UMUR "Killer Be Killed" is the self-titled debut full-length studio album by US alternative/thrash metal act Killer Be Killed. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in May 2014. Killer Be Killed was formed by Greg Puciato (The Dillinger Escape Plan) and Max Cavalera (Sepultura, Soulfly, Nailbomb, Cavalera Conspiracy) in early 2011. During 2012 they were joined by Troy Sanders (Mastodon) and Dave Elitch (The Mars Volta...among others). A bunch of quite prolific guys and I don´t hesitate to call Killer Be Killed a "supergroup".

Stylistically the music on "Killer Be Killed" is alternative/thrash/groove metal, with both harder edged and heavy thrashy riffing and more mainstream oriented melodic content. The band are really well playing and with no less than three vocalists sharing vocal duties on the album, the vocal part of the music is nicely varied. Max Cavalera sings his usual raw and aggressive type vocals, Troy Sanders is also pretty raw sounding yet a bit more melodic, and Greg Puciato delivers both clean sung and more aggressive "core" tinged vocals. The material are generally very energetic and played with both passion and conviction. Tracks like "Face Down", "Snakes of Jehova" and the melodic opening track "Wings of Feather and Wax" are some of the highligths on the album, but there are not a dull moment here or anything sub par.

"Killer Be Killed" is simply a quality release through and through. Intriguing and clever songwriting, convincing delivery, and a powerful and detailed sound production. However the greatest asset here is probably how well Killer Be Killed strike the balance between hard edged aggression and more melodic moments (even pop oriented at times). The latter mentioned moments are just on the right side of being saccharine, and the aggression is also kept on a leash, so that the music never becomes one-dimensionally savage. So-called "supergroup" projects don´t always work wonders. Sometimes the chemistry between the involved musicians just don´t burn through on the final product and sometimes the material written for the project aren´t strong enough. There can be many reasons for projects like this to fail, but once in a while a project like Killer Be Killed pops up and prove all negative "supergroup" theories wrong and thank you for that. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.