By Monk
The Über Kingdom may have invented heavy metal, but it cannot be argued that our nasty little cousins across the pond took the genre, twisted it upon its head and put their collective feet very much to the floor when it came to thrashing it up – and it’s taken us a wee while to catch up… but, bais and gurls, have we well and truly done so? Of course we have, as this second EP from north eastern marauders Kilonova defiantly proves.
After the nigh on obligatory slow build up, lead single ‘Fragments’ hits you square in the face with the force of Tyson Fury planting his fist firmly in Dom Turetto’s eye socket. Jonny Sloan manages to sound like he is two guitarists playing at once, while Ellen Hill’s vocals, while slightly (and disappointingly) subsumed in the overall mix, just grab you by the balls and give you a damn good shaking.
The positively angry ‘Burned At The Stake’ sees Hill fully exploring and extrapolating the growlier aspect of her vocal range, ripping and tearing her way out of the speakers as she asserts her authority over proceedings
Third track ‘Leeches And Parasites’ opens with a proper HUGE chugger of a riff, very much in the mien of Arch Enemy, guaranteed to open any pit, and keep it going as it maintains its unrelenting and unforgiving momentum throughout. A massive ‘banger, as the kids these days say. And that bass breakdown smack in the middle of ‘Bleed For Example’… well, it just rips your head off, especially with it coming out of the left field of the main riff.
The ÜK may have spent some time catching up the front runners in the thrash Olympics, but we have definitely caught up with them on the back straight and are now leaving them trailing in our dust, as Kilonava prove with this declarative and defiant release.
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