Hot off the heels of the Machines Vs Monsters tour with Static-X, Gwar & Dope, A Killer’s Confession released the third single, “Facts,” today from their new forthcoming album Victim 2 (out September 19th via MNRK Heavy).
Victim 2 Tracking Listing:
- Hopeless Gray
- In Case Of Emergency (ft. JMANN) (Music Video)
- Hollow (Music Video)
- Facts
- Heart Shaped Box (Nirvana cover)
- Headstone
- Baptized By The Fire
- Darkside
- The Suffering
- Endless Silence
- Hand of God
A Killer’s Confession bio:
As the frontman and mastermind for A Killer’s Confession, Waylon Reavis has delved into the light and dark sides of mankind on albums like The Indifference of Good Men and Unbroken. But it is his current Victim trilogy where he delves deeper into that concept and which truly lives up to the band’s name. The new Victim 2 (MNRK Heavy), the group’s fifth album, continues the story of a serial killer who wants to bring horrific criminals to justice. But, as he’s learning, there are consequences for his misguided deeds, even if he thinks they are the right thing to do.
“I write this stuff for people to understand that we all have these thoughts,” Reavis says. “Like the devil’s advocate – you’ve always got that devil on your shoulder, or that impulse, that little scratch on the side of your head that says, I want to do that. I’ve always been intrigued with that.”
After his booking agent Andrew Goodfriend planted the seed of the album’s concept in his mind, Reavis found further inspiration in the 2001 horror movie Frailty, in which the “God’s Hand” serial killer murders people that he believes to be demons and that he is doing God’s will. The antagonist of the Victim trilogy follows a similar path. In Victim 1, he went after people who had committed one of the Seven Deadly Sins, particularly those preying on young, innocent victims. In this sequel, he is reveling in his murder spree too much and faces a crisis of conscience. The new song “Hand Of God” addresses this quandary and references Reavis’ movie inspiration.
Victim 2 kicks off in bristling fashion with “Hopeless Grey” and “In Case Of Emergency,” but as the story progresses the collection of songs explores different musical territory. Victim 2 shows how A Killer’s Confession likes to blend genres, notably on the track “Hollow.” While the song may have an aggro guitar sound, there’s a pop hook in the chorus, while EDM and trap sounds lurk just below the surface. That makes sense, given the fact that Reavis loves and is influenced by Maynard Keenan’s vocals, and he also appreciates Freddie Mercury and Phil Collins. He admires singers who can do things he cannot and who inspire him to aspire to something greater. He also keeps his ears open to new sounds.
“I love EDM, I love trap, dubstep, industrial,” Reavis declares. He likes mashing up electronic and downtuned 7-string guitars into a new industrial mix. But at the same time, he doesn’t sing like an industrial frontman. “I sing some pop stuff, but I’m doing what the song tells me. The melody speaks to me off the bat. I’m not trying to just be all blood, guts, and horror. I’m actually trying to show that I might have a little bit of talent, but also wrap it up with the lyrics that you can really dig deep into.”
Throughout Victim 2, the dark inner voices plaguing the murderous vigilante emerge in pitch-shifted fashion to distinguish them from his “normal” self. The unexpected cover of Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box” halfway through the album signals a turning point for the killer as he starts re-evaluating his humanity. The closing track wraps things up in an epic, melodic fashion.
“I wanted to end Victim 2 on a big number, on something that pulled on your heartstrings,” Reavis explains. “I really want you to connect with what I was saying and actually feel bad for the guy, even though he’s done terrible things. I want you to understand this was a good person, and he did what he thought was right. But he didn’t do it to anybody that didn’t deserve it. He wasn’t a monster.”
Don’t let that statement come off as an endorsement for what transpires during the Victim trilogy. With the forthcoming final chapter, which he is already assembling, Reavis wants to lay bare the consequences of letting one’s dark side take over.
“This time the spine grew and became a little more grotesque,” he says of Victim 2. “By the next time he is going to be fully engulfed, and you really are seeing a demon. He became what he hated. I think the moral is don’t fall into your needs that much because you’ll become exactly what you tried not to be.”
The subject matter of a man going after child abusers and like-minded miscreants is personal for Reavis. In 2016, he worked with children in a residential treatment facility for many months, an experience he found enlightening and personally healing. He has worked with victims of child trafficking, and for the last 9 years he has also organized and performed at an annual Toys For Tots concert. This year he hopes to raise another $15,000.
In a way, Reavis is channeling his anger at adults who destroy child purity through a story about a man who delivers retribution in the way he would not. He does not encourage anyone to step into Victim’s moral gray areas. Victim 3 will find the vigilante facing justice – ironically, harsher than the sentences he thinks his victims deserve – and coming to terms with his actions and transformation.
Like the psyche of this album’s antagonist, the sonic realm of A Killer’s Confession is also split into two different worlds, but for artistic reasons. Guitarist/drummer Dusten “Dusty” Boles and vocal producer Evan McKeever are Reavis’ studio songwriting partners, while his touring band features different members. The frontman likes to oversee everything in the creative process of the band from the studio to the stage, and he works with the people he think will thrive in each environment and deliver the best work to the musical project.
“I don’t like doing the same thing over and over,” Reavis admits. “I like to experiment. I like to try to invent something new, take something that you know and mix it with modern metal. I’m not trying to create a new genre, but I like to be challenged and hear new things. If it rings in the ears and it makes you bob your head, it’s good. It don’t matter what style it is. I think a true artist should be interested in expanding themselves and where they can do anything they want. That’s where AKC really excels.”
A Killer’s Confession online:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/akillersconfession
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/a_killers_confession/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9oEtOKSII9hEOco4lVODTw
TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@waylonrreavis
Shop: http://akillersconfession.myshopify.com/
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