Review by Josh Hoffman

‘No Walls In The Sky’ is KILL TEEN ANGST’S debut LP.  Quickly imagine the vocals of Powerman 5000, the for-front bass of Joy Division and sentimentality of STARS – If you’re still interested, read on.

This is an album for fans of slightly off-kilter heavy rock who like lyrics about the follies of youth, not being young anymore (and still not sure if you miss it or hated it, or both) and the occasional reference to Perth landmarks (RIP Hydey). If this is your style then you’ll find this to be a pretty solid album. In all honesty, if I heard this album played in an older friends car when I was 15, I’d probably think it was great.

Musically, most songs straddle the line between post-punk, Aussie heavy rock and pop.  The albums starters – ‘My Wynona Rider’ and ‘Generation Y’ are driven by pop hooks, a big emphasis on the singers voice, clearly audible lyrics and some solid keep-pace drum work. Anyone who grew up in the 90’s will notice the heavy influence of Jebediah, who played a part in the albums production.

The third track, ‘We Built A Ship’ is much of the same but less hook, more rock.  By this point, if you like what you’ve heard, the rest of the album will be to your taste. The song ‘Small Town, Small Children’ is definitely worth noting simply because it’s so unabashedly affectionate, it makes it kind of endearing. Clearly this song is based on someone’s life, because it is just too damn demonstrative to be made up.

In that sense, the album succeeds and is without a doubt honest. The singer, (presumably lyricist) clearly bases works on the lives of both himself and his friends. No qualms are made about being regular kids from down the road. Whether this is a good thing or not is really up to how much the listener can to relate to the songs.

This isn’t a bad album it’s just a long way from my taste. The songs are catchy, cranky and reminiscent of what may or may not have been better days. To the albums credit, it’s really made for Perth kids. It doesn’t reach too far and knows its audience. All things said, don’t just take my word because there’s no doubt ‘No Walls In The Sky’ is indeed a very listenable album and definitely worth a go.