EP REVIEW: Call Of The Wild – Destroyer 666
Aussie legends DESTROYER 666 are getting older now. A band known for physically embodying the whiskey, leather, metal and sex of their wild youth are starting to see the years getting bigger in the rear view mirror. Some would see this as a sign to slow down, tone down their act, or just pack it in altogether. Not this band. After a long, not entirely voluntary, break, lineup reshuffle and successful return with 2016’s Wildfire they’ve been on the road causing chaos both on and off stage. Just prior to embarking on a massive US tour with WATAIN, a hugely complimentary pairing many of us have seen before, they’ve decided to release a short, four song EP entitled Call Of The Wild to wet their fans appetites. Is it worth a listen, or are these Wolves getting long in the tooth?
On their previous album DESTROYER 666 begun to experiment with introduction traditional heavy metal influences into their sound to a greater extent than before. Opener, Violence Is Golden continues this to the greatest extent yet, with the band’s own black/thrash sound very much taking back seat and KK.Warslut’s trademark snarls becoming shouts instead. It’s a difficult track to pin down as it’s very much been written for the live environment with fans no doubt expected to shout along to the chorus. Not bad, but for any fans of the band who’d skipped the previous record, the sound would be a surprise. A beautiful reminiscent shout of “Fucking Cunt!” ends the track appropriately.
Stone By Stone initially sounds like it’s following in the footsteps of the opener before descending into more familiar territory. With riffs and snarls galore and lyrics dealing with tearing down the world it’s a solid track written by a band that sounds a lot tighter musically than on their previous release together. Call Of The Wild is the fastest of the new material on here and rips through its runtime with pauses for a chorus that builds behind the tracks lyrical themes before descending into madness once again with solo’s and Thrash-influences broadly displayed.
The EP’s closing track is a re-recording of the legendary Trialed By Fire. This is a very brave move as the original, appearing a decade and a half ago is one of DESTROYER 666‘s fan favourites. A surprisingly introspective and emotional track dealing with the failings of man and imperfections therein, the band has taken it and, while not changing the song dramatically, have added that decade and a half of hard living and experience to it. The result is a track that feels as emotionally raw as ever, with the additional verses a reminder of a life hard lived, and the loss of the quieter passages of the track an interesting stylistic change more fitting to the current state of the band.
So where does the Call Of The Wild sit in DESTROYER 666‘s discography? Unfortunately once again the band fails to reach their own lofty heights, with the sheer unblemished perfection of their first three albums meaning any future efforts are doomed to be compared unfavourably. However once a listener looks past that they find a surprisingly good EP with moments of that same brilliance throughout and a surprisingly successful re-recording of the bands classics. Moreover this is an EP written for the road, it’s only real purpose to tell the drunken, screaming masses when to howl along with the choruses as true legends who live what they preach stand aloft on stage. For that reason, it’s performs perfectly.
Rating: 8/10
Call of the Wind is out now via Season of Mist.
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