 Scene Magazine, April 24, 1997 Volume 28, No. 17 Full Blown Kirk Faiza  Regular listeners of "Inner Sanctum" are already well-versed in all things Full Blown Kirk, who won the "Best Female Vocalists" and "Best New Band" awards for 1996. If there's any justice for the talented, then it's only a matter of time before the rest of the country is hip to Ohio's best kept secret. Hailing from Kent (yet sounding like they grew up in Bristol or the North Damen Street area of Chicago), Full Blown Kirk have crafted a dark masterpiece of mechanized beauty with Faiza. Standing eye to unblinking eye with such recent bigger-budget synth-rockers as Chainsuck's Angel-Score and the Sneaker Pimp's Becoming X, Faiza welds together elements of industrial aggro-rockin' crossover electronica and 80's goth-pop into an end result of twisted, Giger-esque perfection. Listening to Faiza is downright scary when you consider that Full Blown Kirk haven't even been signed to a record label... yet. While the production and instrumental execution would be remarkable in their own right, it's the exquisite, gliding harmonies of Krista Tortora and Alison Harper Scola that really grab your attention and keep you mesmerized over the course of Faiza's six tracks (especially on the rusted trip-hop beauty of "Sleepy Venus"    and the black-clad
loop fest "Vessel").If it's the guitars that get you off, check out Jack Velvet Randall having a field day on the funky "Plastic," the spatial feedback of "Mars" and the acid-etched roar of "Possession"
and "Trouser." Fans of industrial will get
the biggest kick out of the latter song, which sounds like a communique from hell (or a
scream from Further Down the Spiral). "Trouser" also packs a wonderful,
dreamy ending as a soothing bed of synth chords carries you up and away from the
corrosive, searing sonic landscape and safely into the fade.As one of the best recordings I have heard this year by any band, Faiza offers as many head-turning moments in the half-hour as any hyped-to-hell major-label release twice that long. Mark my words, folks -- Full Blown Kirk's time is going to come... and I predict that their major-label debut will knock your block off. -- Victor Cooke |
