‘We Are the Wicked’ — Kill Uncle’s New Album is a Blistering Hardcore Punk Triumph

When hardcore punk band Kill Uncle dropped its debut EP in 2023, it hit like an anvil, asserting the band’s arrival on the Buffalo scene. And since then, the group’s become a fixed presence, noted for its raw, cyclonic performances.

While gigging regularly, Kill Uncle over the last several months also has been hard at work writing new material, and tomorrow the fruit of the band’s labor will be unveiled with the release of its first full-length album, ‘We Are the Wicked.’ (Order HERE)

There’s a lot to like on this 10-track LP. It’s fast, frantic, and furious.

Khari Waits’ guitar work on ‘We Are the Wicked’ is an intriguing blend of buzzsaw and harmonic dissonance, wailing against a merciless rhythmic landscape comprised of Dan M.’s pulsating and relentless drumming and Sean Reverie’s menacing bass.

Yet while the new LP is as sonically aggressive and full throttle as the band’s debut, it also features moments of melodic hardcore, breakneck as those moments may be.

“There was no set (musical) direction,” in the writing of this album, said Kill Uncle’s Billie Page, whose trademark scream/vocals infuse desperate urgency into the songs on ‘We Are the Wicked.’ “(But) I guess we did want our sound and our ideas to evolve and I think they did.”

Kill Uncle (photos by Matt Smith)

Indeed. Kill Uncle’s success on the new LP is rooted in its willingness to add dimension to the album’s tracks. ‘I Am In Hell, Help Me’ and ‘Werewolves of Kaisertown’ are both replete with catchy hooks and powerful gang vocals. ‘When Darkness Engulfs’ is tinged with a gloomy, metal tone. ‘Total Control’ exudes ferocious chaos and shifting tempos, building into a manic guitar climax before ending with Reverie’s plodding foreshadowing bass. The drum work on the album’s title track is so fast it’s machine-gun-like.

Meanwhile, it’s penchant for horror and dark humor notwithstanding, Kill Uncle has never been one to shy away from writing songs of social criticism, a practice that continues on the new album with American Nuns in Italy, which takes aim at “people with no morals that pretend when it’s easy, but do nothing when actually faced with a challenge,” said Page.

The album’s ‘Friday the 13^th’’ release is perfectly fitting for Kill Uncle, which has carved out a unique niche for itself — one that consists of queercore/identity politics mixed with horror-movie influences.

“Most of us love horror,” said Page. “We have a reference to the vampire movie ‘Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat’ on the EP. When Khari wrote ‘Werewolves,’ he was singing the werewolf part while playing it, which sparked the idea of horror with a local connection. Obviously, the title ‘Werewolves of Kaisertown’ is a take on the song ‘Werewolves of London.’ We kind of just kept rolling with that and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I’ve really been enjoying adding the element of something else I love so much.” 

‘We Are the Wicked’ will be available tomorrow on streaming platforms everywhere. Kill Uncle also will be marking the new album’s release with a show at Area 54/Amy’s Place

in Buffalo on Tuesday, March 17 (with The Sneers, Faith 2 Fear and Shark Noises of NYC. Doors 7 p.m./music at 8).

Copies of the new LP will also be available on CD at the show.

“It’s only 15 minutes long,” Page said of ‘We Are the Wicked.’ “So, I hope anyone that comes across it has their curiosity piqued enough to give it a listen.”