Album Review: Destrage - "SO MUCH. too much."

It’s time to put my money where my mouth is.  Not so long ago as part of one of our long, rambling and occasionally poignant conversations, Chris and I, as we so often to, turned the lens to the faults that we perceive among the music editorial community.  Namely, we were analyzing the tendency of journalists to forgive all faults of favorite artists, and hand out high grades with what feels to us like specious examination.  I referred to it at the time, to turn the euphemism, as ‘playing for the name on the front of the jersey.’

Now, as if I haven’t already to this point, I’m going to commit a cardinal sin of journalism and make the story about me, at least for this next little bit.  (This, by the way, is a sin I seem to commit with increasing frequency.  Apologies for that.)

Destrage, hailing from Milan, Italy, is one of, if not straight up who I believe to be the best band working today.  Their combination of musical prowess and creativity and way-past-the-margins writing is unparalleled in the world of heavy music right now (Turisas could easily have held this title for longer if they’d bothered to make any new music in the last NINE YEARS.  I’m not bitter, I promise.)

And so we come to “SO MUCH. too much,” the latest album from the metal inventors.  The last two Destrage albums were both my selections for Album of the Year, and the third, “Are You Kidding Me? No.” was a hair’s breadth behind at number 2 (trailing only Red Eleven’s “Round II” by the thinnest of margins, and if you ask me on a given day, I might have them flipped.)  So in a year where there’s been a lot of albums I like, but few that I love, I was ready for Destrage to save the year and sweep everyone off the table, on this, their first record since parting ways with Metal Blade and moving to 3DOT Recordings.

And there’s a lot here to like.  There’s piles of stuff on “SO MUCH. too much.” that is laudable and praise-worthy.

And yet.

If I’m being honest, this album is not quite up to the part of their previous efforts.  Let’s take a walk through the bad stuff first, since I need that as background context for when we launch into the good stuff.

What Destrage has always excelled at, over and above everyone else in the business these days, is that no matter how far into madness the band ventures, and same as ever, there are deep forays into the musical abyss, there’s always been a rope tied around their waist that anchors them to digestible and accessible moments that fans can rally behind.  Normally this comes in the form of vaulted, majestic sing-along choruses with simple structures and gigantic hooks that are easy to sink into.

And I think that’s the piece that’s missing here, or more appropriately, the piece that’s missing with the band’s usual consistency.  Taking even the first single, “Everything Sucks and I Think I’m a Big Part of It,” wanders into a bunch of scattershot paths, but never circles back to collect the pieces and tie them together before jumping off the next cliff.  The otherwise sublime “Venice Has Sunk,” would have been an all-time classic if it had come back to Earth just a little.  Frustrating.

And yet, there are still plenty of reasons why this record stands out from the pack and is a worthy entry.  First and foremost, let’s highlight “Private Party,” dropped into the center of the album and featuring a guest appearance from confirmed crazy person Devin Townsend.  Destrage has at various times in their career (“Not Everything is Said” and “Before, After and All Around” come to mind, as well as “Rage, My Alibi,” if for content and not music,) colored their sound with something five percent akin to the best moment of Alice in Chains, and “Private Party” uses a similar vocal harmony to use that affect, but turned on its experimental metal ear.  The song is, in many ways, Destrage’s “Dance Macabre,” the song that fits the idiom and is infectious to listen to, but sits way out on the boundary.

We talked about “Venice Has Sunk” briefly, but let us take a second just to highlight the truly inspired musicianship and songcraft.  While the cut lacks the big chorus, the sheer talent of the band shows through in every moment.  “An Imposter” was a better KMFDM song than KMFDM wrote on their album this year, and starter “A Commercial Break That Lasts Forever,” reminds us all just how capable of Destrage can be when dropping the hammer.  The airy, melodic vocals juxtapose nicely against the violent backdrop to create a sound only Destrage has mastered.

And then, to cap off, we get a cover of the largely forgotten but accomplished Stone Temple Pilots cut “Vasoline,” and if the litmus test of a cover song is if a band can put their own spin on a classic, then Destrage succeeds here with flying colors.

Still, the album feels a little thin.  Once you get past “Private Party,” there’s “An Imposter,” which is good but not great, and the aforementioned cover, but the remaining songs on the back half of the record don’t reach or grasp with the customary strength we’ve come to expect from Destrage.

What we’re faced with here is an album that doesn’t quite slake the thirst for new Destrage material for those of us who were anticipating this record, but only because it falls a step below the impossibly high bar the band has set for themselves.  Relative to much of what else has come out this year, “SO MUCH. too much.” stands on a platform all its own.  But I have to be honest – is this a contender for the list of top albums to come out this year?  Sure.  But is it going to take home the crown?  Nope.

D.M's Five Greatest Albums of the Decade

First off, let me stage a minor protest in that I do not think 2019 represents the end of the decade.  That should be 2020, and for two reasons – first, because in counting sets of ten, you do not start with zero and end at nine (unless you’re a software engineer,) and second, because when the calendar was unified and the division between BC and AD established, there was no year zero (Nine Inch Nails album aside.)

Okay, now that I’ve logged my protest, allow me to actually get to the point.  When Chris C and I first started discussing listing our best albums of the decade, he wanted to confine it to three.  I immediately loved the exclusivity of his idea, that it was lazy to list the top fifty or twenty or even ten.  Let’s really see who cut muster and made an impact over the past ten years.

There was only one problem.  I couldn’t keep it at three.  I pleaded, nay begged to have Chris go to five.  He saw my plight and relented.  Here we are.

A brief primer – the usual rules apply – original studio albums only.  No covers albums, no live albums, no compilations.

The cut down process was excruciating.  It took me two full months to decide on the top 5.  I fully admit, it’s the top 5 of the decade...for now.  Ask me next month, it could be almost entirely different.  As such, I would like to pause for a moment to recognize the albums that didn’t quite make the cut.  Consider these the honorable mentions in alphabetical order:

Blood Ceremony – Lord of Misrule
Cancer Bats – Dead Set on Living
Children of Bodom – Relentless, Reckless Forever
Destrage – Are You Kidding Me? No.
Graveyard – Hisingen Blues
Midnight Ghost Train – Cypress Ave
Red Eleven – Round II
Shawn James and the Shapeshifters – The Gospel According to Shawn James and the Shapeshifters

And now, without further reservation, the top 5 albums of the (sort of) decade:

5  Cancer Bats – The Spark That Moves

Possible that there’s some recency bias here, but this is an excellent, easily digested and highly listenable album.  It’s just so damn catchy, and that’s something you don’t often say about a hardcore album.  Liam Cormier’s vocals are like when you go see a band and they invite their local friend up on stage – the guy can’t really sing, but he’s giving it his all and his authentic performance is eminently enjoyable.  That’s not to say that Cormier can’t sing.  His throaty rumble during “Bed of Nails” might just be his best performance ever.

4   The Sword – Warp Riders

This is bittersweet.  Remember when we thought The Sword was going to take over the world?  I’m gonna move on before I start remembering what happened after Apocryphon.

3   Clutch – Psychic Warfare

The cliché rings true – don’t call it a comeback.  I fully admit that I had all but left Clutch for dead after the blasé disappointment of Strange Cousins From the West.  Earth Rocker was a nice album, but seemed like an agonal gasp in the face of the downturn that had preceded it.  And then…this.  A masterpiece.  A bold statement, a near-concept album that it set up brilliantly.  The fact that the record begins with an investigator asking for a statement makes the winding narrative of Neil Fallon’s lyrics even more gloriously absurd.

2   Destrage – A Means to No End

We’ve talked about it a lot over the years; the quest for something different.  To find a sound that is new and unique and yet appealing is incredibly difficult in the modern era.  Destrage has captured something.  There’s a frenetic violence to their music, but woven through it all are huge, hook-laden choruses and spots of fragile beauty.  To be able to command this many raw elements and have them make sense is a level of songwriting most aren’t capable of.  Destrage did it three times this decade, and this is the best of them.

1   Turisas – Turisas2013

There are only two bad things you can say about this album.  One, the title is dumb.  Two, we haven’t heard from Turisas since.  Nevertheless, this album remains the gold standard for the kind of transcendent genre-blending that metal is and should be capable of.  It’s a magical ride, the kind of experience that can only be described in absurd terms.  For example, when people ask me to define what this album sounds like, I say “imagine if Andrew Lloyd Webber had an angsty son who wrote metal.”  Turisas also released the outstanding Stand Up and Fight in 2011, and this album completely buried it.  No one did it better this decade.

D.M's Best Albums of 2019

My statements at the head of this will be brief this year, because I think a lot of these albums speak for themselves.  As usual, we begin with a recitation of the rules – original studio albums only.  No compilations, no re-releases, no live albums, no cover albums.  And, as ever, my list goes to 11.

I think I will say only this – I love and would defend all these records against naysayers of any stripe, but I find myself wishing that more bands I didn’t already know had made the final cut this year.  I suppose it’s something that there are three or four bands who have never the cut of my top ten before, but that’s a small consolation.  I’m fearful that the drought of new names is because I’m in my middle thirties and I’m subconsciously rejecting things are new and different.  More optimistically, and this is what I’m telling myself, I’m hoping the lack of new bands is a signal of two things – one, that several resurgences and comebacks were truly, unequivocally excellent, and second, that maybe as Chris C and I discussed, it was a slightly down year.

In the end, there were sixteen finalists.  To get the final roster down to the necessary eleven players (and one honorable mention,) four worthy albums got left in the lurch.  I have commemorated them below, and I parenthetically feel a little bad for Toothgrinder, as both of their last two albums fell just short.

And so I leave you with this list, one man’s humble opinion of the musical year that was.  Good luck and godspeed.

Others Receiving Votes:
Deathchant – Deathchant
Lord Vapour – Semuta
Death Angel – Humanicide
Toothgrinder – I Am

Honorable Mention - While She Sleeps - So What?

Every year there’s an album that populates my list because it simply overwhelms with power and reminds me of the heady days of my youth, when thunderous alt metal ruled the roost and Rob Zombie had spawned a legion of soundalikes and also-rans.  That’s where While She Sleeps make their headway, and they’ve gone and combined it with a twist of layered songwriting to add some depth.

11 - A Pale Horse Named Death - When the World Becomes Undone

This album absolutely deserves to be here, but I feel a little torn about starting with it, only because it’s hard to get excited about the year’s records when the list starts with the most depressing one.  Many of the bands born from the ashes of Type O Negative have failed to really hit home (Seventh Void and Silvertomb being two of them,) but APHND has something.  They’re both the closest spiritual successor to Type O and the most adept at carrying the spark of that band’s infectious songwriting.  The primary difference is that APNHD generally lacks Type O’s tongue in cheek humor, instead focusing on the darkness of a world gone mad.  Cue up the slow dirges, it’s a long, enjoyable ride.

10 - John Garcia - John Garcia & The Band of Gold

Speaking of artists who have it, John Garcia has it.  I admit I’m eating a little crow here – if you had asked me who the member of Kyuss was who was destined to succeed as a solo act, I don’t know that I would have picked John.  But there’s something about his dry, slow-burning band that’s clean and pure and infectious.  Who knows if Vista Chino will end up being a one-off or not, but in the meantime, John Garcia is capably carrying the torch for desert rock.

9 - Devil to Pay - Forever, Never or Whenever

Nothing is more frustrating than a band from the underground who isn’t getting nearly the publicity or exposure they deserve.  Overseas, that band is Red Eleven and in the good old continental United States, it’s Devil to Pay.  Darlings of the metal scene in the Midwest, these crusaders for sludge from Indianapolis have been putting out one killer album after another since 2004’s Thirty Pieces of Silver.  Fifteen years later, they’ve lost none of their steam and can spin out a killer riff at a moment’s notice.  Get on the bandwagon, already.

8 - Children of Bodom - Hexed

It’s weird to think of Children of Bodom as elder statesmen, but at this point that’s where we are.  They’ve taken a lot of twists and turns in their sound over the years, and Hexed is the natural evolution of their sound into a whole new phase.  It’s not easy to write accessible and catchy death metal, but they’re figured out the formula and are better off for it.  The news that three core members of the band are departing in December comes as a shock – particularly amidst the persistent rumor that the band’s name may have to change as a result.  If this be the end of Children of Bodom as we know it, it’s a fine effort to go out on.

7 - BRKN LOVE - BRKN LOVE

And finally, we get to a band making their debut this year.  2019 was light on new acts who truly impressed, but these Canadians can bring it.  To some extent, this album feels like a long EP more than a true album, but it’s still groovy and dire and heavy in all the right places.  BRKN LOVE wears all their influences in plain sight, and that’s just fine, because they’re drawing on great material.  I don’t know that I’ve had this much fun being introduced to a new band in this stripe since Wolfmother.

6- John 5 & The Creatures - Invasion

John 5 should no longer just be known as the guitarist for Rob Zombie and former guitarist for Marilyn Manson.  He’s a musician unto his own right now, and the fact that Zombie allows him time and space on stage to touch ever so slightly on his solo pieces is sufficient testament to that fact.  What separates John 5 from every other guitar virtuoso is that, and this sounds facile even as I say it but it’s true, he’s writing actual songs and telling stories, not just showing how many arpeggios he can play in thirty seconds (though he leaves plenty of space for that, too.)

5 - Combichrist - One Fire

Nobody is happier about the recent Industrial Revolution than me.  Suddenly the genre is undergoing a huge comeback, and the big beats, cranked gain and scorched sounds are welcome in my ears any time.  Combichrist has taken a lot of turns to make their sound more metal and less abstractly industrial, and I dare say they get better with every album.  One Fire is a great listen for when you’re mad at the world.  Or working out.  Or playing sports.  Or doing dishes.  Or whatever damn time you want to listen to it.

4 - Life of Agony - The Sound of Scars

I wrote in great detail during my full review of this album why I’m conflicted about it.  I won’t rake you all over the details again, but know that it’s because I’m not sure if I love this album because of what it is, or because it represents something that used to be.  In any event, I’m quite certain the fault, if there is one, is with me, and not with the album.  There are piled of bands out there who have tried to ape this sound in the past twenty years and fallen completely on their faces in the process.  As a result, the door is open for Life of Agony to come marching in and teach a master class on the subject.

3 - Indestructible Noise Command - Terrible Things

The comeback is complete! INC now has more albums post-hiatus than pre-hiatus, and they appear to be here to stay (do some touring already, would you?)  This album is an old-school thrash masterpiece, brimming with attitude and big riffs and speedspeedspeed.  The band got away from the Pantera sound that had colored their other two recent albums (which I use only as a recognizable standard – INC predates Pantera and the intertwined history of the two bands is well documented,) and returned to the pure core of thrash from which they were born, to great effect.

2 - Royal Republic - Club Majesty

This album is fucking magnificent.  It’s probably the album on this list that I go back and listen to the most.  It’s a delicious blend of disco, rock and pure sleaze, molded together over cheap cocktails and sardonic songwriting.  There’s only one thing that keeps this record from the top spot, and it’s that you have to be in the right mood to listen to it.  The album lives right on the edge between sassy, over-the-top rock excess and completely and totally annoying.  It plays that line to perfection, but boy, if you come into it with the wrong state of mind…..but don’t get me wrong.  This is album #2 for a reason.

1 - Destrage - The Chosen One

I feel bad about this only because some might think I’m starting to show favoritism.  Including this one, Destrage’s last three albums have finished 1, 1 and 2 in my end of year rankings (and Are You Kidding Me? No. could still make a case for number 1 over Red Eleven’s Round II.)  Like all Destrage albums, this one grew me on over time.  When it released in May, I thought it was good, but not as strong as the prior two.  And then it wore on me.  And wore on me.  And for reasons I couldn’t understand, I just kept going back to it over and over again.  Slowly it became a constant companion on road trips and when travelling for work.  So, it’s hard not to think that some of this placement is based on the luck of timing – if it had released in October, I don’t know that I would have had enough time with it.  There’s something about this band, though – they write lyrics way past the margin, bend their idiom for riffs that barely make sense and reach outside the comfort zone of genre to craft huge choruses and songs that are too irresistible to be denied.  The Chosen One does nothing but continue the band’s dominance.

Album Review: Destrage - "The Chosen One"

As soon as one attaches the appellation “experimental metal band” to a particular act, it causes a variety of facial reactions in the audience, most of which fall into a pair of categories: confusion or, perhaps more common, revulsion.

That rarest of all metal acts is the one that can proudly profess themselves as experimental and at the same time not alienate the core audience.  Destrage has managed to do this for four studio albums, and thus we are presented with their fifth effort “The Chosen One,” which promises more of same, even with the early press releases talking about adding more energy into the proceedings.

The resulting album provides an experience that is much different than “A Means to No End,” the band’s prior release and high-water mark.  Destrage has clearly taken pains to craft something different from that stellar record, rather than try to recreate it (or, by extension, “Are You Kidding Me? No,” from two album cycles ago,) and some of the value of the record will depend on what the listener to trying to find in Destrage.

The off-kilter beats and wild, winding guitar licks that so commonly issue forth from tandem Matteo Di Giola and Ralph Salati are still here, and their idiomatic juxtaposition of the artistically articulate and the boilerplate rhythm continues to work magic.  “About That,” the album’s best moment, is comprised almost solely of this very thing, and there are none who ply this trade better than this band.  The music staggers the mind with its flurry of passionate and parabolic riffs, but always stays rooted in the simplicity of a strummed chord.

What has always made Destrage’s particular blend work, and the vehicle that continues to propel them, is what can only be called a rubber band effect.  This act probes the edges and stretches conventional metal to its limit (within reason – there’s no self-important atmospheric wandering here, or dabbling with ‘post-metal,’ whatever the hell that’s supposed to be,) but always, always returns the listener to a massive, dramatic and accessible chorus that is ripe for chanting and singalongs.  We hear this throughout the duration of “The Chosen One,” notably for “Hey, Stranger!” and similar to the platitudes we levied above, none do this better than Destrage.

We’ve made it clear – there’s a lot to like on “The Chosen One,” and there’s a plethora of lessons that other bands could learn from here.  It needs to be clear before we go on that this is a very good record and worthy of all the accolades it will receive.

However…

One of Destrage’s most innovate and laudable talents over the course of their previous works is the ability to go out of bounds for the sake of achieving the sound they want.  In a metal genre overloaded with steroidal simpletons who lack creativity, no band showed us more conjectural musical possibilities than did Destrage.  Whether is was the serene but mournful chanting of “A Promise, A Debt,” the arena rock hooks of “The Flight,” the borderline trip-hop of “Blah Blah” or in particular, the mariachi cornucopia of “Are You Kidding Me? No,” there was always present the great influence of another genre.  “The Chosen One,” in short, lacks this same unbridled creativity.  If the band’s objective was to inject their proceedings with more straight-ahead vitriol, then they’ve accomplished that wholly, but at the cost of that which made them truly ‘experimental.’  Thus, as we said at the beginning, some of the value here will be reflective of why the listener journeyed here in the first place.

With all that said, “The Chosen One” is still a worthy addition to the catalogue, and marks the third time in six years that the band has released an album ranging between ‘great’ and ‘superior.’  Certainly, that puts them in the running for Best Active Metal Band On Earth, whenever the question comes up in conversation.

Here It Is - The Best Albums of 2016

Okay, so this is the culmination of the musical year, the part everyone wants to read because it satiates our two great needs – subjective, arbitrary rankings of art and numbered lists.  If this were the internet (hey, wait…) I might be so inclined to toss in a “Number 7 will shock you!” but because I respect the intelligence of those reading this, I won’t stoop to such a facile attempt to patronize your greater sensibilities.

Not much in the way of introductions needed here, because first of all, the headline pretty much covers what you need to know going in and if you wanted a more in-depth, analytical look at the year at large, well, you’ve likely already read the extended exchange of intellectual diatribes between myself and my esteemed cohort, Chris.

So real quick, let’s blast through the rules.  Pretty easy, there’s basically only one.  To be eligible, an album must be composed of original studio material.  Which means no live albums, no re-releases, no compilations.  You follow?  Good.  On we go.

One quick preamble before we sojourn further (and I know I promised no lengthy introductions.) As the year progressed, I kept a running tally of albums that I thought might prove their mettle enough to be included on this list.  In the end, there were thirty contestants, all of which I enjoyed, so just because an album does not appear here does not diminish its value.  So, with a tip of the cap to Black Wizard, Surgical Meth Machine, Jinjer, Dark Forest, Red Tide Rising, Prong, Deadlock and a fistful of others, let’s get to the awards:

Honorable Mention – Gypsy Chief Goliath – Citizens of Nowhere
As if anybody had any doubt about the future of baseline, sludgy blues metal, here comes Gypsy Chief Goliath to put all those fear to bed.  A stunningly powerful and at times abrasive album, the band also weaves some classic rock style songwriting into their mix, creating a much fuller and more robust experience.



11 – The Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell – Keep It Greasy
As eclectic and bizarre as ever, The Shovell returns to the halls of this list having once previously submitted the album of the year.  There was an effort in between that one and this one that didn’t make the grade, but the gents return to form on this record, combining their…unique…themes and visions with their penchant for writing catchy, old-school riffs that undulate with that glorious distortive factor that so characterized the most memorable experiences of rock in the ‘70s.



10 – Devil to Pay – A Bend Through Space and Time 
This is as much a vote for the entire Devil to Pay catalogue as it is for this specific album.  Every DtP album is different from its predecessor, which is an accomplishment in and of itself, this one being no exception to that remarkable pattern.  As I look back over the list, it’s probably a reflection of personal preference that the first three albums we’ve talked about today are all muddy reproductions of rock-as-we-remember-it, plucked from the tree of Black Sabbath and given to take root in the furnace of modern metal.  Anyway, “A Bend Through Space and Time” keeps the gears churning with that Midwest flair that Devil to Pay trades so well in, crafting a rolling, roiling listen that never rests.



9 – Red Eleven – Collect Your Scars
C’mon people, let’s help this band out.  They deserve to be on a world tour immediately.  Sometimes you hear new music and you just know that a band has ‘it.’  Red Eleven is one of those bands.  This is one part European metal precision and one part pure American grunge design.  There are few bands operating now who seem to want to admit they took their inspiration from the ‘90s, but Red Eleven is in that company, and leading the charge.  “Collect Your Scars” showcases the band’s smooth songwriting and easy composition while juxtaposing that against their aural power.

8 – Blood Ceremony – Lord of Misrule
And of course, right after we make one trip to a band influenced by the ‘90s, we crash right back into bands that have a public love affair with the ‘70s.  Or in some cases on this album, the ’60s.  Even more than their previous efforts, Blood Ceremony goes to great efforts to craft an experience that synthesizes their intimate knowledge of flower rock with the dread and occult of traditional heavy metal.  Top all this off with the siren song of Alia O’Brien and it makes for a can’t miss experience.



7 – The Browning – Isolation
Finally, I break my own pattern by including a record that shares nearly nothing in common with any of the others records on this list.  A unique mix of hardcore and edm, this is the logical extension of industrial metal as we’ve long thought of it, a pure give into the depth of electronic music.  At the time of review I said that this album possessed distinct flaws, and nothing about that has changed, but this is one of those glorious moments where the insight and uniqueness of the product overshadows the shortcomings.  Whenever I wanted something different in my speakers this year, this is where I turned.



6 – Death Angel – The Evil Divide
Thrash, when done right, is still a genre of malice and power.  Many of the hallmark bands of the once proud genre have strayed from that message or forgotten it entirely, but Death Angel is still carrying the banner, standing on the precipice and shouting to all those who would hear that thrash is alive and well.  Yet for all the shredding riffs and glass-chewing tones, it’s the emotional affectation of “Lost” that helps separate the album from the rest of thrash’s contenders this year.

5 – Red Fang – Only Ghosts
Only Red Fang can simultaneously sound like six different bands and yet still sound exclusively like Red Fang.  That’s an incredibly hard balance to strike, but Red Fang continues to exist at the unlikely crossroads of Clutch, Black Sabbath and Queens of the Stone Age.  One of the tricks of this album that makes it work so well is that no matter how far afield the songs get, there’s always a big chorus around the corner to bring everyone back into the fold.  It’s a critical talent, once that we’ll see again later on this list.



4 – Lacuna Coil – Delirium
Another record that works as a product of its emotional mix, “Delirium” sees Lacuna Coil tune down their radio-friendly metal chops and focus it into a sharp metal point that showcases fear, hope and anger in equal mix.  For the first time in a long time, the star of this album isn’t just Cristina Scabbia, but the play of her sanguine vocals laid against the harsh grunt of Andrea Ferro.  The return of that dynamic to the fore speaks louder than any other elements on this record, marking a new phase in Lacuna Coil’s already storied career.



3 – Texas Hippie Coalition – Dark Side of Black
As I talked about briefly in my discussion with Chris, some of what makes this album stand out is that I think THC fans were pretty sure we knew everything there was to know about the band’s musical acumen.  Then this album drops, taking their game to the next level both in ferocity and craftsmanship.  Big Dad Ritch confessed that the album was written and recorded quickly, an intentional effort by the band to release a record that shows some seams, while still showcasing the brilliance of Cord Pool, their guitarist who was finally involved in the writing of new material for the first time.  The band’s swagger is still ever-present, but there’s not genuine malice woven into the brew.



2 – PAIN – Coming Home
Heavy-handed proof that side projects need not be discarded.  All of PAIN’s records have been competitive against the established track record of Hypocrisy, but this one takes that game to a whole new level and challenges Peter Tägtgren’s main act to live up to this record.  “Coming Home” is a multi-faceted beast, one that showcases the power of rock, metal, weird samples, bizarre lyrics and straight-up tight songwriting.  The riffs, as ever for PAIN, remain the star.



1 – Destrage – A Means to No End
…and what else could it be?  The Italians top the list this year (after falling just short to Red Eleven a couple years back,) by bringing their full arsenal of musical mastery to the fore and combining all of the ingredients seamlessly before our eyes.  Destrage succeeds because they locate the sound they want, then acquire it, regardless of how far outside the bounds of what’s ‘metal’ they need to go.  Almost like a prog band, this group of artists can find and blend the best parts of rock, metal, hardcore, prog, grunge and maybe even some lounge material in such a skillful fashion that the listener never feels lost.  Much in the same vein as Red Fang, this is a band that knows how to craft a catchy chorus and always keeps one in the back pocket to bring everyone back together once the song has meandered too far.  Their talent is both undeniable and irresistible.  If you want to step outside the box a little, and really see what metal can do at the same time, there’s no better opportunity in 2016 than to hang out with Destrage’s new record.

Album Review: Destrage - "A Means to No End"

Only slightly more often than weary travelers are said to see visions of Brigadoon, there comes an album that delivers on all the possible promises of its chosen genre.  The record possesses skill, strength, deep musical understanding and a unique ability to stimulate each and every cynical synapse in the brain of the listener.  To capture and impress that kind of breakthrough is a distant cousin to capturing lightning in a bottle.  In 2014, the Italian band (for to add a descriptor and call them a metal band is insultingly limited,) channeled all of that into their album “Are You Kidding Me? No.”  To do so again for their new record “A Means to No End,” to inscribe that same musical magic a second time, would be a borderline miracle, no?

And yet, at the risk of abating the suspense too early, here we are again, faced with another masterpiece from the unquiet and imaginative minds that mix and blend and cut and make whole entire catalogues of musical acumen.  Bear with me a moment - no, this new record is not a unilateral improvement from “Are You Kidding Me? No,” and that’s the highest possible compliment that can be bestowed upon it; that a follow up album could be every bit as captivating and thunderously powerful as the engaging and consuming album that preceded it.

For those familiar with the band we’re talking about, let’s hit the differences real fast so that you can move on quickly and get to listening without further delay.  “A Means to No End” follows much of the same unconstrained, borderline progressive idiom as its predecessor, free to change gears and switch cadences with little rhyme or reason except that it has the capacity to do so.  The album can be haunting one moment and comforting the next, ponderous and gentle, both electric and eclectic.  The primary difference between the two is that “A Means to No End” is less likely to completely change musical tracks and more content to stay within the varying partitions of metal.  So, no, there are no mariachi interludes or passing lounge bridges or quick jazz escapes this time around.  Instead, the band concentrates on their riffs, delivering delicious hooks that hit and run and leave the listening wanting amid the constant traffic of an altering musical landscape.

Now, if that’s all you need to know, get out of here and get to listening.  If you’re new to this particular game, here comes the tutorial.

Let’s close up that comment on riffs before we get into the other meat and potatoes.  Unlike nearly any other band on the circuit in any walk of music today, Destrage never allows one of their riffs to overstay its welcome, no matter how compelling or captivating.  It’s really an art, the band’s ability to keep the portion size small enough that the listener leaves hungry after each and every song, thus ensuring the album’s ability to be listened to over and over again in order to get that same flavor back on their palette.

As the cherry on that proverbial sundae, Destrage composes riffs that are more than just a catchy collection of five or six notes well-placed in relation to each other.  Each of the truly memorable licks has an intricacy that makes it easy to identify as great, but complex enough that it doesn’t wear itself out banging around your subconscious, easily amused musical cerebrum.  In short, none of these riffs are Pantera’s “Walk,” which while great, can be recalled ad nauseum at the drop of a hat.  

Just listen to the cycling power of the main line for “The Flight.”  That’s one part the smooth but muscled thump of Wolfmother, one part the jagged edge of Soundgarden and one part the precision of Fear Factory all fused seamlessly into a dynamic and enticing whole that you love when you hear it, but have a hard time humming an hour later.  All that does is make you want to hear it again.

The dirty secret in Destrage’s compositional style is that they borrow a good bit of styling and flair from the alternative rock and grunge scene of the ‘90s, couching them all within distorted piles of scrap metal and whatever other pointy aural objects are scattered around.  Just listen to “Peacefully Lost,” and you’ll hear that the first two thirds of the song could have easily been a cut nestled in the b-side of Alice in Chains’ self-titled record.  Similarly, “Symphony of the Ego,” particularly as it picks through its opening salvo, sounds akin to some of the classic Primus tracks from twenty years ago, weaving in and out with an Annihilator-ish breakdown.  The influence isn’t always easy to detect, but the elements are always there.

As a kicker, Destrage maintains their real calling card, which has been prevalent on each and every one of their albums; the band has a mastery like no other band of finding the exact right time to bring a song back from the brink by inserting a memorable and highly accessible chorus.  The baseline melody, if it can be called such, or “Blah Blah” is abstract at the best of times, but your ear catches the hallmarks of the bass riff every time the song is about to hit the chorus again.  That makes the undulating but unpredictable and fuzzy meanderings of the rest of the song come together, as Destrage always crosses back over the zero sum line to keep the song moving.

And oh, by the way, if we haven’t talked about it yet, as though it’s even important after everything we’ve just discussed, yes, the album is full of the customary metal broken-glass sludge that goes to eleven and breaks your neck with its dominating power and virility.

That’s it.  I’m out of superlatives, and to try and use further language to describe this record would be attempting to render a pattern out of an album that is liquid and beyond easy, glib epithets.  “A Means to No End,” again at the risk of dropping the pretense of mystery, the clubhouse leader for album of the year, and there’s not a lot of year left.