Victim 2 [Reissue] (ONLINE ORDER ONLY)

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 album Victim 2 (MNRK Heavy), the group's fi fth studio release, continues the story of a serial killer who wants to bring horrifi c 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." 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. As in his previous band Mushroomhead, Reavis dons a mask onstage. "It's not just a gimmick. I'm showing you what's on the inside, but at the same time it's what the fans want from me," he explains, "I'm putting the mask on because I'm trying to explain who the character really is." 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 di erent musical territory. Victim 2 shows how A Killer's Confession likes to blend genres, notably on the track "Hollow." 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.