CD review KILLER BE KILLED ‘Reluctant Hero’

Killer Be Killed released their debut album in 2014 and received a lot of positive feedback. Well, this has also to do with the fact that Killer Be Killed are well-known faces in metal who came together in a new constellation.

Killer Be Killed are Max Cavalera, Greg Puciato, Troy Sanders and Ben Koller. All four are well-know and with a remarkable track record. They bring all this experience to Killer Be Killed and create a varied album with harsh sounds and musical qualities. Thrash metal, punk and hardcore fuse on ‘Reluctant Hero’, all of it stringed together with a proper portion of melody.

With their second album, the quartet can certainly tie in with their predecessor, but after having listened to half of the songs, one also has the impression of repetitive elements. Even if well done, the band uses a kind of cookie-cutter approach that returns in the majority of songs and makes the album predictable in a way.

However, I would like to highlight a song like ‘Inner Calm From Outer Storms’, which has a slightly different pattern. Slow, menacing and intense this track winds its way into your ears before Cavalera releases the grooving thrash metal beast from its cage. And not to forget the high-speed punk smasher ‘Animus’, a blast in less than two minutes.

A mixture of different influences can be quite inspiring and in some parts also Killer Be Killed manages to spark enthusiasm. Nevertheless, in a way not all of the dots are connected and something big is missing, a song that that gets stuck after an entertaining first spin of the album. Considering the debut and the musicians involved, the expectations were a bit higher than what the album delivers.