Thursday 28th March 2024,
The Black Planet

Destroyers Of All – Bleak Fragments

destroyers of all - bleak fragments cover

“Bleak Fragments”, the long-awaited full-length debut of portuguese group Destroyers Of All is finally here, and it was well worth the wait. Three years after the release of their critically acclaimed EP “Into The Fire”, they’re back and show a great deal of realized potential. They’re not just another good promise in the Portuguese underground scene, and this record proves it.

This album starts with the intro track “From Ashes Reborn”, a two minute piece that sets the pace for what is to come, a death/thrash well harmonized with different influences and a progressive touch. Although this release is mainly in its core a death/thrash metal, it is filled with nuances of symphonic, progressive and even Coimbra fado influences in the middle, and that is where they make a difference and distinguish themselves from being just another good death/thrash group with an average somewhat catchy album.

It flows naturally from start to finish, being an interesting record that is going to make you either love it or hate just at the first listening, because it’s fresh, original, different and doesn’t follow the rules.  Although some of the songs are clearly better than others, you can say that overall is a somewhat homogenous album. For instance, the track chosen to be their single and video, “Hate Through Violence” is the weakest link in the record, and doesn’t quite grasp the quality pattern, or even shows the best they’re capable of. On the other hand, you have songs like ”Unexistence” or  “Bleak Fragments” that could have been a much better presentation card for the record, and are one of its finest pieces both lyrically and musically. However, the piece of resistance is “Tormento”, a pearl that might not be played live, but illustrates clearly what they’re all about, a band composed by great musicians that are not afraid to try something new and distinct without losing their identity and always in a classy manner.

In sum, it’s a very solid record, with some impressive and unique details. They have lived up, and even went over, all the expectations regarding their debut full-length record. They show that they’re always capable of evolving and being better as the time goes by. Hopefully this will be a first impressive record of many more to come in the future.

8/10

Comments

comments

Like this Article? Share it!

About The Author

Music lover, prog snob and grind/brutal death event promoter. Writing is one of my life long passions.

Leave A Response