Review by Saxy S for Killer Be Killed - Reluctant Hero (2020)

What do you get when you form a heavy metal supergroup consisting of members of the bands Mastodon, Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge and Soulfly? If you guessed a marvelous experience that combines elements of all of the members past endeavours and meshes them well into a great album...well you’ve probably come to the wrong place.

I’m not sure where to start with Reluctant Hero. The overall sound of this record is very jarring and unconventional, especially considering the rep sheet mentioned earlier. Surely someone out of this group of upper echelon names within their respective metal subgenres would have mentioned somewhere during the recording process that it needs more of Troy Sanders bass. Considering how much of this album is borrowing from more recent Mastodon output, this would be one of the more important elements to have on full display. However, Josh Wilbur did produce it so I am not surprised.

As a result, many of these songs lack groove and forward momentum; kind of a problem on a groove metal album such as this. You will be hard pressed to find any semblance of a bass line on this album outside of its two slower tunes: “From a Crowded Wound” and the title track “Reluctant Hero”. And it’s not like the guitar leads are doing anything to help. These guitar riffs sound incredibly redundant in the alternative metal vein and mostly resort to palm muted chugging and it gets tiresome very quickly. In addition, the album isn’t very expansive. As I said off the top, for a band consisting of members spanning progressive/sludge metal, mathcore, as well as groove/thrash metal, you would think this record would be a little bit more diverse in its sound. Instead, what we get is an almost mainstream accessible type of alternative metal with hints of Deftones, and a lot of retro Sepultura and Mastodon nostalgia.

I will say on the positive side that the percussion provided by Ben Koller sounds excellent, and I did really enjoy the trio of voices alternating throughout the album to keep it somewhat fresh. But in the end, Reluctant Hero is an album by a band looking to suck people in on namesake alone, and then proceeds to do nothing with it. It’s passable and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear it on rock/metal radio stations, but I’ll forget it exists without it.