Actually I've had quite a few ceramics with similar tone as the painkiller which is towards the upper spectrum and I'd like something different this time. The low mid orientation of the MM got my attention as the korina (limba) wood too.
Yeah the guitar is gonna be neck-thru and once the neck is the most important I was thinking of a 5pc neck (2korina/3maple - much more maple than korina) and ebony fretboard. So maybe the MM could fit in there tonally.
A 3korina/2maple neck could be a bit on the warm side so then the MM might be a bit too bassy.
On the other hand the all maple neck and the ebony fretboard could be a bit weak on the low end for In Flames kind of stuff.
Anyway I'm still in the decision phase of the project and every case is open for me...
Also the kind of music this guitar is going for is Heavy Metal, Thrash and Death (Metallica, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, In Flames, Exodus, maybe some power too like Gamma Ray etc).
Anyway thanks everyone for the suggestions so far! ;)