7/10

After releasing their fourth studio album 'Jessica Rabbit' around this time last year, Sleigh Bells have since announced their plans to release smaller, more frequent material in the near future. Starting with this, a seven-track mini-album dubbed 'Kid Kruschev', which while remains a brief dose of new Sleigh Bells material, certainly manages to pack a fair punch every now and again.

Over their career, the pair have evolved from an ultra-distorted noise-rock duo, to one that appreciates more melodic intensions from time to time. On 'Kid Kruschev', we once again see them try to level this balance. While its opener 'Blue Trash Mattress Fire' has more of their latter day sound, it's followed by 'Favourite Transgressions', a callback to the original gristle of their debut full-length. Making this new collection a real retrospective release that aims to pay homage to all their previous directions.

While it definitely gives Sleigh Bells fans what they would expect, there are still moments that see them trying newer things. The track 'Rainmaker' has this real dark, almost goth-like appeal, which while fitting with their overall sound, shows that they are far from dried out when it comes to reinvention.