Where do these fresh, innovative bands come from, especially in such an abused and overplayed genre such as melodic death metal? I suppose they come from the same place as At The Gates, Dark Tranquillity or In Flames – the great creative beyond. When I downloaded this debut album (released a mere year after the untitled demo) from Melbourne, Victoria, Australian quartet unimaginatively named Mr. Kill I hardly expected the gem it turned out to be, despite my really loving "Oblivion" single on youtube.

I’ve mentioned the melodeath Gothenburg Trinity not without reason as the material, which is a 6 track, 4 song affair at barely over 26 minutes (track 1 and 6 intro and outro, respectively) is dominated by classic Gothenburg as well as its latter derivatives such as early Sentenced, Amon Amarth, Insomnium or Fear My Thoughts (Annihilation). But this melodeath is interwoven with some metalcore stylings a’la All That Remains (Annihilation), Heaven Shall Burn (Hatred), If Hope Dies (Oblivion), Killswitch Engage (Annihilation) or Unearth (Valiant Amusement), Justin Ks (rhythm guitars, vocals, programming & song-writing), Scott Henderson (lead guitars), Baltion Radi (bass) and Xines (drums) expertly lay down, a concoction which brings to mind such albums as "This Darkened Heart", "Antigone", "Life In Ruin", "Alive Or Just Breathing" or "The Oncoming Storm" (respectively, alphabetically to the 4 aforementioned metalcore giants). But what makes Mr. Kill differ from all these is the construction which is predominantly and overwhelmingly melodeath. From this perspective, they they have more to do with "North From Here" or "Amok" (Sentenced) or "Above The Weeping World" (Insomnium). In any case, what makes these 4 tracks most attractive is the deliciously luscious melodies which pour from the guitars like fruit from the Tree Of Life.

All tracks being rather equal in quality, let me just mention the finest example of the perfect combination of all these elements, the masterful "Valiant Amusement" where Amon Amarth freely dances with ancient Amorphis encased in a As I Lay Dying riffing meat. There are ebbs and flows, including changes of pace and mood showing Justin as a master of cleft and note the degree of perhaps Charles Michael "Chuck" Schuldiner (Death) or Lars Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth).

"Day Of Reckoning" is just a tad short of perfection in that some of the riffs sound a little overplayed and generic (Annihilation) but given the overall quality of the material this flaw is almost negligible. At the risk of sounding like a typical old commercial, you owe it to yourself to check these guys out today. Hopefully, this is the beginning of another icon in melodic death metal.

https://mrkillofficial.bandcamp.com/