With a name like The Kills, it’s not surprising to hear that the band’s long-awaited sixth album, God Games, is suitably tuned for spooky season. This year marks two decades since the duo – made up of songwriter and vocalist Alison Mosshart and her creative soulmate Jamie Hince – slinked onto the early Noughties scene with their gutsy garage rock debut, Keep Me On Your Mean Side earning them a place on the podium alongside fellow dual-pronged powerhouses Death From Above 1979 and The White Stripes.
While their sludge-coloured, super lo-fi sulkiness became synonymous with that era of indie sleaze, in the years that followed the band toyed with the new technologies making their way into studio setups across the globe. So, by the time they released 2016’s Ashes and Ice, even Hince himself remarked how the recording experience had shifted drastically for the pair. Enter old pal and Grammy Award-winning producer Paul Epworth who did a shift as their first soundman back in 2002 and knew exactly how far the band had come and the route to trace them back to that darker strain of rolling rock.
Former single “LA Hex” dishes out a Kavinsky-esque nightcall as the pair conjures up the cacophony of a bustling LA street corner at 2am. This idea of relentless motion continues in “103” as Mosshart likens her routine drives from LA to Nashville during the pandemic to an apocalyptic vibe. While “My Girls My Girls” continues to praise those “Sing until I die vibes / Reminisce while I cry vibes.”
It’s a pleasing mechanic so it’s a shame to place it right next to “Wasterpiece” where the same melody plays out only with “shit” rather than “vibe” coming across as a touch lax. Thankfully, early doors track “Going To Heaven” redeems the equilibrium with Hince’s heavily laden poly octave elements in full force. A rejoiceful return.
- God Games is out on October 27 via Domino Records
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