ALBUM REVIEW: Funeral Soundtrack #4 – Destroy Boys

DESTROY BOYS have been demanding more and more attention since they formed in 2015 and especially after being nominated in the 2017 Sacramento area music awards. Since then they’ve been demonstrating exactly why they deserve attention and they do this once again with their latest album Funeral Soundtrack #4.

Bad Guy introduces the album and it’s a subdued track starting with only vocals and minimal instrumentation but it sets up a lot of promise which the band deliver on in the choruses that come down strong. It’s scrappy and chaotic but with enough order that it still just about manages to hold itself together. Second track Plucked was released as a single and is one of the strongest on the album. The vocals sound a little sarcastic at times which is actually really great and this is a song with a lot of meaning, it’s almost as if it can laugh at itself. The drums and guitars don’t really do anything special but that’s perfect as this is a straight-up punk track and doesn’t require anything else. It’s certainly a less is more approach and DESTROY BOYS pull it off.

Elsewhere, fourth track Praying starts slow and it’s great to hear just the vocals and simple strings as the vocals feel like a real force behind this band and hearing them a little more isolated is a treat. This track is a little heavier in the verses as it feels very oppressive but in a good way as it doesn’t let up and gives no breathing room. It takes off in the choruses and seems to reach for new heights.

The most surprising track follows immediately after this in the form of Amor Divino which translates roughly as Divine Love but they haven’t just gone for a Spanish name to a song as the entire song is sung in Spanish. Anyone who looks up vocalist Alexia Roditis could find out pretty easily that they are Argentinian but to the causal listener it’s an unexpected song and it sounds great. It sounds a little more upbeat than the previous tracks and it’s not as heavy with more of a dreamier rock feel to it rather than punk which is cool as it just shows the DESTROY BOYS can actually play in a different style and they’re going to show it.

Shedding Skin is heavy on the effects on the guitars which works really well as this track switches things up again by being light on instrumentation. The guitar part shines on this track as it drives the song and provides almost the entire melody over the vocals which again show off some incredible range.

Taking things in a slightly more indie direction, ninth track You Don’t Know incorporates an earwormy hook that plays throughout the verses and is heavily guitar-driven with little riffs that play throughout. The vocals are in a slightly higher range than normal and this track seems a lot more heartfelt and reflective. It’s one of the more emotional songs on the album. This leads onto You Hear Yes which is a great track. It brings back the scrappy punk feel and this is a rebellious track. It’s about battling oppression and just being a person without judgment harking back to what punk was all about in the first.

The final track on the album Boyfeel was also released as a single and is more of a laid-back track that has a swingy feel to it. The instrumentation is mostly minimal but picks up in the choruses with heavy yet not overly complicated guitar parts. This track seems to come from Roditis personally as they have stated that they identify as a queer, non-binary persona and this track seems to explain that, making this a very serious song but tackling the subject through a punk rock lens and the band does an absolutely incredible job of this to close the album on a high note.

Funeral Soundtrack #4 sounds like the most fun funeral ever. DESTROY BOYS‘ latest album seems to walk the line between serious punk rock and just for fun scrappy punk tracks but also has some more heartfelt tenderness at its core. It’s hard to put this band into any one box but whatever box they could end up in it has to be a good one.

Rating: 8/10

Funeral Soundtrack #4 is set for release on August 9th via Hopeless Records. 

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