Kill Life

Snake Kills Whole Family [7-inch] (2012)

John Gentile

Kill Life is a mysterious band. Although no one knows who exactly is in the band, the band is rumored to include members of Pulling Teeth and Fucked Up. A member of Magrudergrind was also rumored to be involved, but that rumor has mysterious disappeared from press sheets and backwater message boards. The reason for the band's purposeful anonymity is unknown, but it could be that they want their strange and curious work to stand on its own, away from the preconceptions of their other projects. Snake Kills Whole family, their third release* and second with vocalist Dwid Hellion, finds the band getting harder, weirder and, like their masked persona, more ambiguous in direction.

"Snake Kills Whole family" has a title that sounds ripped from a newspaper, and opens with a crying baby before exploding into a harsh feedback while Hellion details a family getting killed by a snake in his gruff scream. Although the music is based in hardcore, and resembles the low, rumbling end of Hellion's own band Integrity, the music flies off the rails. A driving and thunderous riff slashes through the song while nasty, atonal sounds clank and screech, giving the already nasty song an even nastier support structure.

The second track, "Sharks Invade Land," is even stranger. The title and few lyrics seem comic book-ish and almost funny, sounding something more like Exodus or Anthrax would release in the mid-'80s than a dark hardcore band of 2012. However, while "Snake Kills Whole family" was force, "Sharks Invade Land" is even wilder, less a song than a steady blast of hardcore-ish noise. Drums wildly rampage forward while the instruments sound like air-raid siren as Hellion screams.

The third track, "Drink Blood From a human Skull" again increases the chaos. At less than 30 seconds, it's less than a song than a grindcore sonic attack. Most interesting is that this release is the second time that Kill Life and Hellion have detailed animals wreaking havoc on people. The first release, a split with .33, featured Hellion describing an ape ripping a woman's face off. Here, he details a snake destroying an entire family. Is he commenting on the eternal battle of man versus nature? Is he commenting on man's inability to predict chaos? Does he just think that people's grievous injuries resulting from animals is hilarious? In contrast to the band's elusive background, it would seem there is only hidden meaning, but only pieces of which to assemble as you would. After all, that makes the release that much more elusive, because it's unique to each pair of ears.

*If you dig around enough, you can also find an unreleased track with Penny Rimbaud of Crass. Oh la la!