Album review: Kill The Lights – Death Melodies

It wasn’t really a shock that Kill The Lights’ 2020 debut The Sinner hit the mark. Comprised of members of metalcore luminaries Bullet For My Valentine, Still Remains, Threat Signal, and Throw the Fight, all with a point to prove, that record found the collective living up to their ‘supergroup’ pedigree with pinpoint efficiency and ruthless aggression. Far more impressive is that rather than burning out in a blaze of glory, the transatlantic quintet have enough fuel for a second swing at stardom with stonking follow-up Death Melodies.

From the opening roar of Hear You Scream, there’s a confidence in exactly what they want to do. Fair enough, that’s pretty much the same thing they’ve wanted to since the early-2000s – crunchy melodic riffs, alternately angry and angsty vocals, a bit of shameless Metallica worship – but they do it so damn well.

From the pummelling guitars and Judas Priest inflections of Die Alone to the pumping, arena-ready grandeur in Ghost Of Yesterday, there’s the urgency of a band out to avoid ‘difficult second album syndrome’, but also the assuredness of players whose days of self-doubt have fallen far, far into the rearview mirror.

Is it enough for Kill The Lights to finally escape the sizeable shadows of their old bands? Probably not, but scattered with sonic and lyrical callbacks – intentional or otherwise – they’ve got the feel of a band with no problem building their future on a foundation of past glories.

But, when they cut loose with songs like GN’R-styled mega-ballad Sleep With The Devil, all-guns-blazing pit anthem Suicidal or moodily melodramatic closer Drowning, it’s hard to believe that many of their target audience will be able to stop throwing horns long enough to give a damn, either.

Verdict: 3/5

For fans of: Trivium, Bullet For My Valentine, Still Remains

Death Melodies is released on March 8 via Fearless