Formed in 2017 in Melbourne, Australia, by Justin Ks, MrKill combines a range of musical styles however is focused predominantly around melodic death metal and cover the lyrical themes of turmoil, darkness, ignorance and despotism. From deep chugs, sonic high notes, shredding and dark drawn moments, MrKill captures a wide range of energy to be experienced. Releasing their debut EP “The Day Of Reckoning”, we speak to the band about the songs and much more.
Metal-Roos: You incorporate many different elements into your music, what have been some of the key influences for you developing your own music style?
The music style is still in development. What you are hearing from us now is different from what will most likely be on the next release. To date, the music has carried a heavy emphasis on melodic death metal and you could certainly find some similarities to the likes of In Flames, Dark Tranquility, Kataklysm and many more. Kataklysm, in particular, has played a part in inspiring the sound. Their guitar tone is really skull-crushing and it would be difficult not to be inspired by something like that especially when you hear it live.
With regards to music influences, there are many things I could name here. It’s also one of the hardest questions to answer. I could not recollect the last 10-15 years and say with any degree of certainty what in particular shaped the music to date. It could have been anything, to be honest. The fact that most genres and sub-genres have already been invented and pioneered way before us is something that inspired us not to pursue genres. We definitely did not want to confine ourselves to any one genre, as there are countless bands that already proved everything there is to prove in most genres, including melodic death metal. It is interesting to mix it up and also difficult to mix it up well. The aim was to try to combine a mixture of genres and elements and achieve heaviness while maintaining a melody and creating different atmospheres and having grooviness in our drumming all at the same time or easily transition from one to the other. It’s not like we’re inventing something new here, – far from it. However, we’re aiming to stretch creativity within our abilities.
M-R: You’ve just released your debut EP, what’s the process of producing the album been like and how does it feel to finally see its release?
Some would say that releasing an album would almost be like something you could put on a bucket list. It is our work of art and we had it a long time coming too. Some of our material was written as early as 2010 before the band was formed. With so much music being released every week and anyone being able to record metal music at home these days; we definitely wanted it in good quality for our listeners to enjoy.
After a few years of trying to record our music at home within our band and trying to release demos and achieving average results, the logical conclusion became to seek out a specialist metal producer. We contacted Chris from Monolith Studios and got the things moving. We tracked all guitars, bass and vocals with Zak Knight. The drums got tracked separately. We also had some guest appearances on the EP, namely – Caroline Clarke on vocals in “Oblivion” and Sandra Birze on the piano in “Elegy”. The EP then got mixed and mastered by Chris at Monolith Studios. The process itself was effortless however required preparation and lots of things needed to be arranged at correct times. Overall working with Chris and Zak was great. They did an amazing job and got us the best sound and production quality we achieved to date. We are very happy how this came out.
M-R: What has it been like being able to go to different venues around Australian and play to crowds of people that enjoy the music you’ve made?
Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, we have been unable to play live since recording/releasing our EP. With the current situation, it does not look like there will be any live shows here any time soon in Victoria, Australia. We look forward to this situation resolving and things going back to normal. Prior to the pandemic, we have played numerous gigs around Melbourne and Victoria and it has been fun every single time. We look forward to doing it all again.
M-R: Is there a country, in particular, you would love to tour one day?
Providing circumstances permit, we would definitely love to tour the kingdom of Australia first and foremost, and then at some point go to Europe and Asia.
M-R: Your lyrics have been described as having themes of “turmoil, darkness, ignorance and despotism”, what made you want to explore these kinds of themes in your music?
Whilst we do not have a political or religious affiliation and we’re only here for entertainment purposes, you can certainly draw parallels in our lyrics with some of the current events. Interestingly enough some of Mr.Kill’s lyrics have almost become like a self-fulfilling prophecy. We could not foresee this at the time of writing them, however, there were indicators that things could happen. Today the world is full of darkness on a global and personal level. We do not live in a time of prosperity, especially for the average person. You see turmoil worldwide. You also see abuse of power. Everything is right in front of our eyes. Some choose to ignore it and pretend it is all roses. If you paid attention you could see it build over the years. So why not make music about something that is in your face and is somewhat pertinent?
M-R: With a focus on a varied sound and meaningful lyrics what is the songwriting process usually like, for example, do music or lyrics usually come first?
The music comes first. Otherwise, it would be really difficult to imagine for example “slavery” and then try to come up with riffs based on ideas around that concept. Instead, most songs and riffs are melody-based. Finding a good melody is usually a challenge. They carry a certain feel to the song. The next challenge becomes to combine good riffs with drum parts that are at times groovy, at times heavy and other times just flat out in your face. It is a lengthy process of trial and error. Once the music is ready and after spending enough time meditating on the track, the lyrics come naturally. Music a language of its own. The information is already in the track, sometimes it takes effort to try to interpret your own music which in times can lead you to understand oneself better.
M-R: It’s an interesting time we’re in right now but what are some of your plans for the future?
With regards to the immediate future, we have to outlive the pandemic. While that’s happening it’s a good opportunity to write some new tracks which we are in the process of.
Once the pandemic is over and we can get back to it, – first thing is first the band needs to undergo certain changes and adjustments to be able to deliver.
The plan is to release music for our listeners to enjoy and play shows. We do not expect anything in particular from the music industry, as a musical artist, our job is to produce music for our listeners to enjoy.
Interview Date: 2020-08-11
Interviewer: Billy Poulopoulos