nowontour.com (usa)
When one thinks of Australia, images of crocodile hunters and perhaps kangaroos come to mind, but not hardcore music. Enter I Killed The Prom Queen from Adelaide, Australia. Their first release on American soil, When Goodbye Means Forever, can be found on the new Hand of Hope Records.
Upon hearing the intro to the album, one gets the feeling that they might be a very technical metal band in the vein of The Red Chord, but as the title track starts, you realize the intro was misleading. The music is metal influenced hardcore but more of a straight forward brand, sounding much like Atreyu. Vocally, the screams of vocalist Michael Crafter are like the aforementioned band, but when he shouts it gives the band more of a hardcore appeal, harking back to more of a traditional sound.
As the album rolls along, you realize I Killed The Prom Queen is a melting pot of different ideas, using acoustic guitars in the intro of "Upon A River Sky" and utilizing melodic singing with harmonies on "To Kill Tomorrow."
All of this may be fine and dandy, but even though I Killed The Prom Queen uses all these different ideas, they don't set themselves apart from the hardcore pack other than the fact they are from Australia. They are not a bad band by any means, but if you're looking for metal-core, then you're going to get it in spades here. And if you're looking for hardcore that pushes boundaries, you're better off looking elsewhere.
silentskymedia.com (usa)
In recent months Hand Of Hope have released some killers discs. With I Killed The Prom Queen’s When Goodbye Means Forever, this is no exception. The band is a quick shot of metal laced in with hardcore segments and all around mind-blowing tracks that bring I Killed The Prom Queen out as an extremely talented and promising young metalcore outfit.
Fans of Himsa, Scars Of Tomorrow, and As I Lay Dying will surely enjoy I Killed The Prom Queen. Their eleven tracks fill the CD with more than just enough to dance and bang your head to, but they fill the album with a great metal essence that is hard to capture in the scene these days. For a band that is simply just getting things on a roll, I Killed The Prom Queen don’t let the influence of the modern day metal scene distract them from making their music more original and full of quality as opposed to a quick and identical metalcore record that is found way too often with most young metalcore bands.
For anyone in the scene looking for something great, extremely creative, and finely tuned into a nearly perfect sound, I Killed The Prom Queen’s When Goodbye Means Forever is definitely something that needs to be put in the CD player. Just when you think you know what to expect from the band, they do something new and impressive to surprise you.
These guys are going to get big fast with a great album like this, all they need now is to land themselves on a huge tour that will push them further with their success. The first step has already been completed, creating a terrific album, now the band must push it to the kids in the hardcore and metal scenes where they will grow to become giants.
www.ecromper.com (usa)
It's not every day when you hear about a metalcore band that originated inAustralia. We here in the U.S. tend to believe we hold the patent on metalcore with everyone else attempting to emulate this form of music. Well, I KILLED THE PROM QUEEN is about to unequivocally change that narrow-minded perception (me included). Not only will you have the chance to taste metalcore from a different continent in this release, you will also have reaped the benefits of being exposed to an underground scene in Australia. Their trouncing pace is exacting and diverse with an emphasis heavily placed on jaw dropping breakdowns. The dual vocal ambushing switches in between intense growls and casually paced, discussion styled singing. This was a different twist on the standard scream then sing beautifully approach with a definite similarity to bands like GONE WITHOUT TRACE and SCARS OF TOMORROW. Their intentional aggression has a monstrous vibe but with quicker movements that spark an image of KILLSWITCH ENGAGE. Can you say angry? This is a worthwhile purchase for virtually any metalcore fan. They have already made their mark in Australia and now they are on the verge of administering their wrath on us uninformed Americans.
faketrain.com (usa)
Bands like Chapter (pre-Creation Is Crucifixion), Jihad, Passover, Groundwork, Atlas Shrugged, and Abnegation broke my hardcore cherry back when I was first getting into the more intense side of music as a teenager. Sluggish chugga-chugga hardcore hit me hard, and I loved every second of it. So when I hear bands nowadays incorporating those unhurried, thick, resonating breakdowns, I immediately gravitate towards them. Though, I Killed the Prom Queen doesn't sound like any of the aforementioned outfits (their sound is a far more polished hardcore meets metal sound), they embrace similar elements, especially those slowly strummed mosh-friendly parts that never seem to get old.
Hailing from Adelaide, Australia, I Killed the Prom Queen attacks with death grip ferocity on their full-length debut, When Goodbye Means Forever. With melody skewered through red-hot meaty influences of European metal and American hardcore, low guttural vocals, and the occasional soft melodic breather, I Killed the Prom Queen definitely delivers one firestorm of an album. I simply love the graphic design layout for When Goodbye, for it ties the whole release together beautifully.
"I watched you fall, I hope that you will break. Now burn with me and let me melt away."*
Repetition is the only setback on When Goodbye Means Forever, but the occasional emotive singing (especially in "Death Certificate for a Beauty Queen" and "Forgiveness is Murder") does a nice job of dividing the monotony. I Killed the Prom Queen impressively ravages and pummels listeners with a sound that will be enjoyed by fans of Unearth and As I Lay Dying. I can't stop listening; When Goodbye is a powerfully adamant release that's a worthy investment. But then, with a name like I Killed the Prom Queen, would you expect anything less?
www.emocore.us (usa)
Formed in 2001 in Adelaide, Australia, I Killed The Prom Queen managed to gain enough reputation for being one of the most successful Hardcore/Metalcore bands in Australia. With their debut EP "Choose to Live, Love or Die" (Final Prayer Records) and their impressive split with Parkway Drive, also on Final Prayer Records, IKTPQ has left AU's hardcore fans with a taste of "more, more" on their lips. And so we see the band release their 1st LP "When Goodbye Means Forever" through Resist Records. This is quite a simple "tough hardcore, metal" CD, but I can't deny it's good.
For fans of: As I Lay Dying, Poison The Well, As Hope Dies, Destiny (Germany) and so on, you guys will definitely love this LP, intense screaming/singing and quite a simple, but good, lyrics, very emotional in some parts. Micheal's doing a perfect job with the vocal part in this cd, Jona is doing a good job with his lead guitar and melodic singing and in some parts, screaming. Those guys definitely are talented, but I believe they can do better.
The CD begins with some kind of introduction titled like the cd, the 2nd track is probably one of my favorite tracks in this cd, "To Kill Tomorrow", good-intense screaming and singing, head banging type of breakdowns along with fast drums work and good guitar riffs, this is the type of songs in which you can just sit around in your room and move your head up and down til you get a headache, you can't hate it. The 3rd track of the cd is called "Upon A Rivers Sky", this song was on IKTPQ's EP "Choose to Live, Love or Die" too, and is quite amazing, very catchy choruses and singing, with a lot of double pedal work on the drums, this band is a good example of what typical, but good Metalcore should be-melodic, heavy, intense and rough together.
This CD moves between soft and rough at the same time, an acoustic riff will turn into deep screaming voice in a second, like shown in the 4th track "Pointed To My Heart", the combination of the 2 singer of this band is perfect, on the one hand- Micheal has a deep-voice screaming, As I Lay Dying type of screaming, while on the other hand- Jona has a high singing voice, very emoish you can say, I love their integration. We'll skip some to my favorite track in this cd, "Death Certificate for A Beauty", this song is already overplayed in my cd player, when you listen to it for the 1st time it doesn't sounds like something special, but it grows on you quite fast, and then you can't stop dancing to it (or maybe it's just me dancing to music while listening to it?), "With another moment, I left emotionless.. these wounds are like poetry... I look down and that's my wrist I slit, I am still bleeding.. I am so sorry, cause I am so sorry", simple, but beautiful, this song has left me with an open mouth- mosh all the way home buddies.
I know that some people will say: "this shit has already been made, we've heard this type of music before" and I can't argue with them, so all in all, this music has been done already, yes- but these guys are talented in what they do, they have great tunes, and this CD contains a lot of great material which I liked to listen, you better check them out before saying no, definitely one of the best AU based hardcore/metal bands.
www.xpressmag.com.au (aus)
The city of churches is fast becoming the scream-core capital of Australia with bands like Day Of Contempt and I Killed The Prom Queen finding a sound uniquely their own, yet still perfectly capable of taking it to heavy hitters Hatebreed and Godsmack - if only someone would give them the chance. As far as IKTPQ is concerned the appeal with When Goodbye Means Forever lies in the diversity of the sound. Whereas DOC and Hatebreed bludgeon the senses from start to finish, with a snarling (read, draining) frontman and linear guitar work, IKTPQ offer vocal layers and elements ranging from old school guitar solos right through to the cut and thrust breakdowns of contemporary hard rock, or whatever the hell we’re calling post nu-metal nowadays. Michael Crafter can grumble equally as well as he can hold a note and, more impressively, he can switch from one guttural noise to the next so fast it’ll make your head spin.
How much of this and possibly some of the other elements may have been tweaked in post-production, who knows? Having said that this is still to be classified as devastatingly raw music endowed with enough industrial grunt to knock your granny’s socks off. It’s just been refined for repeat consumption.
www.noisetheory.org (aus)
With all the little musical communities around Australia growing in stature, perhaps the most impressive of all is the hardcore community that Adelaide has managed to create for itself. There is of course the more notable bands from the area - Day of Contempt and Love Like... Electrocution among others, but another band that has garnered quite a bit of attention as of late is I Killed The Prom Queen. Following an impressive split with Byron Bay's Parkway Drive, they give us their full-length debut on Resist Records, 'When Goodbye Means Forever...'. Unleashing a sound comparable to the likes of As I Lay Dying, Poison The Well and Beloved, not only are they capable of leading the Australian hardcore scene, but they are quite likely to rival even the most prolific international act with what they've shown here.
Sticking to brutal metalcore, but occasionally delving into a passionate outbreak of emo, they're not always incredibly original in what they do, but it shouldn't matter when they execute their sound to such a consistent level of quality throughout a 40-minute album. With more of a chugging pace, the music can come off enormously heavy at times, but their technical prowess and adherence towards melodic Swedish-riffing ensures that their vicious moments don't become dull, and despite a slight repetitive feel, 'When Goodbye Means Forever...' more or less progresses without much faltering - a trait that in some regards gives I Killed The Prom Queen an immediate advantage over their counterparts.
The vocals drive the album, with Michael Crafter's menacing growls and screeches creating an even more aggressive feel to an already intense album. The cleanly-sung sections provide a healthy contrast to generally harsh atmosphere that the band commit to, but much like Day of Contempt, they rarely feel the need to tone the music down to accommodate their emo-leanings. There are a few acoustic guitar parts thrown in here and there, but thankfully they are used in a tasteful manner, and never take priority over a good chugging metal riff.
Though very good, the lyrics aren't "amazing". However, with hardcore bands, it's probably how they lyrics are used in a song, as opposed to how well they're written. The anthemic chants of "This is my last goodbye kiss!" at the end of 'To Kill Tomorrow' are an excellent example of this. There's no way you're not going to scream along with something like that when seeing the band live. So based on that alone I Killed The Prom Queen automatically get a shiny gold star next to their name for having good lyrics that will provide some excellent sing-a-longs at their live show.
I've dropped the name "Day of Contempt" a number of times in this review, and though I still rate them as the finest Australian hardcore band going around, I Killed The Prom Queen are well on their way to taking DOC's throne. Not only is their music first-rate, but the slick cover art may be enough for this band to be pushed into other countries to challenge the bands I've mentioned, as well as countless others - many of which don't come close to what I Killed The Prom Queen have achieved here. 'When Goodbye Means Forever...' is an excellent debut album, and I think it would be a fucking crime if fans of heavy music, both hardcore and metal, don't pick up on this one. Well done.