Info
- Band(s): Deströyer 666
- Label(s): Season of Mist
- Release Format(s): 12" vinyl, Cassette, CD
- Release Year: 2022
- Review Date: April 24, 2023
- Author(s): FelixS
Good morning, y’all. Am I late to the party? Again. Yes, I suppose I am, this new album for Deströyer 666 has been out since early December last year and has been spreading its plague around the globe for quite some time already. So, what is there to add to an album that most of you already consider “their last one”? And, not in the least place, an album from a band that is not going to surprise you anymore, not even in a 666 years. Well, fck it, let’s go and just party on like nothing’s happened.
‘Never Surrender’ might be the band’s sixth full-length album, out of the total of the quite impressive output also including several EP’s and singles, but was still very much able to stir up some controversies here and there. Without going in detail and leaving politics out of our VM-Underground pages, this sort of things never stop to baffle and amaze me. Let’s keep our focus on the music, which on ‘Never Surrender’ is again of a superior order compared to 95% of their genre peers.
The band is commonly described as a Black/Thrash Metal band, but honestly, the Thrash Metal has long been faced out. Instead Deströyer 666 can best be labelled as a Black/Speed Metal band, or even a Blackened Heavy Metal band. The band’s penchant for those great early 80’s NWOBHM tunes is getting increasingly clearer as it starts to shine through their music more with each subsequent release. Speaking of which, in my review for the ‘Guillotine’ 7” EP from last summer (2022) I accused guitarist Felipe Plaza Kutzbach for kind of band-jacking and incorporating his love for epic guitar-driven Heavy Metal into Deströyer 666. Well, he responded and pleaded innocence. It turned out that it was actually K.K. Warslut himself who is on a wild old school Heavy Metal frenzy. But, alright, those were Felipe’s words, but let’s stick to that story.
But, all the fun stories aside and whoever brought the Heavy Metal influences in, it works great. And, it is even working increasingly well, with each next records things seem to be falling into place better and more efficient. Take a track like ‘Pitch Black Night’ which features a great and epic guitar solo and propels the band to greater heights. It doesn’t only definitely distances the band from any other in the genre, it makes them all the more recognizable too. Their ability to blend in some fiercely paced fury with inimitable and cleverly written catchy melodies is their newfound trademark. It is not only the great guitar wizardry that is pulling it off, but the band also brings in some of the best sing-along parts they have ever came up with, listen to songs like the opening title track, the previously release single ‘Guillotine’ or ‘Savage Rights’. I challenge you not to sing along to those choruses.
This newly adopted style, which has slowly developed over the last few records, has helped them to find the perfect tipping point; it has as much to do with the greats of the NWOBHM movement as with Black Metal. But while doing so, the permanently left the ranks of bands like Desaster, Absu (or its newest incarnation), the recently resurrected Aura Noir or Nifelheim which also happens to have Felipe Plaza Kutzbach in their line-up. And, is that a bad thing?
Not at all, if you ask me. As long as it is served this excellently, we should be cheering the “new” Deströyer 666. Purists aside, ‘Never Surrender’ could easily pass for the perfect soundtrack to a good party – late or not. So, bring some friends and drinks, put this record on and you’ll see that there’s still more than enough room for Deströyer 666 and you might also hear that the band sounds even better than ever before.
Deströyer 666
- Country: Australia
- Style: Black Metal, Thrash Metal
- Links: Homepage, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify
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Season of Mist
- Country: France
- Style: Black Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Thrash Metal, Other
- Links: Homepage, Facebook, Instagram, Bandcamp, Spotify, Youtube
