Like a forgotten cassette dug out of your dad’s glovebox, KaiserKillers’ latest offering ‘Heavenly In Black’ crackles with that glorious intersection where punk attitude meets melodic warmth. This isn’t the kind of band that tries to reinvent the wheel, they just make it spin a little faster, a little weirder, and with a lot more charm.
Formed from the embers of two ‘90s Huddersfield acts and now resurrected as KaiserKillers, the trio- Johnny Zero, Cristi Mac Seáin, and Stix McIntosh- wield their sound like a battered leather jacket: broken in, full of stories, and undeniably cool. Their latest single feels like a parallel timeline where The Buzzcocks never broke up and somehow ended up jamming with The Byrds and early Oasis.
‘Heavenly In Black’ is power-pop-punk in its purest form. Three and a half minutes of bright-eyed guitar jangle, vocal swagger, and punchy hooks, all anchored in a tale of youthful adoration for a certain all-black-clad Beverly. A nod to the kind of muses who make you write lyrics in the margins of your bus pass, she’s immortalised here with equal parts fondness and flair. Johnny’s lyrical storytelling hits that sweet spot between playful and sincere.
The production is full of cheeky touches, like a triangle-esque shimmer created by smacking a wrench with a toffee hammer (because, of course it is). Mixed and mastered by Francis Gorini at London Mastering Studio, the track manages to sound polished without ever losing its garage-born grit.
For a band whose drummer once accidentally set himself on fire mid-gig, KaiserKillers still burn brightest when they’re toeing the line between chaos and craft. This track might not be a revolutionary reinvention of the genre, but it is a reminder of why we fell in love with loud guitars, clever lyrics, and girls who walk into the room like they own it.
‘Heavenly In Black’ is a love letter scrawled in eyeliner on the back of a gig flyer; raw, funny, and unforgettable. And if this is what strumming and getting lucky sounds like, we’ll gladly take another spin.
