REVIEW: The Kills - Blood Pressures

The Kills
Blood Pressures
(Domino)
(out of 5)

They have built a career on being edgier and grittier than their peers, but there’s been concern that Jamie Hince and Alison Mosshart offer not much more than a bit of hustle and bustle. On ‘Midnight Boom’, The Kills integrate a certain rhythmic and stylistic adventurousness with their minimalist post punk swagger by recruiting Spank Rock’s XXX-Change for a handful of tracks that channel a sexy dancefloor accessibility.

I was hoping Blood Pressures would be the record that transcended their ‘style over content’ modus operandi, in the way that The Black Keys hit the ground running on Brothers. Here, The Kills search for a safe middle ground that eliminates, to a certain degree, the fuck me now grime for a controlled rock and roll bristle.

It’s tepid stuff with Mosshart, who lacks any urgency, for the most part. The refrain on ‘Heart Is A Beating Drum’ is particularly dull against Hince’s reserved toil, while ‘Nail In My Coffin’ evokes (or samples) the drumbeat to Billy Squier’s ‘The Beat’ over dingy guitar delays and feedback that doesn’t really work in this case.

When they break the rules in untraditional means - as with the dim backwood blues of ‘Pots And Pans’, which closes the record - you wonder what could’ve been. Nonetheless, your balls are pretty safe on this one.

By Adam Burns