Metal Underground.com

When the members of other well known bands come together for a new project, there's both a buzz of excitement, and a collective held breath: will this be an explosion of awesome, or something altogether limp? Whether a supergroup sticks too closely to its member's other projects or strays too far away, someone is going to hate it. Killer Be Killed strikes a fantastic medium between those two points, both making it consistently obvious who is involved while still offering something a little different.

The project consists of Greg Puciato (The Dillinger Escape Plan), Dave Elitch (ex-The Mars Volta), Max Cavalera (Soulfly, ex-Sepultura), and Troy Sanders (Mastodon), which needless to say is a pretty diverse lineup, so the end result really could have gone any direction. While this self-titled album shows a slightly different musical expression than what you might expect from these particular musicians, there's clear echoes of their various main projects.

Although not as abrasive or frantic as The Dillinger Escape Plan, you will definitely hear some of the insane math metal influence in there, along with a solid mix of modern metal, hardcore, and even hard rock. The tracks feature a balance of harsh screamed vocals and more rocking clean singing, and while none of the tracks are completely “radio-friendly,” there is an energetic rock sound in there that at times almost brings to mind the likes of P.O.D.

For a few changes the tracks occasionally throw in curve balls as well, like the electronic voices on “Save The Robots,” or the extremely slowed down tempo and increased length on closing song “Forbidden Fire.” At 11 tracks of lean songs mostly around three or four minutes, the album flies by without getting repetitive or overstaying its welcome.

The only real issue with “Killer Be Killed” is that the band has a minor identity issue – do the guys want to be extreme or mainstream? If you don't like The Dillinger Escape Plan and you can't tolerate anything rock oriented in your metal, then you can probably skip this, but you'll definitely be missing out. On the other hand, if you love the different sounds that The Dillinger Escape Plan, Soulfly, and Mastodon all bring to the table, you'll be right at home here with this boldly different album marking a 2014 high point.