Review of Destinity - XI Reasons To See

I’ll always remember France’s Destinity for their debut, Under the Smell of Chaos. But despite that oddly named album, the band hasmorphed from a pretty generic symphonic black metal band into a pretty solid melodicdeath metal act with hints of cyber and symphonic elements. And now here isalbum number seven, and it’s pretty solid as well. At least Destinity is consistent.

The easiest comparison is latter-day Hypocrisy (just listen to “Ruleof the Rope, ”When They Stand Still,” and “Got Smile Sticking”), as the band’stones and demeanor compares favorably to the times when Tagtgren and Co. were dabblingin synths and alien abductions. Chunky guitars and blazing riffs (“Just Before…” ) nicely compliment the moodier numbers (those three aforementioned Hypocrisy-esque tracks), as do the various keyboard elements that run from orchestral to industrial. Plenty of vocal variety abounds as well, courtesy of vocalist Mick. His impressive arsenal ranges from deep growls to robotically clean croons to some serious screams. The whole thing is wrapped in a pristine Jacob Hansen production job (Raunchy, Mercenary, Centaurus-A, Fear My Thoughts).

The only real issue is that despite the bands consistencyand commendable delivery, they just don’t do a whole lot to separate themselves from the pack of like-minded, modernized melodic death metalacts. Throw on Scar Symmetry, Mercenary, Solution .45, Marionette, Miseration, Kalisiaand, of course, Hypocrisy, and at least something jumps out or stands out. WithDestinity you just get 10 songs and one intro of foot-tapping modern deathmetal; that’s the equivalent of eating a Chinese meal. And, at 52 minutes, ittends to drag on after the energetic “Witness” with three rather samey tracks (“YourDemonic Defense”, “Self Lies Addiction,” and “Silent Warfare”).

In all though, Destinity are certainly worth some attention,if not to hold you over until the next Hypocrisy album. They know their styleand play it with an unwavering--if sometimes redundant--level ofcompetence.

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Destinity

XI Reasons To See

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