Kill Your Idols

From Companionship To Competition (2005)

Hein Terweduwe

Kill Your Idols caught me at a good moment. A couple years ago I reviewed their previous album Funeral For A Feeling as a pretty generic NY hardcore release with gruffy vocals. And although this one sounds not all that different, I must say I was really sucked into this album.

There's still that same relentless drive in their guitars and maybe too simplistic riffy three-chord bombs that are dropped continuously. But amidst all the annoying releases that have been piling up here, this one came down as a nuclear blast. They actually manage to lay down an album that sounds very aggressive and bombastic without ever really degrading to a chaotic shout-and-howl rumble. In fact, I sometimes sensed a little lean towards more punk rock-oriented 80's hardcore (think 7 Seconds, with whom they recently released a 7") in their guitarplay, but of course the vocals still refer to their more heavy hardcore roots.

On the other hand, I never liked bands that sing about the "good old days" when this scene was so much better than it is these days. Let's be honest, we've had bands that didn't care about politics and social discrimination in the past as well.

Maybe the fact that this album was treated with the same recording facilities as the more contemporary bands resulted in an accessible sound, regardless of the heavy sound produced. If you're looking for a no-nonsense hardcore treat with poundering percussion, very fast vocals and not too complex song structure this one is a nice thing to get. Maybe there's a bit of a stereotype feel when listening to this in its entirety in one listening session, but I liked this unrelentless raging sound very much.