Band:	Killer Be Killed
Album:	Killer Be Killed
Style:	Groove metal
Release date:	May 09, 2014
A review by:	ScreamingSteelUS

01. Wings Of Feather And Wax
02. Face Down
03. Melting Of My Marrow
04. Snakes Of Jehovah
05. Curb Crusher
06. Save The Robots
07. Fire To Your Flag
08. I.E.D.
09. Dust Into Darkness
10. Twelve Labors
11. Forbidden Fire
12. Ghosts Of Chernobyl [vinyl bonus]

If bands like Adrenaline Mob, Symfonia, Audioslave, and any of the 300 Anthrax-based supergroups have taught us anything, it's that incredible collaborations have a disappointingly high rate of failure. Fortunately, there are plenty of examples to the contrary, and Killer Be Killed is one of them.

Right away, "Wings Of Feather And Wax" launches into a grungy, distorted verse resembling Mastodon's most lucid moments (appropriately sung by Troy Sanders); Greg Puciato's clean, catchy, soulful chorus follows, to be shored up halfway through the song by Max Cavalera's fast and brutal contribution from his Sepultura days. Greg Puciato has stated that, of all the members' other projects, Killer Be Killed least resembles The Dillinger Escape Plan, and this is probably accurate; Cavalera and Sanders seem to hold the most sway over the album's sound. Most of these songs spring from a combination of Mastodon's most conventional rockers and Sepultura's heavy, occasionally sinister edge.

While not as thoughtful, avant-garde, psychedelic, experimental, or downright inexplicable as The Dillinger Escape Plan or The Mars Volta can be, periodic passages of hazy wandering (usually sung by Sanders) and some irresistibly catchy choruses rescue Killer Be Killed from being purely austere, unadorned heavy metal. Of course, it is largely simple and basic, and this is likely to be the album's biggest criticism; I, too, hope to see some more variation and experimentation on the next album - especially given the diverse talents of the members - but the songs still manage to avoid being boring. The important thing is that Killer Be Killed bears no resemblance to Justin Timberlake or Miley Cyrus, with both of whom Dave Elitch has toured.

Elitch wears the pants musically, as his superb drumming creates a powerful base off of which the songs can build. Puciato's clean vocals mix impeccably well with Cavalera's vicious growls and Sanders's ragged, naturally mesmerizing voice, and this is the album's greatest strength. Many of us wondered who would claim the mic in a collaboration with three singers, and, as it turns out, all of them did. While the material is by no means mediocre, the chemistry between these three strong vocalists makes it far more engaging and memorable than it otherwise would be. More than anything else, this interplay is what attracts me to the band.

Killer Be Killed might be a disappointment to some because it is not as interesting as it could have been, but unlike so many other supergroups, it nonetheless has some strong material to fall back on. While perhaps different from the expected, songs like "Face Down," "Melting Of My Marrow," and "I.E.D." are good enough to make this album a successful experiment, and hopefully just the beginning of Killer Be Killed.