Cows & tails
-- Destroy Humanity --
12/08/2021
Stijn Daneels
Album genres:
| ■ | Groove metal |
Album artists:
| ■ | Koen | Guitar, vocals |
| ■ | Sander | Bass, vocals |
| ■ | Thierry | Drums, vocals |
Review written by Sven Van Laere.
INTRO
As a
Belgian metalhead I’m always happy to see that the local scene is alive and
kicking. Destroy Humanity is a groove metal band from Beerzel. As their main
influences they cite among others Lamb of God, Machine Head and Pantera. Hypnopompia
is sent to us for review by the band.
THE MAIN POINTS
This album
is their first full length. Recordings are done by Project Zero Studios and
that is clearly audible in the production, more about that later.
“Hypnopompia” consists of 9 songs. In the opener “Saint of Killers”, the influences are immediately clear: Koen’s riffs are a crossover between Rob Flynn and Willie Adler, while his vocals are like a love child between that same Rob Flynn and Phil Anselmo. However, starting an album with a track that lasts 8 minutes is in my opinion a very strong statement. “Saint Of Killers” could have been half that long, at least that’s what I felt during my first listening session, but from a production point of view I understand what they wanted to achieve.
The second song,
“Grabbing the Cow by Its Tail” has, again, a nice groove. Destroy Humanity
deliver what they promise, metal à la Machine Head.
Although
they mainly name the aforementioned bands as their main influences, I suspect that
they also have listened to Metallica. This becomes very apparent if you listen
to “Crossroads”. By hearing the first 3 quarter of the main riff, “Dirty
Window” from the 2003 album “St. Anger” immediately pops in my head.
Other
notable songs are “Broken” (that bass groove!), “Black” and “Frozen Window."
Since yours
truly is also a metal musician, I have paid extra attention to the production.
The songs are very groovy indeed. There is not really anything new or ground-breaking
in this record, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The music sounds very familiar,
and these songs are written to be played live. I would also like to pay tribute to Project
Zero Studios. The quality of the recording is top notch and really fits the
“meant to be played live” effect of the songs.
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THIS ALBUM
- Groovy
riffs
- Tight
wall of sound
- That
production!
WHAT I LIKE LESS ABOUT THIS ALBUM
- Although this is a groovy and well produced album, some songs seem a bit repetitive. Personally, I would have cut some songs a little bit shorter.CONCLUSION
Before this
album I never heard of Destroy Humanity before, but I’m happy I got to review
this album. This is a nice discovery which brings me back to the early 2000’s,
when Machine Head launched “The Blackening”. Although it’s not a
ground-breaking album, as mentioned before, it brings a feeling of nostalgia to
the days where full albums where still important and where Spotify was not even
available in Belgium. “Hypnopompia” has grown on me, and I’m happy I gave it
the chance it deserved.
70/100