Kill Creek

Kill Creek will probably never get its own page in rock history. But for some, the band was as meaningful as any of the “important” bands of the ’90s. The Will to Strike is a generous and frustrating two-disc, 45-song gift to those who didn’t snag Creek releases the first time around. Disc one begins with the 1996 watershed Proving Winter Cruel, which remains the most powerful statement the quartet ever made. “Unsteady” and “Chromosome” are flat-out classics and were huge influences on locals such as the Get Up Kids and Doris Henson. Disc two contains the warts-and-all 1994 Stretch EP and its follow-up, St. Valentine’s Garage. There are also rarities, demos and other nuggets that span the group’s career, including “Promise to Fail,” a sublime outtake from Colors of Home, the band’s lone still-in-print album, which is otherwise not represented here. Out of the extras, only “The March” — 12-plus minutes of self-indulgent white noise — should’ve remained on the cutting-room floor. A more serious drawback is that Strike contains few liner notes and no photos or other contextual information. It’s a huge omission that will leave those unfamiliar with the group completely lost. But Strike is far from exhaustive anyway, given the ton of unreleased (or barely released) material still in the vaults. The album is clearly meant for Kill Creek fans, so it’s a shame this retrospective wasn’t taken all the way.