Toys That Kill

Formed in 2001 and performing their first gig after singer/guitarist Todd Congelliere and singer/guitarist Sean Cole played their final gig the day before with their former band, F.Y.P, Toys That Kill are not so different. They include a new drummer, Denis Fleps, and new bassist Casey Ferrara, and Cole, who handled drums and bass with F.Y.P, now sings on a few songs and filters his schooled-on-Slayer-and-Napalm Death background into the occasional hesher-sounding guitar riffs. The songs were now less about elementary school-type traumas, but still fiercely immature and proud. Also, the band seemed to aspire to that elusive and maybe not so important quality that most Recess Records bands scoff at: musicianship. Their first record, The Citizen Abortion, didn't veer far from F.Y.P's sound, with the exception being Cole's more metal-influenced numbers. The EP Flys followed in early 2004 on Asian Man Records.