Kill Kid606

Kill Devil Hill is a heavy metal supergroup founded in 2011 around the talents of drummer Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell, Dio), bassist Rex Brown (Pantera), guitarist Mark Zavon, and vocalist Jason Bragg, Kill Devil Hill, named for a North Carolina coastal town with a long history of piracy (as in rum, swordplay, and loot), mine both the past and present, resulting in a powerful blend of groove-laden hard rock, brooding post-grunge, and classic mainstream metal that has drawn comparisons to artists like Alice In Chains and System Of A Down. The band's eponymous debut was released through SPV/Steamhammer in May 2012.

Given that Kill to Get Crimson follows Mark Knopfler's yearlong collaboration with Emmylou Harris – inaugurated by the album All the Roadrunning and followed by a tour, subsequently documented on the live set Real Live Roadrunning – it might be reasonable to presume that it bears a slightly heavier folk influence, as if Emmylou had rubbed off on the guitarist…

Conventional wisdom has it that rock & roll is the aural embodiment of youth culture, but as more artists who've devoted their lives to playing the stuff grow older, they've struggled to reconcile maturity with the recklessness of the music. No surprise, then, that few if any have had the courage to do what Warren Zevon did with his 2000 set Life'll Kill Ya – create a concept album about aging, disease, decay and ultimately death. "My Shit's Fucked Up" and the title tune are bleakly witty but unblinking glimpses into the abyss of mortality, "Don't Let Us Get Sick" is a sadly hopeful prayer against the inevitable, "Porcelain Monkey" chronicles Elvis Presley's long slide into fatal irrelevance, and the cover of Steve Winwood's "Back in the High Life Again" transforms the song into a picture of a man struggling to convince himself he's going to get out alive.