Release Date May 30th, 2026
Format Digital/Vinyl
Genre Mathcore, Hardcore
Origin France
Dead Kiwis formed in Lyon in 2008, coming out of punk hardcore before dissonance, abrupt meter changes and angular guitar patterns became central to their music. The early years established an approach based on speed, screamed vocals and absurd humor, with cartoon violence and action movie excess placed beside darker emotional material. "Karate Karnage" arrived in 2017, and "Systematic Home Run" followed in 2019, moving the band further into fractured mathcore rhythms and electronic color. Extensive shows across France and Europe built their name in the underground through frantic performances and an irreverent stage presence.
Their sound grew more erratic across those releases, mixing hardcore aggression with rock and roll looseness and futuristic tones. Following several years without a full album, the band returned through Vollmer Industries in 2026. "Extreme Metal" continues that path with a title that mocks genre posturing and artwork built around a T. Rex, keeping black comedy close to the music. Dead Kiwis remain a band powered by nervous momentum, sarcasm and emotional collapse, a combination that can create catharsis or scatter its own impact.
"Extreme Metal" contains eight songs and runs for about twenty two minutes, an appropriate span for music constructed from sudden turns, compressed aggression and rapid rhythmic changes. Yann Van Eijk and Thibault Bernard handled the sessions at Jondy Studio and Convulsound, Bernard mixed the album, and Nick Zampiello mastered it at New Alliance East. The production separates the angular guitars, clipped drums, bass and electronic streaks enough to expose every collision, though the brittle digital guitar tone strips warmth from several riffs and makes the attack surprisingly flat.
The vocals stay at throat level for most of the album, effective during short bursts, tiring across the same narrow register, and rarely offering contrast when the arrangements need another shape. Depression, grief, isolation, manipulation and disillusionment form the lyrical core, while sarcasm and absurd images stop the writing from sinking into self pity, though several jokes weaken the darker material. Dissonant riffs lurch through stop and start patterns, hardcore surges and metallic breakdowns, and the drumming provides restless movement, though too many songs depend on panic chords, sudden cuts and shouted peaks until surprise turns into routine.
Several transitions appear inserted for shock, the electronic decoration seldom deepens the songs, and the compact runtime cannot hide how few hooks remain after playback. Dead Kiwis offer skill, energy and flashes of real catharsis on "Extreme Metal", though the album sits at an awkward midpoint between inspired disorder and clutter, leaving a competent, uneven mathcore release that passes quickly and fades just as fast.
|5.0
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