The Of Fire EP is Kill Memory Crash’s first release for Ghostly International since 2005’s American Automatic. On Of Fire, gone are the ambient, cinematic touches and stop-start dynamics that characterized their last record; in their place are tighter synthesizers, sharper serrated percussion, and a terrifyingly direct focus that speaks of the Chicago industrial duo’s new found vigor.Of Fire has a right-up-in-your ears immediacy that packs a serious low-end punch. “Hell on Wheels”’s locomotive bass stutters a foundation for a cathedral of fuzz-toned guitar stabs and effected vocals. “Slug Song,” meanwhile, combines distorted screams and buzzsaw synthesizers into a chugging disco banger from Hell. Ghostly Swim’s “Hit + Run” begins with a fiendishly syncopated bassline, but quickly detonates in a hail of swooping electronic noise and disaffected vocals.Kill Memory Crash have discovered the power of individual sounds, broadening their strokes and sharpened their edges until the tracks gleam like fresh-polished steel.