Unit: 187
KillCure
Metropolis Records
When Unit: 187 co-founder and vocalist Tod Law passed away in 2015, the assumption was that the Vancouver industrial project would be retired. And for the better part of the last decade, there was nothing to suggest otherwise, until the recent surprising emergence of a new line-up featuring original member John Morgan along with longtime associates Chris Peterson, Ross Redhead and Kerry Vink-Peterson, and new LP KillCure. Made up of both brand new material and songs Law had been working on before his death, it’s a record that simultaneously pays homage to the cult act’s thrashing, misanthropic take on industrial, and starts a new chapter in its legacy.
There’s a special thrill in hearing new 187 material after so long, and for it to sound as vital as it does here, picking up almost directly from the roiling, mean ethos of 2010’s Out for Blood. there’s no shortage of the band’s signature synth-driven grooves and mechanized riffs, rendered for full-impact at high volume. Hearing Law’s voice on opener “Glamhammer” is thrilling, his caustic vocal delivery accompanied by pinchy guitar harmonics and mid-tempo programming that builds with inevitable force to a violent chorus. That rough and ready sound that defines their best material is in full-effect throughout, from the industrial rock attack of “Famous Faces” to the towering climax of the title track, the record has the hallmark attitude of vintage Unit: 187. Songs are produced and mixed to keep matters gritty, forceful, and sharp; check the swooping synths and thudding drums of “New Beginning” for just one acerbic, hard-bitten example.
For her part, Vink-Peterson does a bang-up job stepping in as singer, bringing the right kind of vitriol to the proceedings, never imitating Law’s hiss, but staking her own territory on each song on which she’s featured. A re-recording of a classic album cut like “Dick” (originally featured on the band’s sophomore LP Loaded) runs the risk of seeming like a pale imitation of past glories, but she reinvents it as a punky fist-pumping anthem, a move that is exhilarating to hear realized. Whether spitting out bars on the heavy-bottomed “Overrun”, or taunting the listener over the wave of distortion that sweeps through “Eyes Open”, Vink-Peterson is fully-committed, hostile and vicious as the blasting, crashing songs require.
A healthy amount of skepticism for a project like KillCure is absolutely natural: to be frank the chances of reactivating a band so notoriously cantankerous this many years on and living up to fans’ expectations aren’t great. And yet this new iteration have all the brutality and pessimism you could want from Unit: 187, delivered unblinkingly and with zero hesitation. It’s weird to describe an album this ill-tempered as heartening, but then again there’s nothing like hearing a band spit in the face of an increasingly cruel and stupid world with this kind of conviction. Recommended.
