Dan Hillier
Those loyal to the UK hardcore scene surely won’t need an introduction to Going Off. After all, it’s likely one has left any hardcore event in the past several years coated in a residue of spittle and sweat originating from the band. But after all, who can blame them for such intensity. Going Off, whilst forming pre-pandemic, feel like a product of the kind of pent-up frustration and violence that only years of mandatory isolation can instil. Early 2023 saw the Manchester yob launch themselves from lockdown and into the heart of the UKHC scene with the release of their debut What Makes You Tick?, and from there, the energy has never dissipated, only quickened. Kill List II, the band’s new EP, only embodies such a fact.
Releasing tomorrow independently, Kill List II is a continuation of the drive that has defined this act whilst also being a record that carries a new sense of focus. Easily the most exposed record Going Off have released, this EP see’s the band forgoing the tongue-in-cheek humour and chest puffed bravado in favour of animating the central theme of loss that binds the release as a whole. However, that’s not to say there’s ballads or anything of the sort present. Quite the opposite in fact – this is Going Off stripped to the bloodied bone.
Kill List II see’s the band cutting the sinews from their sound to access a marrow of emotional vulnerability that feels intimate to the point of it being unconformable. It’s a violent outburst of emotion that truly presents just how authentically ugly and violent grief is. This is a record that doesn’t shy away from the hideous nature of loss, but one that embodies it, resulting in a record that’s the sound of an injured and snarling animal lashing out in agony, rage but defiance. Give it a listen below.
“Kill List II is our grooviest and heaviest record to date”, states vocalist Jake Huxley on the EP. “It’s a very personal record to me thematically – dealing with different forms of loss we face every day in life. We can’t wait for everyone to hear what we’ve been working on and to showcase this new material live on the road this December” Kill List II is released tomorrow independently, with pre-orders available here. The band will also be touring this winter; check dates below and grab a ticket for a lovely brutalising.
