When you first start out in a band, the first thing you naturally do is of course to record demos to grab the attention of a label so they can sign you. But what if say you formed during the 1990's, a time when the underground Metal scene was dying? You start off with one band name, release two albums and then change your name to release another album before disappearing from the music scene altogether. What will happen to the material you recorded and released? Will it remain unheard of forever if it was released during a period when underground Metal bands were slowly dropping off the radar?

That would change obviously if a label who mainly reissue lost or out of print recordings found your works and decided to remaster it and then re-release it onto the world so everyone could hear your lost tapes or unheard recordings which is exactly the case for today's band KILLER KHAN.

Hailing from North Carolina in the USA, this four piece originally performed as HOLY MOSES from the years 1994 right up to sometime in the late 90's when they changed their name to KILLER KHAN who then went on to release two further albums which consisted of their debut "Kill Devil Hills" in 1999 and then re-issuing their second HOLY MOSES album "Rock N' Roll Forever" in 2001 before disappearing off the music map altogether. You heard me right. They completely vanished without a trace and no-one has seen or heard word of them since so who knows what they're up to now.

Despite the long absence, the label Heaven & Hell Records decided it was time for the music of KILLER KHAN to be heard once again by the world, so a few months ago back in April of this year, their debut release "Kill Devil Hills" was re-released with some remastering and three bonus tracks to accompany the 9 songs from the original, totaling 12 on this new edition.

Having already heard a Heaven & Hell Records re-release prior to this one, which was the HEXENHAMMER re-release, I must admit I was a bit skeptical at first as I didn't really enjoy the first one I heard, but because this is a different band, things may be different and indeed they are but I do however still have complaints and reservations.

Before I do talk about the bad points I'll talk about the good as unlike the previous H&H Records re-issue I reviewed, this one does have one or two redeeming features. I'll start I guess with the only plus point on this which is the music as for a Metal album that was released independently 16 years ago, the power and the oomph that you get from the guitars and the rhythm section is very impressive.

The melodies are also quite clean as well, meaning that you can actually hear the music allowing you to hear each riff and melody more clearly, which in turn, means you can enjoy the savagery of the guitar riffs even more including the bonkers guitar solos.

That's where the good points end I'm afraid as although the music impressed me, the vocals do not. I'm not saying they're bad as to be honest, I have heard way worse on other releases from other bands but it's not something which wowed me if you get my drift.

I think the reason why it didn't wow me is because the performance seems a bit off to me. Whether or not the performance was forced or if the production wasn't done well on the vocals remains to be seen - but on a whole, the vocals were the only real off putting feature on this album for me.

Bottom line, the re-issued debut from KILLER KHAN is a little bit better then the previous Heaven & Hell Records re-issue I reviewed as the music on it as a lot better then the HEXENHAMMER one. This means I do have faith that this label can pick good music when they put their minds to it.

The only real off putting feature was the vocals as they were the only major turn off, so naturally the bits I enjoyed most was the vocal-less sections. This may sound a bit sad but if you gave this a listen, you'd see why as although it's something I mildly enjoyed, the vocals on this is something I wouldn't be able to get used to but on a whole, this album was pretty good for what it is so I'll give it some points for that but I'll deduce some for the vocals.