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Killer: Monsters Of Rock

Heavy Metal

3.5/5.0

Website
Mausoleum Records
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 06.05.2015

A metal band of some note in their native Belgium and the larger European theater, Killer had it's best success in the early to mid Eighties, selling albums around the world. With somewhat of a resurrection at the turn of the century, the band celebrates 35 years in the heavy metal biz with a new album, Monsters Of Rock.

Killer

Killer is essentially a guitar-centered power trio, with "Shorty" (hoping it refers to his height rather than his middle leg) Van Camp's raspy voice and fiery guitar leads at the forefront. Their sound is old school NWoBHM-style metal, touched by classic speed metal, at times. The album itself is a "monster," with 15 songs at nearly an hour and ten minutes. I'm thinking this was done in celebration of the band and their history, even a gift to the fans. Honestly, they could have shaved off five or six songs, and had a better album overall. There's quite a few songs that simply drag along, plodding like a lumbering elephant. Danger Zone, Firestorm, or Fake come to mind. Alternatively, there are some sparks of interest. One is Deaf Blind and Dumb, basically a punk speed metal song akin to Motorhead. Others include Monsters Of Rock and Forever Metal. Though they're cheesy odes to all things rock and metal, they're darn catchy songs, especially the latter. Also, there's Making Magic, basically a hard rock song with a great blues riff (which reflects Shorty's history even earlier than Killer). In the end, Monsters Of Rock is hardly a bad album, but it is hampered by it's length and inherent redundancy. Nevertheless, for old school heavy metal, Killer is the real deal.

Killer - Monsters Of Rock

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Though unnecessarily long and verging on redundancy, for old school heavy metal, Killer's Monsters Of Rock is the real deal.

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