Kill Hannah
For Never and Ever
Atlantic
It would be wrong to describe Kill Hannah’s music as original – there’s more than a whiff of Garbage, Placebo and Smashing Pumpkins in the mix. Yet, they are such an exciting new band that Billy Corgan has labeled them “the future of Chicago rock.”
It’s not just hollow hype, either. Singer Matt Devine has a curiously androgynous look and voice, and the band match their mysterious, edgy appearance with a hugely impressive major label debut of spiky, aggressive, yet infectiously melodic contemporary rock.
Produced by Sean Beavan (Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson), tunes like “They Can’t Save Us Now” and “Ten More Minutes With You” have a distinctly industrial edge, but this is superseded by a succession of killer melodies and hooks which draw you in and simply refuse to let go.
“New Heart For Christmas” transmits the age old theme of heartbreak in a refreshingly modern and anthemic way, while “Boys and Girls” is a song that could prove to be a massive hit – so effortlessly does it segue a Duran Duran-style chorus with some wild and wonderful guitar licks to form the perfect contemporary rock song. It’s not all razor-edged guitars, though. “Race the Dream” shifts between a sassy, electro-pop verse and an intense, hard-hitting chorus with ease, and the bleak atmosphere of the closing track, “No-one Dreams Anyway,” is a song for a dysfunctional generation.
Devine dedicates “Unwanted” to “the boys who don’t belong.” But after one listen to For Never and Ever, it’s abundantly clear that Kill Hannah fit right in to today’s modern rock landscape.
Kill Hannah: http://www.killhannah.com/
