The Judas Factor

Kiss Suicide (Revelation)
by Tim Den

The title is the perfect summary of The Judas Factor‘s sound: “kiss” = love, “suicide” = sorrow. Taking the art-school hardcore that they experimented with on their debut full-length, Ballads in Blue China, even further, this EP is like a trip through someone’s private catharsis. It’s self-torture, dealing with inner demons that once bore faces of loved ones. Using lyrics that read like the confessions of a manic depressive, noisecore (aka Kiss It Goodbye) guitar stylings, and some studio wizardry (“One Fine Day,” “November 20, 1999”), Kiss Suicide is expansive in its sound but still angry as fuck. As vocalist Robert Fish screams away in that Karl-from-Earth Crisis growl of his, somehow you know not to doubt him. A normal person wouldn’t choose to front a band as musically bleak as The Judas Factor if he wasn’t serious.
(PO Box 5232 Huntington Beach, CA 92615-5232)