“Kill Division’s Peace Through Tyranny is so damn catchy, expertly played and ferocious, which makes this one of the best grind albums I’ve heard in decades”.  This was the ending part of my blurb when reviewing the debut from Kill Division in 2022.  With members from Inhuman Condition, Gruesome and Megadeth; Kill Division once again returns with a little ditty of an ep, Thoughts and Prayers. 

I would assume this will tide us all over until the next full-length eventually is recorded.  This ep is so damn short, I have nicknamed it “shorty”.  We get four songs, which encompasses one original song and 3 cover songs.    The original song, is the title track, which opens the ep and at over 3 minutes, is considered a long song, by grindcore standards, yet this song is more of a slow burn with pit-inducing riffs to knock you on your ass, pick you back up then choke slam you though multiple layers of magma.  This song has a punishing groove, which is not uncommon in grindcore, and this song has to be in their upcoming live shows.  It will break up all the brutality of the chaos whirlwind grind blasts, but although things would slow down it would just create monster pits because the grooves are plentiful, heavy and well-played.  The song picks up a slight early 90’s era death metal gallop, but never going into grindcore territory.  This beat is actually pretty darn classic and nostalgic.  The heaving groove moments actually have me thinking of Misery Index, because they use a fair amount of these groove moments.  This was definitely the style of song I thought the band was not going to open their ep with, as I was expecting a song, similar to their debut with the monstrous grind blast, but I do enjoy this song.

The next three songs are cover songs the first one is  “Memories of Tomorrow” (Suicidal Tendencies cover), from the debut S/T album.  Before I even start on my rant, I do appreciate a good cover song.  I’ve heard some amazing ones over the years, Vader’s cover of Metallica’s “Fight Fire With Fire” comes to mind and that was an on point note for note cover.  However, bands like Krisiun will take a cover song they love and bastardize it by throwing in different arrangements and blast beats.  I truly love it when a band can make a cover song sound like they actually wrote the song, but by still paying homage to the original.

“Memories of Tomorrow” sounds like a Kill Division song.  While it was an intense Suicidal song, back in the day, Kill Division made this a pure grind blast song and this needs to be in their live set.  Nice short song, and the isolated bass guitar moments at the end, will have you grinning from ear to ear.  Covering a Slayer song can be dicey because, for me, they are the best thrash metal band ever.  You can say some albums are spotty all you want, but I actually love every one of their albums and have seen them live consistently since 1988.  Even got to play with them, when I was in Internal Bleeding, back at the Milwaukee Metalfest in 1994.

Kill Division takes the song “World Painted Blood” and drives an inverted grindcore cross right through its fuckin’ heart.  Right off the jump the isolated guitar riff, you think it’s going into the traditional Slayer beat, as the song did, years ago, but I know my grindcore.  Right into the grind blast and the riffage, pays homage to Slayer in capturing the sound.  The double bass drums are devastating and the band actually allows the Slayer sound to come out at various moments too. “Screaming at a Wall” (Minor Threat cover) starts like the original punk classic and has that vibe to the max.  The various little blast beats thrown in are a nice touch, as is the punk groove at the minute mark, calling to mind the original and covering the song with class.

Kill Division’s Thoughts and Prayers ep is a nice walk down memory lane with the nostalgic covers and I am happy Kill Division injected their own originality to the covers, with the blasts and making the songs not feel out of place, if the band decides to play any of these songs live, alongside their originals.  The ep title track is also a nice original song, while slower in nature, will definitely fit in well, in their live set, smack dab in the middle of their live set.

Kill Division is an exciting new grindcore band.  Pick this ep up as well as their terrific debut from last year or else Gus Rios will knock your teeth loose with his slobberknocker version of the Cobra Clutch.

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