Destroyers of All

Into the Fire (EP)

Written by: EW on 02/07/2013 23:51:02

Without meaning to sound unjustly harsh on Portuguese thrash/deathsters Destroyers of All, they have one of those monikers that immediately marks them down my mind as never having a chance of gaining any relative level of success. It is just one of those 'run of decent single word band names' choices that belies any real burning creativity in their output; funnily enough this synopsis also runs through the title, cover, but most importantly, the music in this 6-song 25-minute EP. After the SFX intro piece, "Soul Retrieval" starts off in reasonable, if bland form, with a chunky groovy and Pantera-esque guitar squeals beneath the Ihsahn-like vocals of João Mateus, giving off enough energy to start one of those mini-pits that small bands are usually greeted with in their hometowns, before the first of what turns out to be many poorly executed changes of direction leaps at your face. By half-way through this six minute track the song has morphed through thrashing death territory into chug-chug thud, atmospheric sampled strings, blackened blastbeats and classic metal soloing, all sounding as if they were cobbled together because each member fancied writing it into the song without checking it through with his bandmates first. Truly, the lack of flow within this song reminds me of that infamous standard bearer of bad taste, Design the Skyline's "Surrounded by Silence".

With simply no hope of redemption after this the title track that follows is a bit more on the mark - it touches on melodic death territory and even has some pretty decent soloing in the middle before, naturally, the band break for a totally unnecessary jazz interlude that kills any groove. Guys, you are not and never will be Death, Atheist or Cynic, so leave that sort of stuff to them ok? "M4" bears the marks of an inexperienced dual-guitar attack writing some twin-pronged leads together for the first time; on paper it sounds good but the execution is lacking in the interchange between Guilherme Busato and Alexandre Correia's guitars to make a mark. More pointless rhythmic changes take place before a contemplative moment of clean vocals (a decent bridge!) breaks the mould and actually carries some weight, before "Astral Projection" suffers from the same ADHD that has killed the EP as a whole. Each acceptable section of rhythm, and this song does have some, is unfortunately mutilated by a stunning lack of skill in changing tone adeptly. Closer "Nothing Left" brings down the curtain, acoustically, on an EP that sadly wishes to shoot itself in one foot, and then the other, every time it has something decent to say. Must do better.

Download: Into the Fire
For The Fans Of: Pantera/Fear Factory styled groove
Listen: Facebook

Release date: 24.05.2013
Self-released

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