Kill Your Idols – This is Just the Beginning – Review

Kill Your Idols

This is Just the Beginning (Blackout!)
by Scott Hefflon

Love the band name, just like the first time I ever heard there was a label called Kill Rock Stars. Kill Your Idols is, like, old school cuz they’ve been around since 1995. But seriously, it’s good to hear traditional hardcore punk rock, especially since punk rock has turned into peppy pop and hardcore has turned into poorly-written metal. These fellas play fast and sound fun and aggressive, like you could get a good slam pit going without feeling obligated to apologize for running into some allowance-spending kid who got too close to where “the big boys play,” yet you’re not too worried about literally getting your face stomped into the floor by a bunch of pumped-up jocknecks who’d be playing football if they could wear spiked leather instead of tights. Violence can be therapy and not personal, and Kill Your Idols seem like one of the least preachy, least gang-mentality bands I’ve heard in some time. And it’s really saying something for me to like a 15-minute EP from the outskirts of a genre I usually think speaks to awkward, closet metal-loving young Republicans who’re looking for a club to join now that they’re too old for the Boy Scouts.
(PO Box 1575 New York, NY 10009)