The Kills: Blood Pressures

By Michael Lopez Tue., Apr. 5 2011 at 8:04 AM

Categories: Review Roundup

Pin It

The Kills - Blood Pressures

Can you hear that? It's the sound of the first week of new releases for April. The next four weeks are chock full of substantial releases -- albums you can really hang your hat on at the end of the day. These albums are so good that people will look back on April when December rolls around with its year-end, best-of lists.

It's up to indie rock duo The Kills to kick things of with a bang, and bang they do on their latest album Blood Pressures. Back from her stint with The Dead Weather, Alison Mosshart once again teams up with Jamie "Hotel" Hince for 11 tracks of dingy, garage rock glory. Lead single "Satellite" is a strong offering, being bolstered by other standout tracks like album opener "Future Starts Slow" and the decadently cocky "Heart Is A Beating Drum." Whatever the case may be, The Kills have Alison Mosshart singing on most every track and that, my friend, is plenty a good thing.

What the critics are saying:

Consequence of Sound: Compared to 2008's Midnight Bloom, Blood Pressures sheds the more pop beats and synthetic sounds and embraces a more simplistic, almost vintage-y blues punk hybrid.

The Guardian: Their fourth album...finds them turbo-charging their sound, the familiar primeval bluesy rock combined with bigger grooves and almost Burundi-type drumming.

Spin: What's surprising, though, is how much their songwriting has evolved: "Satellite" is a creeping fuzz-funk jam, while "Nail in My Coffin" sports a catchy arena-glam chorus.

Paste Magazine: On the new album, everything that's good about The Kills has gotten better. And everything that's good about The Kills is what makes a great rock record. Blood Pressures mixes heavy, gainy hard-rocking guitars with a whole lot of making love to the mic.

Blood Pressures is out now via Domino.

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Music Newsletter: Keep your thumb on the local music scene with music features, additional online music listings and show picks. We'll also send special ticket offers and music promotions available only to our Music Newsletter subscribers.