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They hit hard right from the start. Machine-gun bass and rapid guitars come at you
from all directions. Kiss or Kill, the debut album of Los Angeles based EndeverafteR, maneuvers between 1980s rock and glam metal and breaks with a pleasing 1970s-style folksy cut.
Michael Grant, who belts out strong, penetrating vocals along with a fanatical lead
guitar, wrote all of the songs on the album. “I Wanna Be Your Man,” “Baby, Baby,
Baby,” and “Gotta Get Out” open the CD and are the most dynamic with their quick
parallel guitar lines. Joining along with Grant are Kristan Mallory on rhythm guitar, Tommi Andrews on bass, and Eric Humbert on drums.
But even in EndeverafteR-land, not all can be bliss without a certain amount of
tension and boredom setting in. And it does. Grant’s lyrics tend toward banality and
are void of that anger and rage necessary to compete with the fervent guitars. The psychotic theme of “Road to Destruction” rocks at the guitar interludes, but still
fails to convince us of any intense fury. Even if you’re one who is driven by music
and really don’t pay attention to lyrics, you’ll notice that the band just lacks that
“edge.” You’re patiently waiting for a bomb to drop and you’ll keep waiting.
If we can just piss this band off enough before their next album, they’ll be at the
top of their game. They definitely can do it, but do they want it bad enough?
