Kill For Eden – ‘Kill For Eden’

This debut album from London-based multi-nationals KFE – vocalist Lyla D’Souza is Australian, guitarist Andrea Basiola hails from Italy and drummer Max Loubser has the misfortune to be a  Mancunian (isn’t that somewhere left of the third planet on the right as you pass Andromeda?) – is one almightily powerful slice of kick-ass hard rock.

Built on massive melodies and huge hooks coupled with charismatic choruses, this is a collection of 13 songs (yeah, we know there’s 14 on the track listing at the end of the review, smart arse, but you’ll see there’s two versions of the same song, so that don’t count) which are powerfully performed and presented.

Taking its cue from both the annals of classic British rock, from the commercial appeal of Deep Purple and the bluesy grind of Ten Years After, and latter day alt-rock proponents such as Garbage, it’s an impressively solid album – cemented by D’Souza’s awesome vocal, which lies somewhere between the soulfulness of Janis Joplin, the heavy metal power of Doro Pesch and the fragile understatedness of Ann Wilson, and blends almost immaculately into the crunching riffs and catchy-as-fuck melodies produced by Basiola and band mastermind Dave Garfield (who apparently once played with Rammstein, according to the band’s extremely authoritative biog), which in turn are underpinned by an earthquake-inducing rhythm performance from the magnificent Lobsser and the highly competent Mike McGuinness (mind you, the last time someone mike’d my Guinness he got a right eye blacker than the pint!).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeiiMIdfqe4]

In terms of musicianship, songwriting and production, this album is nigh on perfect in every department, with the only criticism being that some of the songs, especially on the earlier part of the album, are a tad overlong and could have done by being tightened up.

[7.5/10]

Track list:

1. Kerosene (Radio Mix)
2. Untouchables
3. Beige
4. Stalemate
5. The Evil That Men Do
6. Living On Mars
7. Fate Insists
8. Ned
9. Over & Over
10. Slip Away
11. Little Wizard
12. Alone With My Demons
13. The Truth
14. Kerosene

‘Kill For Eden’ is self-released on May 6^th.

Kill For Eden support the release with the following live shows:

Saturday April 6^th – The Carlisle, Hastings

Friday April 26^th – The Black Horse, Great Missenden

Friday May 10^th – 100 Club, London

Friday July 19^th / Saturday July 20^th – Cockermouth Festival, Cockermouth, Cumbria

www.killforeden.com