Stab Me Kill Me

No Ledge [7-inch] (2014)

John Gentile

No Ledge, the debut EP by Seattle's Stab Me Kill Me is four tracks of overdriven, blown out punk rock. That is to say, they rock. Each of the band's four songs is driven by a snapping, drum beat while guitars and bass vibrate on the rails as the whole thing catapults forward.

The entire thing has every instrument pushed to 10 all the time, in grand Motorhead fashion, giving the release a raucous, rough feel. At times, as the band stacks their vocals behind blown—out speakers and screams, they channel the misanthropic fury of the Spits. But, on "Good as Gone," they pull back on the addled—hatred and go for the heartstrings angle, repurposing their energy closer to the realm of the Briefs than the hated dungeons of the Spits.

With each of the songs clocking in at under two minutes (and the whole thing running at just under six minutes,) the band gets in, smashes the place up, and gets out. That could be a detriment, but because these songs are so compact (and because each tune as has its own identity) it makes a quick ride, but a thrilling one.

Garage punk has been done and done again, but Stab me Kill me (who really, aren't even strictly "Garage punk") find the sweet spot between rage and rock, between anger and lovey—dovery, between noise and riffs, and debut with a perfectly formed slab of energy. Expect good things from these guys.

Note: This band features Punknews regular commentor TahoeJeff