Killer Be Killed is an American heavy metal supergroup founded by

Dillinger Escape Plan The Dillinger Escape Plan is an American metalcore band. The band was formed in 1997 in Morris Plains, New Jersey by guitarist Ben Weinman, bassist Adam Doll, vocalist Dimitri Minakakis, and drummer Chris Pennie. The band's use of dissonance ...

vocalist

Greg Puciato Gregory John Puciato (born March 27, 1980) is an American musician best known as the former lead vocalist and lyricist of the metalcore band the Dillinger Escape Plan. In addition to being a solo artist, he currently fronts Better Lovers and t ...

and

Soulfly Soulfly is an American heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Phoenix, Arizona in 1997. Soulfly is led by former Sepultura frontman Max Cavalera, who formed the band after he left the Brazilian group in 1996. To date the band has release ...

frontman

Max Cavalera Massimiliano Antonio "Max" Cavalera (; born 4 August 1969) is a Brazilian musician. He co-founded the Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Sepultura in 1984 with his brother Igor Cavalera, and was the band's lead singer and rhythm guitarist unti ...

in early 2011. The lineup also features

Mastodon A mastodon, from Ancient Greek μαστός (''mastós''), meaning "breast", and ὀδούς (''odoús'') "tooth", is a member of the genus ''Mammut'' (German for 'mammoth'), which was endemic to North America and lived from the late Miocene to ...

bassist and co-vocalist

Troy Sanders Troy Jayson Sanders (born September 8, 1973) is an American musician, best known as the bassist and one of the vocalists of Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Mastodon (band), Mastodon. He is also active in the supergroups Killer Be Killed and ...

and

Converge Converge may refer to: * Converge (band), American hardcore punk band * Converge (Baptist denomination), American national evangelical Baptist body * Limit (mathematics) In mathematics, a limit is the value that a function (or sequence) app ...

drummer

Ben Koller Ben Koller (born July 29, 1980) is an American drummer who has played with Converge, Mutoid Man, Killer Be Killed and All Pigs Must Die. He started playing a full drum kit at age 14. Career Early bands (1997–1999) Koller played in th ...

. The band had slowly been working on material before announcing its name in October 2013, along with their signing to

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast Records is a German record label with subsidiary, subsidiaries located in Germany, the United States and Brazil. It was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Donzdorf. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on ...

.Max Cavalera/Greg Puciato/Troy Sanders Supergroup Finds a Label Home

MetalSucks MetalSucks is an American heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a Music genre, genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock ...

. October 15, 2013. Retrieved October 20, 2013. The group's self-titled debut record was released in 2014. In September 2020, the group returned with a new single, and released their second album ''

Reluctant Hero The reluctant hero is a heroic archetype typically found in fiction. The reluctant hero is typically portrayed either as an everyman forced into surreal situations which require him to rise to heroism and its acts, or as a person with special ab ...

'' in November of that year.

History

Formation, early years and self-titled (2011–2015)

The band was first announced in February 2011, when

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions published by different companies available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' featu ...

reported news of Puciato and Cavalera planning a new project in the vein of Cavalera's

Nailbomb Nailbomb is a heavy metal band formed in 1993 as a side project by Brazilian musician Max Cavalera (then the frontman of Sepultura) and British musician Alex Newport of Fudge Tunnel. They played a combination of primarily industrial metal and ...

band with Alex Newport in the mid 1990s. Shortly afterwards, Mars Volta's Dave Elitch and Mastodon bassist Troy Sanders were announced to be part of the project.

bassist

Nate Newton Nathaniel Isaac Newton (born December 20, 1961) is an American former professional football player who was a guard in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and Carolina Panthers. He also was a member of the Tampa Bay Bandit ...

was originally eyed to be included in the project, but was unable to join, so Cavalera reached out to Sanders instead. Despite not yet having a name, the group entered the Fortress Studio in Los Angeles in September 2013 with producer Josh Wilbur. In October 2013, the band revealed Killer Be Killed as their name and announced that their first album would be released through Nuclear Blast.Project Featuring MAX CAVALERA, GREG PUCIATO, TROY SANDERS Gets Name

Blabbermouth.net ''Blabbermouth.net'' is a website dedicated to metal and rock news, as well as album and music DVD reviews. It is run by the website's founder Borivoj Krgin. The first version of the website was launched in March 2001. In October 2001, the rec ...

. October 18, 2013. Retrieved October 20, 2013. In March 2014, an announcement confirmed that the band's debut album would be self-titled, '' Killer Be Killed'', and would be released on May 13, 2014.Killer Be Killed Featuring Cavalera, Puciato, Sanders: Debut Album Cover Artwork Revealed

. March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014. On March 14, 2014, two songs from the upcoming eponymous debut, "Wings of Feather and Wax", and "Face Down" were made available for streaming.

drummer

joined for the band's live debut at Soundwave Festival and was announced as a full-fledged member that summer, replacing Elitch.

''Reluctant Hero'' (2016–present)

In an interview with Full Metal Jackie, Cavalera said he'd love to do another Killer Be Killed album; "I'd love to do a little bit with Killer Be Killed … We did one record and it was very well received, and I think we can do a better one than that. I think we can really — if we work hard on it — we can make a kick ass second Killer Be Killed album." In a 2016

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

update Koller announced there is "whispers in the dark of a new Killer Be Killed album". In April 2018, Max Cavalera confirmed that the band were convening in Phoenix to write and rehearse new material in

's rehearsal space, with the aim of releasing a new album in 2019. On Friday, September 4, 2020, the band released a brand new song called "Deconstructing Self-Destruction" which features Max, Greg, Troy and Ben credited as writers. The song is the first single off their second album ''Reluctant Hero'' which is set for release on November 20, 2020, via

Nuclear Blast Records Nuclear Blast Records is a German record label with subsidiary, subsidiaries located in Germany, the United States and Brazil. It was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Donzdorf. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on ...

. Wall of Sound broke the news after digging up the album's artwork and tracklisting. On October 9, 2020, the band released their second single from the album called "Dream Gone Bad". In an interview with ''Wall of Sound'', bassist

explained why the second album's recording process was kept a secret; "I mentioned to my guys 'every time we get together and work on something, let's just keep it to ourselves' so we don't create any type of buzz or excitement to our small handful of fans." ''

'' was released in November 20, 2020.

Musical style

Commenting on the writing process of their first album, Cavalera told ''

Decibel The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a Power, root-power, and field quantities, power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whos ...

'' that the record will be "politically charged" and that the composition will be a merging of styles of each of its members. In a press release, Puciato characterizes the style, "It's a bit of Sabbath-y

doom Doom is another name for damnation. Doom may also refer to: People * Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed * Daniel Doom (1934–2020), Belgian cyclist * Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitche ...

, a bit of thrash, a bit of hardcore and

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

" continuing, "Of any of our bands, it sounds the furthest away from mine...", whereas critics have described the band's sound as a progressive form of

groove metal Groove metal, sometimes also called neo-thrash or post-thrash, is a subgenre of heavy metal music that began in the early 1990s. The genre is primarily derived from thrash metal, but played in slower tempos, and making use of rhythmic guitar pa ...

, incorporating elements of

melodic metalcore Melodic metalcore is a fusion genre, incorporating elements of melodic death metal and metalcore; it has a heavy emphasis on melodic instrumentation, distorted guitar tones, palm mute, palm muting, double bass drumming, blast beats, metalcore-sty ...

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...

crossover thrash Crossover thrash (often abbreviated to crossover) is a fusion genre of thrash metal and hardcore punk. The genre emerged in the mid-1980s, when hardcore punk bands, such as Suicidal Tendencies, Cryptic Slaughter, Corrosion of Conformity and Dir ...

and

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

Members

;Current members *

– vocals, rhythm guitar (2011–present) *

– bass, vocals (2012–present) *

– drums, percussion (2015–present) ;Live/session members *Juan Montoya – lead guitar (2013, 2015, 2020–present) ;Former members *Dave Elitch – drums, percussion (2012–2015) ;Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

Singles and music videos

Accolades

Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards , - , 2015 , , Killer Be Killed , , Best Live Band , ,

References

External links

Official website
* {{Authority control 2011 establishments in California American alternative metal musical groups American groove metal musical groups Heavy metal musical groups from California American heavy metal supergroups Musical groups established in 2011 Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical quintets from California American political music groups