• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Oops, they did it again! :) Thirteenth album for Killers since their debut album in 1985. Once again these French heavy metallers present us with some fresh material that goes against all the “flavor of the month” trends that keep on flooding the metal world. “Habemus Metal” brings back the intense speed and aggression of the band's first two albums, with some added heaviness, but without forgetting some memorable melodies, something that's almost a Killers trademark. As for all of the band's albums except one, the singing here is all in French, but don't let that scare you away, as you would be missing on some first class heavy metal music. The material presented here is varied enough to please fans of many genres of metal such as heavy, power, thrash and speed - it's all in here. The guitar work is once again amazing and razor-sharp; the duo of Bruno Dolheguy and Thierry Andrieu is simply amazing to listen to, alternating from sweet melodies to heavy/speed riffs in a split- second. The music is so rich that even after several listens I can still find things I hadn't heard on previous spins.

There is one single thing that I don't like too much on the album, and it's a very small part... As they have done on most of their previous albums, there is an heavy metal anthem, “HM 2002”.. So far so good.. But I found the very repetitive chorus to get a little annoying with time. Surely this one was written with the live performance in mind, as this is the kind of chorus that you can get the crowd to sing along with. Anyway, this is not even enough to lower the perfect rating of such a majestic album.

I absolutely need to mention the excellent booklet... Not only will the cover art of a Pope with a machine gun piss off some people (hehehe), but the booklet is amazingly rich with information about the band: The mandatory lyrics and band pictures, but also what is dubbed as “Killers Magazine”, which contains news about the band, a well-written bio, some “lost” cover art and its history, and a list of all the albums (cover art included.) This is one, if not THE best CD booklet I've seen yet, and I've seen more than my share. :) Of course, the text inside is all in French.

Many bands can never top their early releases, but it can be argued that “Habemus Metal” does just this for Killers. Musical intensity, mature songwriting and musicianship, very well done texts... If this album isn't their best, it's not very far from the top. The jury's still out on this one. :) They may not have the international recognition that they deserve, but Killers belong up there with the best the metal scene has to offer - mark these words. This is a mandatory purchase, period. Same for the rest of their catalog, for that matter. ;)

Check out the band's web site for sound samples.