#max cavalera
Killer Be Killed-Reluctant Hero
The, possibly, most high-profile metal supergroup, Killer Be Killed, are back after a lengthy break following their self-titled 2014 debut with a rather similarly well-rounded sophomore effort. Sepultura founder and current Soulfly leader Max Cavalera, dynamic frontman of the late Dillinger Escape Plan and The Black Queen Greg Puciato (who just put out a fantastic solo album a month ago), Troy Sanders of Mastodon, and Converge drummer Ben Koller make for a rather promising and lineup.
Though it takes some time to break into its shoes, a few songs in to build some momentum, Reluctant Hero is a pretty boisterous display from the star-studded alliance, who really have no excuse to fail with their combined pedigrees in the album’s thorough combination of relatively straightforward thrash, groove metal, and sludge metal.
The multi-vocal attack serves some of the more dynamic trade-offs well, but with three of them singing, I think they could have gone a little harder on layered vocal harmonies and dizzying trade-offs.
Indeed, the album’s greatest weakness is perhaps how unambitious it feels for a project made by the joining of four metal giants, especially in comparison to their works with their respective main bands.
Despite feeling largely like a less-proggy, safe version of an early Mastodon album, Reluctant Hero delivers the no-nonsense thrashers and groovy bangers it needs to, and any complaints about it are mild and largely overshadowed by the exciting dynamic exchanged among the four superstars here.
7/10
max cavalera [sepultura/soufly] & chino moreno [deftones]
chino moreno [deftones] & max cavalera [soulfly]
max cavalera [soulfly] & daryl palumbo [glassjaw]
Max Cavalera on The MetalSucks Podcast #441
Max Cavalera on The MetalSucks Podcast #441
The legendary Max Cavalera is our guest this week! We discuss his current tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of the classic Sepultura albums Beneath The Remains and Arise, the lyrical content on those records having a better meaning now than it did 30 years ago, how society in general considered the material ridiculous back then, and the younger generation discovering his classic records. We…