Kills Birds - Married

A Dave Grohl approval is a very good sign for any band, and in the case of Kills Birds, it came prior to recording second album ‘Married’, as the Foo Fighter invited them to do so in his own Studio 606. No pressure. The LA band, of course, have delivered on the promise. Blending punk rock energy with precision and unrelenting sonic intensity, on ‘Married’ the group unleash the spirit of punk with sharpshooting smarts. On one hand, there’s the frenetic, 26-second blast that is ‘Woman’, and the other sees them channelling their focus in no less furious ways, whether on the dizzy and fast-paced ‘Wallowing’, or the doom-laden and deliberate ‘Glisten’, the latter a veritable tour of every kind of punch Kills Birds are capable of packing. Nina Ljeti’s vocals are brutal, raging and rasping through the rampage of sound that constitutes the first ten tracks, before the title track and album closer pivots for one last atmospheric flex and she becomes gentle and feather-light. Not for long though, as ‘Married’ closes with the record’s most painstaking breakdown.