Armed to the Teeth L.M.O.M.M.

New York trio Kill Alters play jagged, electro-shocked noise rock that jumps between digital hardcore and abstract pop, heavily incorporating home recordings made by leader Bonnie Baxters mother between the 1970s and 90s. Like the bands music, these family snapshots are both gleeful and downright disturbing, and the whole project seems to be equally about processing trauma and artful expression. Following the first two EP-length Kill Alters releases, both compiled on a 2017 CD, Baxter began releasing more techno-influenced solo material, and she collaborated with Machine Girls Matt Stephenson as the freewheeling duo Prolaps. Kill Alters also initiated the Archives series, consisting of manipulated home recordings rather than the groups songs. Armed to the Teeth L.M.O.M.M. is the bands first proper full-length, and its both a twisted dreamscape and a set of their most focused songs to date. On songs like "Dissect Me," Baxter is a sleek, commanding emcee over rhythms that merge 90s industrial with trip-hop, while almost subliminal voices float behind her. A few tracks heat up to the hardcore fury of Baxters other projects, such as the defiant, sexually charged "Cesspit," a collaboration with Stephenson that ends in a storm of gabber kicks and screaming. "Phantom Body 2" is less forceful and more ethereal; its rhythm still pounds, but it dissolves in a river of steamy synths and multi-tracked vocals. "Inner Beam" is a frenetic collision of pressurized noise and tenacious pop, suddenly switching to haunting acoustic guitar balladry at the end. The album concludes with "L.M.O.M.M," a six-minute hellscape that sets barely coherent voices acting out some sort of torture scene over steadily babbling drums, culminating in the sinister chant "love me or murder me." ~ Paul Simpson