Kill II This – Variant

Following a 21-year hiatus (and some line-up changes) since their last album, UK-industrial metal pioneers Kill II This return with a new album entitled Variant. Earlier in their career they released; Another Cross II Bare (1997), Deviate (1998), Trinity (2000) and Mass Down Sin Drone (2003).

Nowadays the band consists of following members; Mark Mynett (guitar), Pete Smith (bass), Jeff Singer (drums) and Simon Gordon (vocals). These four guys have recorded Variant, an album that contains 10 tracks, which has been released just recently via Revolver Records. It echoes previous Kill II This album titles, especially Deviate, and the roman numeral V signifies that this is this UK quartet’ fifth album. The overall sound on Variant is varied, but unfortunately it also vary in quality of the songs. Thus, only half of the songs are really good, while the rest are just being above average.

The album kicks-off with short intro “Messiamic War”, which has some of their traditional trademark sounds, reminiscent of their previous work. “Less Human” is the next song, with some hints of one of my all-time favourites; Machine Head. “ComaKarma” is another powerful track which starts off quietly and then powerful drums come in, accompanied by some heavy guitar riffs, strong vocals and straightforward bass lines. “Fugues of Amnesia” starts quite moderately before increasing the level of power, as the vocals hit the spot precisely. On the less positive note I’ll mention a very predictable and tiresome, “SleeperCell” – mostly due to the lack of variety within the track, and the slow builder closing track called, “Prosthetic Gravity”. Songs like “SleeperCell” and “ComaKarma” have already become ingrained in our brains since they’ve been released a few years ago, while some of the other tracks have some catching up to do.

The most representative song on this album is “Heart Shaped Grenade”. This particular song somehow stands out from the rest in terms of its appearance, and by delivering a cool mix of everything the band does: electro/industrial samples, operatic/symphonic vocals, catchy chorus and undeniable songwriting qualities. My personal highlights are a catchy and expressive number “ComaKarma” and the just mentioned “Heart Shaped Grenade”.

Variant was recorded, mixed and mastered by Mark Mynett, who, amongst others, has worked with My Dying Bride (including production of their latest album A Mortal Binding), Rotting Christ and Dawn Ray’d. The artwork was created by Andy Pilkington at ‘Very Metal Art’ with some really clever touches and incredible details. I would say that the powerful artwork matches the sound on the album perfectly.

For more info on this particular release go to https://revolverrecords.com/catalogue/kill-ii-this