First written piece in a while, chalk that up to
University work and some personal stuff – but I’m here now and ready to shoot
out a review on the first of a host of amazing albums to come out this year!
This year is gonna be full of outrageous music,
new material coming from Every Time I Die, Rise Against, Cancer Bats, Ash, some
new Dillinger Escape Plan tracks and probably a host more; but the first one to
hit is Killer Be Killed’s debut album which is out this week.
The supergroup known as Killer Be Killed consists
of members from four of the most monstrous metal bands on the planet right now:
Greg Puciato (Dillinger Escape Plan), Max Cavalera (Soulfly), Troy Sanders
(Mastodon) and Dave Elitch (formerly of The Mars Volta).
Plus they might have the most metal band name
ever, seriously it just screams, well screaming and personally it’s one of my
favorite band names ever – it lets you know what to expect from the next 46
minutes of listening.
One of the most unique attributes of the band is
that there are three vocalists, which could go one of two ways; it either turns
into a mish-mash of shouts and screams or it plays out incredibly and gives
each part of every song urgency and a sense of unexpectedness. Killer Be Killed puts this worry to rest
during opener “Wings Of Wax And Feather”, a fast paced loud spectacle with a
very melody-driven chorus which showcases each of the vocalists on form and in
their own zone. The tracks continues
this till a much heavier breakdown of sorts comes in near the end which sounds
very much like a Dillinger track, only to jump back into melody to finish the
frantic opener off.
This formula works on most of the tracks on the
album, and does so without becoming even a little bit boring or stale, the
changing up of vocals and each vocalist’s unique style definitely keeps things
fresh and exciting, not to mention the heavy guitar riffs and ear-bursting
drums.
Speaking personally, the stand-out track is either
the opener or the third assault “Melting Of My Marrow”, which uses the above
form but adds in a sort of soul-element and it doesn't sound as heavy as
others, it does pull out the same trick as “Wings…” and thrusts out a punishing
heavy breakdown in the later stages of the track to just push the track over
the top. It’s probably the most
Dillinger-like track on the album in the idea that it gives us both Greg’s
gritty vocals but also displays his smoother, softer one’s also. It’s by no means the “pop” song on the album,
but it just shows us that this band of metal rhinos can actually pull out a
diverse track like this.
For a debut album this is incredible, for an
established band this would be incredible, frankly in a nutshell it’s just a slab
of heavy metal which meets the demands of the fans of these bands and is what
you’d expect from a band made-up of four of the top names in metal today.
There's still time to jump on the Pre-Order bus - go to the below address and pick-up a copy, either on CD or on Vinyl
