First things first. I’m not sure what it is Melbourne, Austrailia’s Mr. Kill is trying to say with their moniker, but whatever it is I don’t think it works. To raise one’s self to the level of bonafide “Mr.” in the entertainment and capitalistic world is quite lofty. You just don’t rise overnight to the likes of Mister Rogers, Mr. Wizard, Mr. Ed, Mr. T, Mr. Bean, Mr. Belvedere, or even Mr. Mister for that matter, and defintely not in a haphazard attempt at being cleverly brutal. Alas though, a rose by any other name…or something like that.

Anyhoo, here we have The Day of Reckoning, the six song debut EP, four tracks actually, if you omit the needless, pointless, and music-less intro, “The Descent”, and “Elegy”, the EP’s outro track, which is actually quite a nice short, soft, and somewhat beautiful piano piece that doesn’t relly seem to fit with the band and their metal output. That output being one of a deathy, thrashy, modern-y, groove-laden, aggro nature that reccalls and displays an influential mix of 2002/04 era of Hypocrisy, Kataklysm, and In Flames, albeit wrapped within a DevilDriver shuffle. Throw in a few slight shades of Killswitch Enagage, Machine Head, and even a tad of Fear Factory, and you have got yourself quite a solid little banger here.

Solid is the key word here. Nothing Earth shattering, or on the contrary, nothing vomit inducing either is to be found on The Day of Reckoning. Nothing overtly good or bad, just a well played and produced solid entry of good ol’ metal. Though those clean vocal/choral pieces in “Oblivion” don’t do a damn thing for me. They’re not only distracting, but they tend to imbue more of a spaghetti western feel more than anything else, if you know what I mean. A ripping melodious lead would have been much more fitting, complimentary and enjoyable, in my opinion. Yet therein lies the only true  problem or fault, if you can call it that, with “The Day of Reckoning”. With all four proper tracks standing toe to toe and shoulder to shoulder with one another and  nothing really standing out too much from each other, the EP’s over all impact is significantly lessened. Take into additional account that each of these proper songs clock in at a six minute average , and not only do the tracks not stand out in their own way enough, but they’re a bit too bloated to boot.

I will say that I enjoyed The Day of Reckoning more in workout and driving scenarios where I was just listening to listen rather than to critique, and the drum performance I thought was quite ferociously competent at the very least. With a little fat cut here and there and a bit of  branching out in the solo/lead guitar department and Mr. Kill might just be able to elevate themselves to their already self-proclaimed title of “Mister”. As it stands though, one could do a lot worse when it comes to finding newer bands to delve into than Mr. Kill.

[Visit the band's website]

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