6/10

The return of The Kills was always going to bring attention. Having been five years since their last studio album together, Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince have spent much of the last few years working on their separate projects and building new avenues to explore. So you would expect their return to be huge and bombastic at the least, but sadly 'Ash & Ice' isn't much to get excited about.

It's not that the record is bad in anyway, just that it lacks that special Kills venom that we have seen so many times before. While their dark, brooding style still remains a staple of this album, much of it seems to take a softer route to get there and the result is something so radio-friendly, it almost begins to tread the line of mediocrity.

While standout tracks like 'Siberian Nights' still pound through this release, there seems a little too much filler to make it a truly engaging listen. It will still go down well with their fans but not quite the marvellous return they might be expecting.