Destroy "Discography 1990 - 1994" CD
[Havoc]
Obviously this is a "reissue" of the "Necropolis" CD that Sound Pollution originally released, but this time it's coming from Havoc Records under a more appropriate title with an all new (and improved) layout. It's so damn hard for me to review reissues, especially when the reissues are discographies from bands that most people should damn well be familiar with at this point in time. I mean, this is fucking Destroy, you know? They played heavy as fuck, crusty hardcore/punk with a good dose of tasteful metal riffing, burly vocals, a nice mix of tempos ranging from moderately paced to fast with some destructive slow passages on occasion, etc. This is classic crust. If you were ever into this stuff, you listened to Destroy, and you know it. What you end up with here is well over an hour's worth of music in the form of 50+ songs (I don't even know how many there actually are, there are 49 tracks, but a couple of the tracks contain more than one actual song) from this legendary band. If you've never heard them before, you need to. If you've never heard of them before... well, get your head out of your fucking ass and do your homework, kids. The recordings are slightly dated, I mean, all of this stuff is from the early-90's, so it can be sort of muddy and rugged to some degree. But it stands the test of time, I think. The guitar tone is usually really thick and nasty (especially on the "Necropolis" material), the vocals sound forceful, etc. The rhythm section could have used some work, but what can you do? It's not a big deal anyway, there's no sense in picking this stuff apart. The band already did their thing and left their mark, and that's all there is to it. The new layout is a bit more interesting than the previous CD release if you ask me, if for no other reason than a bunch of the old record covers are included, as are a bunch of old flyer images from some killer shows that the band played over the years. All of the lyrics are included (except for the cover songs and a couple of others) along with brief song explanations for many, so things pretty much speak for themselves: "Poverty and despair, crime, drugs and homelessness, Metropole crumbles to dust, Why live in a city already dead? Squatters, punks and outcasts rule the ruins of tomorrow today, Scraping a living from the empire's fall, Thriving off urban decay." Read: "America's cities stand as a monument to a disposable lifestyle. Those who can afford to flee to the suburbs in droves and leave the inner city to decay and die. The artificial reality of the suburbs, with their consumer aesthetic, only serves as a façade for decline. Beneath the surface lurk the 'troops of tomorrow': The disenfranchised, the urban pioneer. Some day the thin veneer of order will crumble away and these elements will rise to the surface." If you've got the original "Necropolis" CD release this won't really offer you much, but if you've got some of this stuff on vinyl or for some odd reason just don't have any of it, I'd definitely recommend snagging this proper collection. Yeah, it's a lot to take in one sitting, but this is mandatory stuff, folks. (8/10)
Running time - 72:53, Tracks: 50+
[Notable tracks: Salvation in Death, Crowd Control, God Squad, Misery, Stop Thinking and Follow, Burn This Racist System Down, Atomic Myopia, Total Fucking Chaos, Us vs. the World II, Doom of the Greedy, and then some...]
Havoc Records - http://www.havocrex.com

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