REVIEW: THE KILLS - GOD GAMES

4/5

Game Of Horns.

God is in the details, and by the grace of Him we have new albums on this music Friday from two returning rock acts. The first is The Gaslight Anthem's first album in nine years for your 'History Books' featuring a lead single with 'The Boss', Bruce Springsteen. Just after you thought they had said their last goodbye, my friend. The second is the first album from the English/American iconic modern age rock duo of The Kills (US singer Alison "VV" Mosshart of The Dead Weather fame, and UK guitarist Jamie "Hotel" Hince of Blythe Power) since 2016's 'Ash and Ice'. A 'Midnight Boom' that ups the ante like the raised 'Blood Pressures' of 'Satellite' and 'Baby Says'. Their sixth set, like Gaslight's, grabs you by the horns. From the amazing artwork of matador and bull, to the music videos that take you from a boxing ring, to a golf course. Culminating in an epic 3D glasses visualizer that could even go toe-to-toe with friend Jack's White's 'Seven Nation Army' with The Stripes of Meg. The Domino is falling the right way for this label's indie rock outfit.

"Yeah, you taste just like New York/Before a storm takes hold", VV sings like she once did about "double sixing it". "Night after night, after night," (you know it's the only way). Taking hits when she hasn't even got any gloves on to the canvas of, "Down here on the Bowery/The city's got me feelin' high/Got me where you want me/In your midnight eve/Always remember, honey/When you need a ride/You got me, got me, got me going'/Got me runnin' wild". Hotel was squirrelled away in one, hollowing out records "that didn't sound like The Kills" for a side-project. Until Hince realized, "they sounded exactly like The Kills". And henceforth that's why we have records like 'LA Hex' taking off. Hitting the tarmac flying, announcing, "I was day-dreaming of a hundred/Caught up in all of the drama and all of the fuss/Caught by the LA hex hanging above us/Like a drone, like a God/Magicking she into something I don't know what/I don’t know what/But I know that once I was fresh blood/And now I know that I'm not." Sweet dreams for your Los Angeles times. 

Try a little 'Love and Tenderness' like Otis Redding and you will be "Kicking at the stars again/I fight the moon/Walk up to the wolves/In a steak necklace/All love and tenderness" as you shoot the moon. These stars are 'Going To Heaven' with the sent 'scribes of "Slow dancing with a bottle of lightning/Breaking down your thunder striking/Moving like my body double/You flash your bread and butter/I’ll stay and meet them after", meeting God in this game. The '103' takes you even further on this dream of a Murakami reality like highway, before Alison gives it up for 'My Girls, My Girls' with the real anthem this week. "How far I’ve come/Still miles behind you/We’re all headed down that road/At some point, I’ll try to find you/And grow a soul for when my time comes close/But for now/I’m on those middle of the night vibes/Those singing ’til I die vibes/Reminiscing while I cry vibes/Twitching, I’m so high/Like put me in a ride/Like those vibes/Clinging on for dear life/Like I know I should/I picked a bad time/To feel this good." Let it play as you sing along. 

This 'Wasterpiece' is a masterpiece as The Kills paint theirs. On their way to the throne like 'Kingdom Come' or the great grace of the titan of a title track. Firing no 'Blank(s)' you can draw even better lyrics from the reservoirs of "A daffodil/Hangs its head/It don’t care/For love/If love is gone/You walk away/No harm, no foul/Ow, ow, ow/Whoever you are/Who was I to love you?/Turn the place upside down/No sign of you/Now, now, now/Nothing on the wall/It’s like I dreamt it all." Your memory banks know this type of heartbreaking hurt, for all it's worth. It clicks like that 'Bullet Sound' before Mosshart's heart sings for 'Better Days' much like 2Pac did with a Z for your IPA...and we ain't talking about the beer. "When that whimper dies/And a wild river rises/No man can dam the tide/Or hold it back/For God to take His time/Those big black open skies/All the while/Are calling out for/Better days/Baby, don’t go looking/Better days/Baby, don’t go looking/For better days/Fate is in our way/But I know we’ll be good/God willing." Lord knows they're here. And we ain't playing. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'New York', 'LA Hex', 'Better Days'.