Deströyer 666 - Phoenix Rising (2000)

It's only a matter of moments into Phoenix Rising until you realize that Deströyer 666 has raised its intensity level by a considerable degree. New drummer Jarro/Deceiver metes out some hyper-blasting akin to faster European bands as a hallmark of the opener "Rise of the Predator", but to the Australians' they don't focus on this entirely, using it only as a weapon to create contrasts with the more middle paced rhythms; consistently throughout the entire album. There's still a lot of Bathory vibe here with the tempos, with a lot of very straightforward riffs in a Marduk mold (especially those blasted parts), but they've got a ratio of about 1:1 for some memorable rhythm guitars and then others you'd heard before and would quickly forget.

Altogether, the album has pretty great production, with no muddling or imbalance to the levels of the instruments, and a clear delivery which highlights all of them. The guitar tone isn't anything too striking, but it's got a good balance where the tremolo-picked melodies and lower rhythms feel evenly distributed, with the bass poking through all the time on its own crusade. The drums are a pretty noticeable technical improvement and these also sit evenly, while the vocals are at the fore, but not enough to smother any of the playing. I think this was K.K.'s best performance to date, especially his sustained rasps, they just seem a little more in tune with the music and slice a little harder when you pay attention to the diabolic details. The songs are all solid, though some of my favorites are nestled deeper into the track-list like the swaggering, almost folkish black metal of "Ride the Solar Winds" and "The Birth of Tragedy", or "Lone Wolf Winter" with its urgent sense of melodies and an atmospheric vibe that foreshadows records like Wildfire.

Also, that song's title and lyrics seem like a callback to the cover art for the first full-length; and speaking of callbacks, they have a new version of "The Eternal Glory of War" from the Violence EP and it's quite tidied up. This will please some, and piss off others, but I think this is the more effective incarnation. However, I'd say that about 5 of the tunes here are top notch, while others are held back by a few generic riffs that don't do much for the imagination, but at least have the production to maximize their impact. And there isn't that much of a gulf in the quality, I can definitely sit through all 40 minutes without any impatience; Phoenix Rising is consistent and well-balanced enough to get its points across and catapult the band into more of a contender against their Scandinavian and American peers.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://www.destroyer666.uk/ 

Deströyer 666 - Unchain the Wolves (1997)

Unchain the Wolves is an improvement on the EP in several ways, as the band converts more directly into a black metal sound with influences from others like Bathory or Hellhammer/Celtic Frost, and creates a much more immersive, structural and atmospheric sound. Still, it retains a little of the savagery from the earlier years, at any moment willing to bust out into some great speed/thrash rhythms and there are parts here that only separate themselves from the EP via the cleaner production aesthetics. I always thought this one had a super cheesy look to the cover, having still found their band name silly back in the 90s and then the wolf on the cover reminds me of something I'd get on a T-shirt at some smoke shop in the mall when I was a teenager.

With age, though, I can start to appreciate these things, I love the white wolf and the simplistic and menacing nature, and have even warmed up to the name. So too has the music grown on me over the years; again, this is not a favorite in their catalogue, but it's absolutely a solid listen for some more straightforward black metal. They almost overwhelm you with the opening track, "Genesis to Genocide", 10+ minutes long with this cool, frosty extended intro that features low pianos, brooding ambiance and sets up a surge of sea-storm riffs that wouldn't have sounded out of place on Blood Fire Death. This is not the only 'epic' on the album, the title track will take you by surprise with its great, majestic atmospheric sequences with a little bit of droning feedback, reverbed clean vocal lines, and a nice escalation into some thundering riffs and melodies, truly if Quorthon had written a record while touring the outback, this is what it may have ended up sounding like...although the production K.K. Warslut and crew get here is a lot more current with the 90s standards.

Otherwise, the album is full of straightforward ragers like "Australian and Anti-Christ" (great title) that convey a lot more of the hybrid of black, speed and thrash metal that the band will eventually revert to almost exclusively in later decades. K.K.s vocals are the same barking holocaust as the EP, though he will also turn in a few more decrepit rasps. I love some of the sped-up Celtic Frost style riffs and the punkish, hellish energy. This record has a few more standouts that I'd usually include on a D666 playlist like "Damnation's Pride" and "Six Curses from a Spiritual Wasteland", and again I'd compliment the production; the leads spike out from the rhythm sections, nothing's too complicated, just devastating, and the drumming and vocals really breathe throughout the record. I'm sure some of their original audience rued this transformation here, but there's still enough primacy that it doesn't feel like any sort of sell-out or anything. Good record, if not great, one I still break out from time to time.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://www.destroyer666.uk/

Deströyer 666 - Violence is the Prince of this World EP (1995)

Though I wasn't initially too impressed with this band, Deströyer 666 was one I got in on the ground floor with, having heard this first EP and their debut through a local CD import shop. Australian black metal was a bit of a novelty, I had heard Bestial Warlust and this band around the same time and that was all, and my initial impressions were that it mirrored the Canadian war metal stuff a lot more than the Scandinavian bands I was completely enthralled by. I think that still holds true for this early material, but K.K. Warslut and company were definitely set on a path that would evolve for the better, and I think you can hear that even on Violence is the Prince of This World. It might not one of my favorites in their legacy, but this shit sounds positively savage even 30 years later.

There are definitely those blasted and soulless passages reminiscent of the war metal stuff, but there is a little more structure to some of the riffing, based around a vile thrashing aesthetic, a little bit of death metal also in the churn of the rhythm guitar. When they do resort to that primitive blasting, they retain a little bit of atmosphere through the riff choices, which to their credit, are a lot more interesting to follow than some other 'blast and forget' bands of the time, including arguably some of Marduk's material, though this stuff isn't as intense as something like Panzer Division Marduk. The guitars wind through these sections like serpents, and I also liked the warlike presence of the bass guitar which actually recalled for me some of the earlier Voivod records if they were just pitched at a higher speed. The drumming is a little bit of a clatter but it's also really well done for its day, effortlessly blasting or rolling out the double bass patterns to support the snaky distortion on the guitars.

I think the real star of the show here is how Warslut's nihilistic barking, which sounds like a midway point between black, death, and Germanic proto-black thrash styles, fuses itself so well to those frillier guitars and the primordial beating of the drums. This is the component that feels like the nuclear holocaust you're seeing on the cover art, and he definitely earns his nickname with it. Another strong point is that they definitely avoid monotony with some change-ups, for instance "Song for a Devil's Son" doesn't follow the same course as "An Endless Stream of Bombers", the band was working to create distinct tunes while merging them all together under the same banner of aggression. The mix can be a little uneven, some tunes coming across rawer than others, and it's certainly not their most coherent material, but I've always thought of this as 'war metal' with a little more memorable structure to latch on to, and whilst its one of the last things I'll reach for when I crave Deströyer 666, there's a timeless, vulgar charm to it which I cannot ignore.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

https://www.destroyer666.uk/