Black Kites

Its been a long time since I have been excited about a new heavy hardcore band that I have practically resigned myself to listening to old Snapcase and Groundwork records whenever the mood strikes. All the new heavy stuff is either shite or its straight up metal. Which serves me fine as I like both. But I do miss the sound of those earlier bands and somehow no one seems to do it right or they feel the need to throw in something else to make it "new" that makes it less than what it could have been. I had just about gave up on hope of ever finding something new. Something that would make me wish I could pile up at the front of a stage, screaming lyrics and tossing my self into disarray.

That is, until Black Kites came into my life. Black Kites are the first glimmer of hope that heavy hardcore isnt dead. Residing in New Jersey, the three piece knows how to keep the adrenaline levels pumped without sacrificing what made hardcore good to begin with. They use no bass player and instead utilize multiple amps to produce a convincing low end. The vocals are screamed in a usual manner, though if one had to weigh in on what kind of scream this guy has it falls on the higher pitched side of things. A bit screamier than a lot of the bands of its kind. The fate of the band lies mostly with the guitarist and here is where Black Kites delivers. The guitars (or one guitar, though it sounds like 5 guitars) have a very dirty sound that reminds me of Groundwork or Absinthe. I see this as a wholly positive thing. Then theres the low end, also being produced by the guitars that almost takes the form of some of the stoner doom elements that so many bands love these days. But when this beast is fully firing on all cylinders that low end combined with that dirty sound give it a weight that leaves no question that these songs mean business...

The end effect is something that comes off squarely in the Unbroken, Disembodied, Chokehold, Groundwork style. If you tossed all that shit together and made a shake out of it you would have the Black Kites. The songs have groove, crunch and plenty of momentum to keep a dancefloor moving. Each of these three songs has a certain part that makes me day dream about moshing. Be it the gang vocals of "Our hunger for greed / will bring the end!!" on Selfish Tradition, or the guitar and kick groove about 30 seconds into Sly Fox, right before the whole mess comes crashing into you again, or the bass heavy rumble of Advancement to Ruins second section, these songs just keep on kicking.

Advancement to Ruins is their new album that is about to come out soon on Ride The Fury records. Check out the Black Kites myspace page and check out the Ride The Fury myspace page for any shows and pre-order info. Let me know what you think of these three songs. Consider it an e7". The cover is unofficial, pasted together from myspace and the lyrics are included in the zip.

Tom, the guitar player, used to play in You and I and The Assistant and currently plays in In First Person. All bands worth checking out. The drummer Jay plays in Zhenia Golov. NJHC for the win this time. more later.