| Destroyer 666 ‘Phoenix Rising’ Season of Mist, 2000 Lord Pale: Keith Warslut and co. returns with their strongest and most technically competent album to date. The Australian outfit has evolved from its primal death thrash roots in an amalgamation of both thrash and blackmetal, which is a far more desirable prospect. Opening with a rather ominous spoken passage detailing their unique world vision, Phoenix soon erupts into a violent procession of speedy blackmetal riffing and snarls that makes up the short but sweet ‘Rise Of The Predator’. The song structuring on Phoenix Rising seems to be moving towards a more tradition style of chorus/verse presentation best shown on ‘The Eternal Glory Of War’ but it is still as brutal and raging as ever. Songs vary in length from ‘Rise Of The Predator’ 2:25, up to the grandiose ‘I Am The War God’, 7:32 but unlike previous Destroyer releases all the tracks retain an individual identity. The thrash influences are still heavily abundant in the riffing and occasionally vocals ( which vary dramatically ) but it is this variation in style and composition that makes the album a more enjoyable listen as a whole. Frequent, adept bursts of soloing helps the band’s old school dignity to remain firmly intact and provide the Destroyer with ample opportunities to show off their steadily increasing technical ability. Overall Phoenix Rising is a compelling full length sure to surprise followers of the bands previous works and likely to attract a wider audience with its newfound melody. Favorite tracks: Rise of the Predator, Lone Wolf Winter, The Eternal Glory of War Mark: 8/10 Destroyer 666 ‘Cold Steel For An Iron Age’ Season Of Mist , 2002 Lord Pale : Destroyer 666’s forth outing sees the band producing a far shorter album than it’s predecessor and again refining their trademark sound even further. ‘Cold Steel For An Iron Age’ opens with ‘Black City – Black Fire’, a hyper speed technical delight filled with melodic lead sections, snarled vocals, and thrashy riffs. Tight song structuring, with chorus/bridge sections are prevalent with punky thrash passages, and dynamic rhythm segments abundant across the albums course. The main variations are as follows: ‘The Calling’ with its almost rocky/swinging lead section, and chanted backing vocals ala ‘Lone Wolf Winter’; ‘Witch Hunter’ with its brutal off kilter percussion and blackmetal riffing reminiscent of ‘The Eternal Glory Of War’; and the humming guitar velocity of ‘Shadow’ reminding me of the excellent ‘Rise Of The Predator’. Lyrically, Cold Steel is fairly typical of Destroyer 666, an eloquent lecture in battle, war, and the strong rule the weak scenario, with the obvious exception of ‘Raped’. Once again the Australian trio provide a wide variety of rasped, grunted, and howled vocals, which along with the greater developments of the style that was introduced on ‘Phoenix Rising’ prevents the album from getting tiresome. Overall Destroyer 666 have added another fine addition to heir every growing catalogue, and one that hopefully will introduce them to an even wider audience. Favourite Tracks – Black City - Black Fire , The Calling , Shadow Mark – 8/10 |
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