Review: Starbenders – The Beast Goes On
Sumerian Records (February 27th, 2026)
Reviewer – Grant Foster
‘‘If you’re going to be a fucking rock star, go be one. People don’t want to see the guy next door on stage; they want to see a being from another planet. You want to see somebody you’d never meet in ordinary life.’’ So said Lemmy.
Starbenders are a band that fit that criteria to a ‘t’. Hailing from Georgia, singer/guitarist Kimi Shelter, bassist Aaron Lecesne, guitarist Kriss Tokaji and drummer Qi Wei are immediately visually striking.
Let’s put it like this, Gary Numan, the New York Dolls and Joan Jett would be proud.
Slim hipped, sexual and an androgynous in equal measures. Yet these guys and gals are no mere copycats.
They have taken the best pieces and cooked it up into a visual and aural style all their own.
The Starbenders speak to the downtrodden, those who dare to be different, those who don’t fit in. Their sound is part New Wave, part pop, part rock, part cinematic, but all laden with hooks and choruses that bite deep.
There are 13 tracks on offer here and they offer haunting melodies thanks to Kimi’s sweet vocal. Drummer Qi and bassist Aaron underpin with a cool verve, and guitarist Kriss adds choppy guitar angles and lead solos which complement and augment in equal measure.
I’m not going to even try and review each track, but I’ve no doubt anyone who purchases this body of work (and that’s what it is) will have their own favourites.
But it would be remiss of me not to mention the title track – ‘‘I love the way, you make me hate you and penetrate you and drink your blood’’
‘Nothing Ever Changes‘ – almost punk in its ferocity.
‘Chantilly Boy‘ – trawling the clubs – ‘’Put on your make up’’ Power pop at its best.
The fuzz tone vocal in ‘Forever Mine‘.
‘Tokyo‘ – all Numan, Human League, Siouxsie and a delicious chorus. If this was 1980, it would be a sure fire number one.
The haunting ‘Saturday‘, which has strange echoes of U2.
And ‘June‘, “dear June, who turned blue“. But you’ll be singing it on repeat for days.
I can’t recommend this album highly enough. It really is that simple.
Tracklisting:
- The Beast Goes On
- Nothing Ever Changes
- Chantilly Boy
- Cold Silver
- Forever Mine
- hello goodbye
- Tokyo
- Saturday
- Summon My Heart
- Somebody Else
- To Be Alright
- June
- 21st Century Digital Boy
Line-up:
Kimi Shelter – vocals
Aaron Lecesne – bass
Kriss Tokaji – guitars
Qi Wei – drums