So this is a remastered version of “Under The Influence”, the Kill’s third album originally released 31 years ago. From what I can tell in the credits the band had no involvement in the remastering, although singer Bobby Ellsworth is credited contributing to the essay by Malcolm Dome. With that, the album itself featured the hit single/video on MTV ‘Hello From The Gutter’, a song that made them more of a household name, and to feature the band’s bat skull mascot, Chaly, in the video, and album art. Influence also includes part III of the Overkill story. ‘End of the Line’ came back to their live set in recent years, and ‘Shred’ reappears from time to time. The other six songs from the album have yet to make a return.

What does this remastering offer?, from what I hear the levels are louder and punchier, and some of the tingyness of the analog 80s production is reduced. There is also some more clarity to the drums and symbol hits. The one thing that has not benefitted, much, is DD’s recognizable bass sound, which is often still low in the mix. It is more prominent during ‘Never Say Never’, ‘Brainfade’, ‘End Of The Line’, where the less chaotic arrangement and slower tempo has more space for the bass, and the opening to ‘Head First’. But overall the whole mix sounds like there is another layer of bass for fullness, but it’s not DD’s because that is underneath.
My rating based on the remastering, not the album itself, which is a 7.5, ‘Mad Gone World’ and ‘Drunken Wisdom’ I think are not as strong as the rest.