Websites:
Official Site
The Killer @ MySpace
The Inside Pulse:
With an obvious tough guy hardcore mentality and a heavy handed, chugging guitar breakdown attack, Chicago’s own The Killer is not out to impress anyone. There’s no desire for radio airplay, no video to be shot, and the Warped Tour is out of the question. This years re-release of 2004’s Better Judged… has a live concert DVD and four more tracks added. This is the kind of band that becomes popular for its message and what it stands for more than the music they make. This album can’t be bashed nor can it be praised. It just is what it is; another brick in the wall of hardcore history. The production is okay at best leaving a sense of a dedication to maintaining the underground hardcore status quo. This band will lend itself well to great pits at a live show but you’ll go home forgetting who the band was.
Positives:
Brutal enough for fans of Hatebreed and Merauder. Decent pit inducing breakdowns. An acceptable cover of Twisted Sister’s “Burn In Hell”. Lyrically, true old-school hardcore fans will latch on. This is tried and true, cookie cutter hardcore. Good for what it is but it’s already been done. The good thing is that these guys don’t seem to care. They are making their music for them selves and no one else and in true hardcore street mentality, “If you don’t like it, well f$#k you!”
Negatives:
Mediocrity at its finest. This album will not sustain the interest of anyone who is not a true hardcore lifestyle enthusiast through and through. There is a severe lack of diversity amongst the songs musically. The vocals are brutal and caustic but show no attempt at diversity. There is nothing on this album that is noticeably special or different but none of it is inherently bad either. These guys will rule the VFW halls of every small run-down town in the Midwest.
Cross Breed:
Mastodon, Hatebreed, Madball, Merauder, Stigmata, Straightjacket, old school Biohazard, metalized Agnostic Front
Reason to Buy:
Only if you are an absolute hardcore purist and can get past territorial bragging and bear with “Midwest Hardcore” should you venture to own this.
