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REVIEW – Waylon Reavis leaving Mushroomhead was a bold move. I am not sure if there were issues between him and the in-and-out antics of founding vocalist J Mann. When Mushroomhead released “Savior Sorrow”, the first with Reavis, in 2006 it was an instant classic for Mushroomhead. When I heard the news of Reavis working on a new project I was shocked. This is where I am going to draw the ire of some fans. It feels as if Reavis has found his Stone Sour gig. Before I get the history lesson of who cam first, let me explain. Mushroomhead were a very unique nu-metal band. They had the dual vocal insanity of J Mann and Jeffrey Nothing that led to some very heavy music. In a shallow pool of nu-metal bands, they stood out for the single fact that they truly did not give a fuck what anyone said or thought. They did music for themselves and catered to what they wanted to do and if people followed or not, who really cared. It seems that A Killer’s Confession is a tad bit different. This is a very unique album that tends to border on truly influentially bizarre. For David Ellefson to put this on his label takes balls. This album is a controlled chaos. Waylon delivers a vocal performance on this album that will make fans see him in a new light. When he growls and gets aggressive it feels more commercially viable than it would have in Mushroomhead. This is obviously an album that is made for modern rock radio. There will be a huge divide with fans. There will be some that feel as though this album would have been better as a 6 song EP, while others may feel that the aggressive music is enough to overcome the less than stellar filler songs on this album. The biggest positives from this album are the riffs. Much like The Wildhearts, this is a band who want to catch you off guard and suck you in. It is the vocal performance as the album goes forward that becomes the primary issue. The man has a great voice, but it gets so redundant at times. Past track 8 of this album is where the weaker material seems to fall. This album as a whole is fair. It is a bold coming out party of sorts for Reavis. The issue is that people may want him to stay inside. The bulk of material is fair and is radio worthy. The latter portion of this record is redundant and flat. So, I would rate this album maybe a high D to a low C.
