EP REVIEW: Kill List – Going Off
With the way the music scene moves on quickly these days it is important to strike whilst the iron is hot. When GOING OFF burst onto the scene three years ago they immediately caught people’s attention. Since then, they have taken up residence on one of the most beloved and dependable UK record labels Church Road Records and have gone from strength to strength culminating in their superb album What Makes You Tick? which dropped at the beginning of the year. However, the boys were not about to rest on their laurels and quickly set about readying their new material to unleash upon their baying fans.
Over the past few months, the band have been drip feeding pairs of singles that they now add two more to and thus complete the Kill List EP – a record which is surely a sign of things to come for the Mancunians. Immediately this release feels more aggressive. It opens with Crossroads and the filthy bass tone pairs with the visceral, almost unhinged sounding vocals from Jake Huxley to ensure that the listener never gets a moment to relax. The instrumental swells constantly, gradually building towards a headbanging beatdown riff complete with pinch harmonics and the kind of hard-hitting snare abuse that makes you wince. Pay The Price is another song that brilliant shifts tempos and portrays just how much musical ground can be covered in a short amount of time if the songwriting chops are there.
Teeth is one of the longest songs on the release, clocking in at just under two minutes and showing just how relentlessly heavy GOING OFF can be when they put their minds to it. The buzzsaw guitar tone pairs perfectly with the dirty, distorted bass tone and booming drums to create a brutal soundscape in which Huxley’s vocals can dwell like the snarling beast they resemble. Everything about this EP feels raw and unbridled which is something that is so often missing from modern music and the fact that these punks are embracing it is something to be admired. Aggressive hardcore of this ilk should never feel safe and should never resemble easy listening.
Smile is one of the real highlights of the record. The two-stepping opening section is one that was made for a live setting, yet before you get a chance to settle into the groove, the brakes are applied violently and you are thrown headfirst into a sludgy, glacially paced breakdown that could very well rank amongst the heaviest you are likely to hear this year. It’s hard to remain objective when writing about this EP. The boys came into this year swinging for the fences and turning the UK hardcore scene on its head seemingly without warning, yet when you have tracks as powerful and exciting as Bed Of Concrete you can’t help but reach for the thesaurus to search for more superlatives. The opening riff is a down-picking HATEBREED-esque rager that quickly shifts to a bouncy section that oozes energy.
The fact that closer Servant To The Skin is the longest track on the release at two minutes and 11 seconds is almost beggar’s belief. The boys manage to squeeze so many different ideas into such a short amount of time that any preconceived notions that this EP would just be a collection of tracks from the cutting room floor of the debut release are quickly blown out of the water and rightly so. This record is the sound of a young, hungry band who are hitting their creative peak and have deemed us worthy to bare witness to not one, but two slabs of exhilarating hardcore in one year. GOING OFF are leaving 2023 in the exact same manner in which they entered: swinging for the fences and hitting it out of the park with every attempt.
Rating: 9/10
Kill List is set for release on December 1st via Church Road Records.
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