CD Review by Beth Bathory
Time to Kill's debut album, “Insanity,” is a clip-art collection of dark phantasmagoria: blood, hell, graves, darkness, damnation, tears, evil, death, murder, danger, war, anger, pain, and judicious use of the F-word. It's largely a costume party, though, as what's missing from the music is the genuine emotion of those images--fear, wrath, disgust--sorely needed in order to convince the audience that these middle-aged Wisconsin folk aren't just posturing their allusions to madness and violence.
There's no more perfectly crafted a murder weapon than the voice of an angry woman, but Nicole Williams' vocals feel more fingernails across the chalkboard than knife in the back. The crisp whispers of the intro track plunge into ten chapters of growling, plodding metalcore rife with lyrics cribbed from angst scrawled across the margins of some goth kid's home economics textbook (“I give and you take / Your smile is so fake / You spread the word / Now I will burn”). The listener is more likely to be killed by embarrassment than rage or despair.
Keith Monville (guitar) and Chad Nordman (bass) team up to hold things together with serviceable, if uninspired thrashes and chugs, while drummer Paul Huser reports to duty with very little idea of why he's there. Williams randomly affects a perplexing accent which straddles some muddled region between Brooklyn and London with unfortunate outcomes: the promising anthem-cry of “Rise and Fight” sounds uncomfortably like “rise and fart!”
TTK aims for fury (“Start a War”) and chills (“Emotionless”), but the temperature in the mix rarely inches beyond tepid. The title track comes closest to suggestions of potential, with hints of a hook, some interesting tempos, and a modicum of excitement. Other songs range from unnotable to insipid, as in “Blood Runs Cold,” a horrifyingly trite reference to interfamilial abuse.
TTK's current website (www.timetokill.us) is hosted by Myspace.com, the eye-sore and ear-bleed-inducing capital of adolescent, online attention whoring. As it stands, TTK fits right in with that crowd of pseudo-misfits. Amplified with feeling and injected with some creativity, TTK might make music to raise a beer or a fist to. However, at the moment, “Insanity” sounds far more lazy than crazy.
(Short) Interview with guitarist K. Monville by Andrew Fersch
Where do you get the inspiration for your lyrics?
The lead singer and I write the lyrics and they come from events in life that we need to get out of our system.
How would you describe your fans?
We attract the metal and punk crowds and age goes from 10-50... all good people that like different parts of our diverse sounds.
Top five most important musicians in the world?
Kerry King (guitar), Dan Lilker (bass), Charlie Benante (drums), anybody from GWAR.
Lemmy or Ozzy?
Lemmy.
How would you describe your music?
Thrash metal punk.
What's the future hold for Time to Kill?
Tour and promote. Start writing music for next years' CD. We are getting involved in movie soundtracks and working on releasing a DVD.