‘Collective unreason, Now is the season, Our eyes are swelled shut, With our mouths opened up, We are toxic, infected, Immorally subjected’ (Am I Seeing This Clearly?)

Kirkby Kiss are firmly rooted in the traditions of mid-1990s’ metallic hardcore – menacingly discordant guitar, harshly roared vocals, ominous spoken word.  The band’s marshalling of these elements is ever more assured on this, their second album, Four Color Black, and follow up to 2022’s debut, It’s Gonna Cost You.  The ensuing fluidity enables the New Jersey band to conjure a fierce balance between complexity and immediacy, ratcheting tension and brutal realisation.

And while call backs to the pioneers of the sound are to be found – flashes of Deadguy, whispers of Botch – what emerges is a thoroughly distinctive take.  The equal billing afforded to the rhythm section ensures an unexpected sense of space and a notably limber swagger to proceedings, while the dissonant flares of sombre melody inject an unwavering emotional intensity. This intensity is further reflected in a lyrical exploration of the vulnerabilities that collectively connect us in a world ever more predicated on individual self-interest.

From the cathartic tension of You And Me to the infectiously bruising title track, by way of the savage oscillations and squalling violin of Come Out And Play, the onslaught is as remorseless as it is vividly detailed.  Am I Seeing This Clearly?, a collaboration with Jeff Janiak and JP Parsons of False Fed, provides a suitably stirring climax, before a hidden cover of Born Again’s Well Fed Fuck erupts into belated life.