This Hannah is totally killer

Anyone who has ever listened to the Hilton sisters talk knows that beauty and brains don’t… Anyone who has ever listened to the Hilton sisters talk knows that beauty and brains don’t usually go hand in hand. Anyone who has ever heard the music of progressive rockers Kill Hannah knows that the key word is “usually” – because it’s been a long time since a band this brilliant has come around.

Although the members of Kill Hannah must collectively own enough eyeliner and hair products to last a normal girl a lifetime, and the vocals sound unmistakably female, all five have one x and one y-chromosome.

The band’s major-label debut release, For Never ‘ Ever, puts pop flavoring into the cult-rock sound.

The opening track, “They Can’t Save Us Now,” sounds like ’80s new wave music, and the retro sound carries on in bits and pieces throughout the CD. Perhaps it’s lead singer Mat Devine’s British accent that makes it so reminiscent of a time when black, white and neon colors were all the rage.

Every song is an anthem. Take “Kennedy” – “I Wanna Be a Kennedy” on their Unreleased Cuts EP – which sounds like something that would be heard at a club, with loud, pulsating beats and synthesizer sounds. “New Heart for Xmas” will make you think of Pat Benatar. “Unwanted” is Kill Hannah’s answer to Good Charlotte’s “The Anthem” – it’s something that social rejects can listen to, and take comfort in the fact that there are others like them out there and maybe they aren’t the rejects after all.

While listening to the tracks, there is evidence that the vocals aren’t being done by an unknown female – Devine sounds masculine every now and then.

The members of Kill Hannah make music that is almost as stunning as their looks. They don’t sound like anything else floating in the airwaves right now, and it’s probably going to be a while before their underground style catches on.

But now is their time, despite sounding ahead of their time and behind it simultaneously.