Killer Hearts reside in Houston, Texas, but sound like they’d rather be on the left coast (the Sunset Strip, to be precise), or on the East Coast (Max’s Kansas City, for example), preferably in another era. We covered their 2021 debut album Unchained & Bloodstained, and its follow-up came out late October on Screaming Crow Records with some pretty spectacular vinyl variants. Relative to Unchained & Bloodstained, Skintight Electric feels like Killer Hearts moving even further into hard rock territory. They don’t just look the part (a whole lot of black leather? Check! Singer wearing high-heeled boots? Check!), they play the part. Scratch that—this doesn’t sound like acting at all, even though the second half of a song like Demolition Love has so much Mötley Crüe in it, it has to be intentional. This is the sound of a punk band who studied the glam rock playbook front to back, then decided the only way to honor it was to play it louder, harder, and meaner.
Of the ten-song tracklist, High Temptress is my jam. It’s glam rock ‘n’ roll with sharp hooks, killer guitar licks, and an anthemic chorus that demands to be screamed along to from the backseat of a Trans Am you don’t own yet.
Out now on Screaming Crow Records.