kidneythieves - Trypt0fanatic

by Martin Clutterbuck
(Bangkok, Thailand)

The first thing about this stunning 3rd album from the kidneythieves is the good news that the 45-minute LP set is alive and well, with a huge consistency in the song writing to create an organically whole album.

After an eight year hiatus, Free Dominguez, Bruce Somers and the KT crew are back with a selection of new songs which might be their most accessible to date, but retain a hard-honed industrial edge, on top of which Free's voice melodies and Bruce's riffs are as fat and satisfying, and as beautifully melded together, as any of their previous work. On top of that, Free's lyrics are magnificently bitchy, delivered with passion.

All these qualities are immediately apparent in the album opener, 'Jude (Be Somebody)' - 'Why you holding on to the pain' So you can fuck it all up again' Or later on, 'Is anybody home' Quit your bitch and moan!' Likewise the matching song 'Beg', 'God, damn' could you feel an emotion' I think you'd love to see me beg!

The curtain raiser 'Freeky People', is more of a freek manifesto contained by a bouncy rhythm that would make a great single, perhaps a worthy contender for the UK Xmas # one to repeat RATM's victory over Simon Cowell last year. If any creative and iconoclastic band has ever deserved attention which has hitherto eluded them, it is the kidneythieves.

'Velveteen' is another wonderful mash up of silence and noise, while 'Dead Girl Walking' sees Bruce reach into more of his electronic palette.

The following track, 'Size of Always' is my personal favorite, launching at a hell-for-leather tempo and having the fierce refrain, 'Stop, yeah, put your finger off the trigger, just stop, yeah, does it make you any bigger' which I can only read as alternative rock's middle finger at gun machismo. It surely ranks among their very best songs such as 'Zerospace' and 'Pleasant' on previous albums.

'Comets + Violins' gives us Free at her most sultry in the intros. 'Lick U Clean' is a more electronic piece which lets Free indulge in sensuality reminiscent of 'S+M (A Love Song)' or 'Spank' in former times. 'You were the one that wanted it now' didn't cha'' she sings over the catchy chorus riff.

'Dark Horse' has been hanging around on KT's myspace page since before Facebook wiped myspace from the net, as a dim promise for 'Trypt0fanatic' then two years in the future. Still a fine song, and interestingly autobiographical for Free.

The CD closer, 'Tears on a Page' is a KT 'slow' song which grows on you like 'Pretty', although I find the beauty of 'Serene Dream' on 'Zerospace' hard to match.

Finally the 'Light Deceiver' bonus track ' another electronic excursion, but crunchy and solid as per kidneythieves. 'Trypt0fanatic' is a slab of strong songs that people will be listening to years from now. There is news that Bruce and Free are continuing to write together - I will be waiting for the results avidly.

("Trypt0fanatic" was released on June 25, 2010)