Every empire needs a military. The
Wu-Tang empire has
Killarmy, a group of roughnecks that create songs drenched with warfare imagery. Its third album is titled
Fear, Love & War and while there is plenty of fear and war, love seems hard to find. Most of the album deals with topics the crew dealt with in its first two albums. "Monster" is a powerful call to arms while "Street Monopoly" benefits from a particularly haunting arrangement. Some love does sneak in on the album thanks to "Lady Sings the Blues" and it is a welcome respite from the bleak images on the rest of the album. It's clear that
4th Disciple has been trained well by
Wu-Tang wizard
RZA as his production captures the essence of
Wu-Tang's dark, dank sound. Lyrically, the music suffers from repetition as too many of the songs deal with the same militaristic themes. After three albums, it seems that
Killarmy needs to find a new battle to fight.