Confessions of a [Import]

My Life With The Kill Kult is hard to truly describe as a sound because they've done a little bit of everything while "coming into their own." From capturing the sounds of "greasers" and "go-go dancing" to hitting themes of sexploitation and BDSM, they seemed to become a staple that fit themselves in everywhere. They'd simply take their vocal distortion, set up their industrial setup and its gritty sound that they were expert with, and they'd nail whatever they tried for. Along with The Bomb Gang Girls, they constructed moments to fit so many a taboo occasion. But, on Confessions of a Knife, they really outdid themselves.

The themes on the album were monumental when this came out and, listening to it again while I'm reviewing it, I still find it a piece of pure genius. It begins with "A Daisy Chain For Satan," a little song about drugs and the wonder that they (and especially acid) are, hyping them quite a bit. I get the loop "I live for drugs. They're Great." stuck in my head all the time, and its because this of this single. That, and "I'm the white rabbit" is something I catch my friends and I saying when we hear this for days to come. Moving on to the semi anti-religious song "The Day of Swine and Roses," you equally have something embraceable in its ability to be offensive and catchy. Kicking a little chanting, some clips, keyboards, and drum machines around, it starts throwing around some "Christian zombie vampires" as a chorus and has a little fun while our lead proclaims himself the "father of nothing" over and over again. O yeah, it's great. "Waiting for Mommie" is also a pretty entertaining song, working almost like a flashback in a bottle to the early 80s. It sounds a lot like early synthesizer work that was done then, mimicking those early rap beats touted at in the beginning - only this songs dirty. You can imagine what that means. "Kooler than Jesus" is also another track I absolutely adore, the theme easily translated from the name and the beat easily a contagion. I oftentimes catch myself singing along with it, humming the loop "I am the messiah, the AC/DC God" quite often. That's really good stuff. And, on top of those beautiful works, there's "Hand in Hand," "Ride the Midway," "Burning Dirt," and the ever-lovely "Do you Fear." And that leaves out the theme of the album coming in three parts; the building "Confessions of a Knife" - and that's a ballad worth singing.

While the beats might be considered aged in a few places, this album is a classic in so many respects and has gone the way of many fine vintages. Not only is it worth listening to because of the timeframe and the musical movements at the time, but its also great because My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult is worth obtaining in almost all of its forms. Even when they're goofing off with songs their beats are addictive, the songs electric, and their message promoted without worrying about stepping on toes. It comes highly touted.