Horrorpops – Kiss Kiss Kill Kill – 2.5/5
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Asking around to see if anyone knew of them, or whether it was worth my time yielded little information, so based on the addictive combination of post-punk, rockabilly and new wave found upon their myspace, I thought why not? Now, whilst I wouldn’t necessarily call that a mistake on my part, but it certainly seems as though beyond those initial tracks that sunk their claws in, theres little on this album that sounds original, or even interesting.
With an album with a strong Film-noir theme, easily identified with the opening track ‘Thelma and Louise,’ they succeed in combining simplistic drum beats with solid double bass work, that whilst nothing special in itself serves to create an interesting backing for the guitar to twang onto the scene with some effective, if again rather basic.
Instead, much of the focus lies on the vocals, which it must be said are often fitting. Boisterous and with a tone that reminisces of the time period they try to emulate and modernise, she can make an instantly forgettable song memorable, but unfortunately just as often seems to under-perform. The times where she stops giving it her all, she sounds unenthused and unenergetic, and whilst this would work for a grunge band, here it just falls flat. The other major problem is the lyrics, for where a band that allows every word to be clearly heard utilises abysmal lyrics, an issue is presented. Now I wasn’t expecting anything inspirational, but with lines like “So I don’t give in to the common trends/is that something I have to defend/who made you my judge and juror,” I’d argue that trying to write lyrics like you’re a slightly older ‘Miley Cyrus’ was something that needed to be defended.
But despite this, it’s not all bad. As previously mentioned, there are times where it all comes together and if you can ignore the lyrics long enough to appreciate the tone, there are three tracks in particular which manage to stand out as well written, boisterous and fun. Why they had to resort to plagiarising Madness – “Our House” during their “Missfit,” is beyond me, for they clearly aren’t as bad as much of the tripe that seems to appear all too often, and given the time could have been capable of far greater. Rather disappointing overall.
Highlights: Thelma and Louise, Boot to Boot, Disco
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