You could call this beautiful chaotica.
While the term may sound a bit odd or downright dumb to some, this is what I thought of while listening to Destroyer Destroyer’s debut release, Littered With Arrows (Goodfellow Records). As it continued to blare through the stereo of my car, the opening track “Trial” leapt into a sadistic concoction of mind-numbing guitars and ear-piercing vocals. Oddly enough, if you look closer, you will find traces of something beautiful.
And this opening track is just 54 seconds long.
It says a lot when you try to make any kind of impression on a recording, be it good or bad, in such a short amount of time. The rest of this CD's 29 minutes of music consists of a collection of 12 songs that conjure up a juxtaposition of carefully arranged musical ideas -- albeit with a bomb attached to each one.
With some songs clocking in at as little as 1:35 (“Dead Weight”), this CD tries to keep in line with the standards of grind music — keeping the songs short and very direct. But it also mines territory that is somewhat experimental. On the track “Number Cruncher,” the sound reminds me more of Between The Buried and Me, without the jazzy interludes. Vocally, Jamie Schnetzler brings out his inner Converge, keeping the high-pitched vocals intact. The off time guitars and drumming will also make any Daughters fan quite happy.
Bottom Line: If you want to experience a different form of heavy music to challenge your artistic and experimental urges — and you don’t mind a relentless amount of carefully crafted noise — then this record is a good start. DD’s bio page states, “…Littered With Arrows is no easy listen, but no one said extreme music was easy listening.” A very true statement indeed.
Article comments
1 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
If I didn't interject my opinion, then I wouldn't be the resident metalhead here at BC...
Good Review... Though this band leaves me wanting alittle more of the experimental and less of the high end vocals. The Number Twelve Looks Like You seems to do this mixture a little bit better though at times I feel it falls into that same rut and if this is what Grind has evolved into then I feel alot of these albums will fall on deaf ears.
And, what the hell happened to all the scaling exercises that the "Grind" guitarists used to do??
2 - Chris Beaumont
I can't stand number 12 looks like you..... I saw them live with Horse the Band and they were awful....
3 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
I can agree w/ you Chris, but I guess this is where the "Grind" genre has gone. Maybe I'm too old or maybe it's just that I got caught up in the whole Technical Death Metal scene because Grind started to bore me. Either way, I can't put down these guys because usually something that's misunderstood(NO,not Rap-Metal or Nu-Metal) now could be considered pioneering down the road.
4 - jerry
Horse The Band..those dudes are killer live. As far as grind goes, I know there are probably alot of good bands that can do it live but the band that I hear that can do it well nowadays is Converge..that's the band I would love to see.
5 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Sorry... I just don't remember Converge ever being a Grindcore band. I knew of Carcass & Napalm Death, but, Converge was a hardcore band.
Funny enough, I went to High School w/ Aaron @ Assabet Valley Voc. It's just funny to read articles or to hear how they supposedly pioneered anything.
6 - jajke
converge is not hardcore. and #12 was one of the best bands i have ever seen live. along with destroyer destroyer.
their vocalist jamie can pull of those high pitched screams like no other.
its to bad they broke up.
but this album is the shit for sure