Deströyer 666 stays true to its roots with a new album.
Created in 1994 in Australia, the band relocated to Germany and finally to England. In 2022, the band led by K.K. Warslut (guitar/vocals, ex-Bestial Warlust), accompanied nowadays by Felipe Plaza Kutzbach (bass/vocals, Nifelheim, Procession, Capilla Ardiente), Kev Desecrator (drums, Venefixion, Sepulchre, ex-Necrowretch) and Bez (guitar), announces the release of Never Surrender, its sixth album.
The album immediately begins with the wild Never Surrender which mixes sharp leads with a catchy basis borrowed from solid Thrash Metal, while energetic vocal parts strike. The mix is extremely effective and it won’t take long to seduce its audience just like Andraste and its darker Old School Black Metal-oriented roots. Some martial patterns come to welcome occult and mysterious choirs, creating a dissonance with the rawer elements of Guillotine, a composition the band had already revealed on the EP of the same name released a few months before and which will reveal its true potential on stage by making the pit shake. Pitch Black Night follows by sublimating the most aggressive elements of the band’s roots, mixing double kick with frantic riffs and wild screams which sometimes give way to quite melodious and epic leads, then Mirror’s Edge reconnects with sharp sounds and jerky patterns with Heavy-infused elements to give the leads a more heady touch. The sound slowly fades to Grave Raiders and its jerky Thrash roots on which the musicians put an unhealthy saturation as well as motivating choruses, followed by Savage Rights on which one can easily recognize massive Teutonic roots. The war march is obviously one of the most catchy compositions, and it leads us to Rather Death, a track which starts with melancholic sounds before releasing all the rage in frantic riffs. Soaring and mystical sounds come in on a darker final, and then Batavia’s Graveyard, the longest composition, closes the album with an airy and haunting sound which contrasts with the track’s rawer parts, like epic intonations in the voice or few sharp leads that answer the heady melodies.
Deströyer 666 continues to consume everything in its path with bloody riffs. If Never Surrender can be perceived as a block of raw rage, one must also take the time to perceive the softer melodies to fully appreciate it.
90/100