Though only emerging this past February UK metallers Destroy Planets! have made a striking introduction to themselves with debut EP, Mass X Gravity. It bears all the hallmarks of a craft and imagination which has been brewed over time, indeed the band has a sound which has been two years in the shaping and honing, but equally has an unpolished breath to it which only breeds pure pleasure and the potential of greater exploits to come.
Manchester hailing, Destroy Planets! draws on an array of metal seeded styles and muscular rock flavours for the individual confrontation which surges through their first EP. Raw edges meet with ferocious trespasses whilst both collude with melodic temptation and bold imagination; a tapestry of invention and tenacity which needed little time to intrigue and seize attention. Equally Mass X Gravity is a savage and resourceful force of unpredictability which continues to surprise by the listen as its depths expand to devour greater attentiveness.
As quickly shown by opener Ikon, pinning down the sound of Destroy Planets! is a pointless task, its voice as varied and mercurial as it is uniformly striking. The first track itself immediately sparks ears with industrial metal eruptions across its dark brooding but as quickly springs groove and death metal hues upon the senses; an Enter Shikari meets Machine Head meets Cryptopsy like corruption swiftly igniting keen attention and appetite. By the second though its sound is evolving and growing more fascination, a quality just as potent within the vocals of Tanya Wilson, her multi-flavoured and dextrous tones sheer magnetism in the thickly compelling tempest.
It’s fiercely testing and alluring twists and turns are echoed in next up Stars, the track shaping them in its own creative image as electronic and metal bred trespasses unite in a similarly gripping exploit. Wilson casts throat raw and melodic lures with equal captivation as the grooves and riffs of guitarists Aaron Pettit and Nathan Arif intrude upon and bound the senses. Providing a confrontation as feral as it is carefully woven, the track is a contagious predator with individual and united enterprise as well as its distinct imagination matched by that within the following Immortal. The third track instantly casts a Korn/Slipknot-esque shadow over the imagination though it is soon scavenging the senses with its own particular psychosis of sound and emotion. The whipping beats of Adam Tyree again incite as they punish whilst the dark, voracious grumble of Brad Crane’s bass is a perpetually unwavering lure in the creative tempest and especially goes to make one addictively memorable moment within the song and EP when it singularly courts the nightmarishly haunting melodic tempting of Wilson.
Absolution instantly consumes the senses with grooves and toxic ferocity, fellow Brits VNDTA coming to mind not for the first time but again swiftly band and sound casts their own unique creative character to prey upon and feed the imagination. Arguably the most infernal, vicious, and untamed track on the release, the song just compelled keener attention during its length and subsequent revisit while Bed Of Lies hooked equal greed with its calm melodic beginning and subsequent sonic squall; the latter woven in heavy metal threaded spirals and coated in extreme metal animosity as melodic virulence brews and eventually erupts in voice and sound.
The EP concludes with Save Yourselves, a closing inferno of sound and enterprise that descends with venom and ruthlessness but once surrounding the listener treats them to a myriad of textures and melodically seeded endeavour without losing its crushing intensity. It is a song which epitomises the Destroy Planets! sound and craft and its rich fuel of unpredictability which can only lead to greater adventures ahead.
Mass X Gravity is a challenge, a threat and another of the year’s unexpected but true pleasures.
Mass X Gravity is out now.
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Pete RingMaster 30/08/2019
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
As soon as opener and EP title track stirs into life that acknowledgement that this unity of creativity was meant to be rises up. Amidst the scorched sigh of guitar, rhythms gather and erupt in an incessant coaxing; a lure within which the riveting grumble of Ceccarelli’s bass finds inspiration in the early releases of their companion’s band. With synth and obviously his distinctive voice, Coleman soon escalates that flavouring, but as quickly the song sets out its own voracious identity, one as raucously infectious as it is dramatically menacing. Di Lodovico’s guitar perpetually escalates the drama and contagion as forcibly as rhythms, its nagging grooves and riffs flirtatious amongst the hypnotic rhythmic incitement. Even so imagination and atmospheric calms have their say on the outstanding track, each of the three stamping their creative authority upon the apocalyptic majesty of song and in turn ears and passions.
The album starts with Motion, metallic electronic pulses and temptations luring ears before raw steely smog brings a rousing scourge of groove and alternative metal awash with industrial espionage. Quickly Gagliardi shows his vocal diversity as throat scarred and clean tones intermingle with the former heading the virulent contagion. Equally his craft on the guitar further ignites the tempest, shredding and picking multi-cultural sonic temptations.
The great start continues through Chasing Hope, it instantly grabbing ears with force and adventure as melodic tendrils vine the song’s immediate trespass upon the senses. Again Cordioli’s vocals come with a harmonic croon as powerful as it is radiant against the heavier darker climate of sound. Milani’s classic metal nurtured vines spring across the track’s growing adventure, the song epitomising that mix of the recognisable and inescapably fresh within its compelling grooving and tenacious adventure.
Pt II opens up with Virtual Insanity, electronic sparkling the gateway to an infernal surge of electro rock predation as ravenously hungry as it is virulently catchy. Even so, its instinctive urgency has an underlying premeditation of devious intent, melodies and calmer but darker twists adding to the track’s inescapable invasion. Something akin to Rabbit Junk meets Fear Factory, the track instantly has the project’s second part off to a flyer but also connects seamlessly to the nature and presence of the first part of Visions Of The Blinded World.
The equally outstanding From Beyond follows, its initial lure new wave-esque amidst swift gothic hued intimation before its black hearted dance emerges. Even then it is a prowling venture of threat and magnetic suggestion; technical death metal dexterity merging with industrial rapacity to increasingly fascinate as its electro instincts escape sonic darklands before the tantalising drama and ungodly seduction of No More envelops and devours the senses. Soaked in malevolence, the track subsequently swings from its sinful crawl into a just as nefarious canter, Crowley-esque hues lining the increasingly transfixing and ravenous encounter.
The storm courted opening to the album coaxes ears into the waiting clutches of Abyssal Worshippers, keys hinting as they lay a sinister lure into the waiting web of intrigue and opacity. Swiftly The Painter immerses ears and thoughts with technical adventure, his strings flaming with suggestion and craft but equally as potent settling into the almost carnivorous trap laid by the feral jaws of the bass and The Orator’s throat scarred vocal painting. Having run with the imagination on Squidhead’s previous offering, it was a surprise and initially wrong-footing to have some of the visual interpretation done for us but quickly the band showed there was plenty of room to create one’s own nightmares too.