Kill Life w/ Mike IX

D.E.A. [Flexi-disc] (2011)

John Gentile

Continuing their campaign of obscurity, Kill Life, the anonymous supergroup rumored to contain members of Fucked Up, Crass, Integrity, Magrudergrind and Pulling Teeth, have just released a single-sided, one-song Flexidisc with Mike IX of Eyehategod on vocals.

When we last left off with Kill Life, they released a single side as part of a split that was as much brief tunes as it was a found recording exhibition. Here, Kill Life doesn't offer any new information, but they continue melding Holy Terror-style hardcore with weird recordings.

"Dead End America" opens with a field recording of two distressed gentlemen singing "Amazing Grace" before it fades into the song proper. Continuing their appreciation for both the NYHC and Clevecore scene, Kill Life cut a track of thick, rumbling modern hardcore that stomps and thrashes at a forceful, but somewhat lumbering, cadence.

Between having his house destroyed by the New Orleans flood, robbed and put in jail for drug possession, Mike IX has been having a rough few years. He shows it here, screaming and howling with a fiercer tone than on any Eyehategod recordings, leaning closer towards Kill Life associate Dwid Hellion of Integrity than his sludge metal roots.

Without any press, releasing on weird formats, and hosting a site completely devoid of information, Kill Life verges on gimmicky, but retains just enough sold song writing and weird elements to pull back from the edge and remain an interesting quagmire. Whatever they have up their sleeve next is bound to be confusing… in the best possible way.

RESEARCH DEPARTMENT: A "Whois" search on killlife.com reveals that it is registered by Ben Rayner, associate of Fucked Up. Let the info hunt begin.