Review: Killer Be Killed – Killer Be Killed

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Cavalera Conspiracy, Dave Elitch, Greg Puciato, Killer be Killed, Mastodon, Max Cavalera, Music, New Music, review, Sepultura, Soulfly, Supergroup, The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Mars Volta, Troy Sanders

Killer Be Killed, like any supergroup, have a lot to live up to. Featuring members of some of the biggest bands in metal, expectations are high for their upcoming album. Few supergroups live up to expectations, even the ones that are generally considered good are never as great as the sum of their parts. But with members of Mastodon, The Dillinger Escape Plan and Sepultura, will Killer Be Killed be the band to finally break this trend.

Unfortunately the answer is no. Killer Be Killed is certainly successful at what it does, but I wouldn’t say it comes close to the work of the individual members. Instead they has all the same shortcomings that most supergroups have. When you put three creative forces with unique individual styles together, you can’t retain all of that creativity. Something needs to be watered down.

With that said, don’t be mistaken. Killer Be Killed is a great metal album. It simply isn’t as good as Mastodon or The Dillinger Escape Plan. But let’s be fair, few metal bands making music today come close to the quality of those bands. The biggest problem however is that it’s also not as interesting as those bands. There isn’t really very much new here, it’s just not all that different to what other bands are doing, even if it is being done very well.

The album’s main “gimmick,” for lack of a better word, is the vocals. Singing is split fairly evenly between Max Cavalera, Greg Puciato and Troy Sanders. This really gives the album a unique sound. Even if the songs overall are kind of generic, the vocals make up for them. Of course, Mastodon also has three vocalists, but while Sanders, Brann Dailor and Brent Hinds all have fairly similar voices, all the members here sound completely different. It’s by far the most interesting thing about the album, without it I doubt it would be able to keep anybody’s attention.

Easily the best song on the album is its opener, “Wings of Feather and Wax.” I’ve already talked about this track before, as well as “Face Down” and “I.E.D.,” but my opinion on it hasn’t really changed. It’s just a damn good metal track. It may not be particularly original but its quality is good enough that it doesn’t really matter. In fact that sums up the album pretty well overall.  The biggest problem with “Wings” is that the album never quite makes it back up to that level again. I wouldn’t say there’s a bad track on this album, but none are as good as its opener.

This material may not be the best that any of the band’s members have produced, but that’s not to say they’re not putting their all into it. Dave Elitch, formerly of The Mars Volta, is a fantastic drummer. Given he’s the only member not from a metal band, he ends up being a great fit here. It’s also the first time in ages that I’ve found something Max Cavalera’s done to be enjoyable. It’s far better than anything he’s done with Soulfly, even if it doesn’t live up to his prime in Sepultura. As I’ve already said, the album isn’t as good as Sanders or Puciato’s other work, but it’s not trying to be. Fortunately, the band doesn’t sound like somebody haphazardly threw Mastodon, The Dillinger Escape Plan and Soulfly in a blender, it sounds like its own thing. Fans of those bands should certainly check it out but don’t expect it to sound like them.

Overall, Killer Be Killed’s debut is a success, albeit one that doesn’t necessarily live up to expectations. It’s certainly a great album but the individual members, at least Sanders and Puciato, are capable of doing far better things with their respective bands. Most of all it just seems odd to me that such creative musicians, who have provided some of the most memorable metal in recent memory, would produce something so simplistic. That ends up being both a positive and negative for the album. On one hand, it allows Killer Be Killed to be its own independent thing. On the other hand, it fails to utilize the creative voices of some of the members. But all in all, Killer Be Killed is worth checking out. It’s not going to be spun as often as Crack the Skye, Option Paralysis or Chaos A.D., but it should still please fans. At the very least, it should hold you over for a month until the new Mastodon album comes out.

Killer Be Killed comes out May 13^th on Nuclear Blast. You can currently stream the album for free on Metal Hammer.