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Album review: 'The Meek Shall Inherit What's Left' by Kiss Kiss
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During a vow of silence for Kiss Kiss frontman Josh Benash due to medical reasons, 'The Meek Shall Inherit What's Left' was born out of Josh's solitude with a piano only a few months before hitting the studio for the sophomore album. The avant-garde group proceeded to record for two months and then an additional four months as they worked on the tracks on their own time. The record was released to the world on July 7th, 2009 with Eyeball Records.
New York's Kiss Kiss, after burning through several changes in lineup, consists of Josh Benash, Mike Abiuso on guitar, Rebecca Schlappich on electric violin, Pat Southern on bass, and Jared Karns on drums.
1. The Best Mistake
2. Plague #11
3. Haunted by the Beauty of an Imperfection
4. All They Draw
5. Innocent I
6. Innocent II
7. Iiiiiiiiiii
8. Hate
9. Through the Day
10. If They Only Knew
11. Virus
From the beginning, 'The Meek Shall Inherit What's Left' already proves to be eclectic, schizophrenic, and brilliantly structured. Tracks like “The Best Mistake” and “If They Only Knew” are orchestral and enamoring to the listener while “Plague #11” and “Innocent I” are romantically psychotic and go from high extremes to swooning melodies without a comfortable medium. A lot is going on in the music with keyboards, sounds, Rebecca's strings, and even “home made instruments” that Benash constructed himself.
The mellowest track on the record is “Iiiiiiiiiii” which is like an interlude, if you will. It's a digital instrumental that makes you slip into a calm, quiet place in your subconscious for about two and half minutes before time is up and it's back to the show. Don't expect the serenity to repeat itself in the record as Kiss Kiss take a dark turn with the thick drums and circus-y themes of “Hate” and proceed to take that route for the remaining tracks.
As individuals, no one in the band is sitting in the time out chair. It's like everyone belts out what they can on their own time and then it gets tossed into one track and Benash sings over it. Like magic, the insanity manages to compliment each other. What stuck out the most to me, personally, were the points in which Benash's voice made raw, almost snarling slurs between notes. A part of me wants to say that it's recovery from losing his voice for months, but the rest of me says that it's all mind and body put into the music he makes and the projection of his unadulterated passion.
How can you really illustrate what Kiss Kiss sound like, though? Let's say there's an ADHD-inflicted child named Mr. Bungle who is running off of buckets of sugar and swaying to a Dresden Dolls record. If that sounds appealing, pick up 'The Meek Shall Inherit What's Left' as soon as possible and be sure to share the insanity with everyone you know by spreading word about the free listening party on Spinner.com and the free MP3 download of “Innocent I” provided by Reybee Inc.
'The Meek Shall Inherit What's Left' by Kiss Kiss gets a solid 9/10.
Favorites: All They Draw, Hate, Through The Day
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