Single Review: Kill The Masters – Everything Hurts EP

I’ve just been punched in the ears by an angry Kill The Masters, who are channelling a lot of rage from their base in England’s Northwest. They call themselves a ‘mediocre punk rock band’, but there’s absolutely nothing mediocre about the Everything Hurts EP. It’s a tremendous debut, full of furious vitality with the added value of a strong purpose. Opener No Apologies sets the tone for the EP. It’s a blistering tirade against establishment values and institutionalised moral decay laid over brutally and frantically heavy riffing. Questions counterpoints its battering rock barrage with reggae stylings, but it is closing track Slave to the Grind that highlights this band’s musicality and instrumental dexterity but also disguises it inside a familiar-sounding old school punk structure.

This band have it all – power, eloquence and energy. But it’s their simple rage that lifts this EP up. Without ascribing a firm political position to them (make your own mind up), Kill The Masters are occupying the same anti-establishment barricade as Ruts DC. There are some musical alignments there too, particularly in the juxtaposition of raging punk rock with jaunty ska and upbeat reggae grooves. Superlative performance and production makes the music captured on this EP a damn fine listen in itself; this is a band running at maximum output but also making it sound effortless.

Much bigger than the sum of its parts, Kill The Masters are a band with big guns and plenty of ammo. The Clash for modern times, but better. Long live Agit Rock.

The Everything Hurts EP is out now in all reputable (and otherwise) online channels.