your average metalcore band. There percussion provides a massive sound and the force that pushes the Kill the Kong sound through the generic barrier.
Final Analysis
8.2/10
Kill the Kong is an album that is a force to be reckoned with. There are points in the album that will have you looking over your shoulder for the creature lurking near. However, there are also sections that taste a bit stale. The guitars sometimes fall short and come across as very safe as well as certain lyrical sections that tend to fall flat on deaf ears. The use of percussion in this album is an artistic choice that has paid off. Sending this album and band to the next level, the use of percussion is a mandatory ingredient in the monster that is Kill the Kong. If Kill the Kong can learn to harness and emphasize the unique elements in their sound, Kill the Kong will undoubtedly impact the Metalcore/Hardcore scene in a big way.
Lavaux
Friday, November 18, 2016