Album Review :
Destroy the Runner - Void
By Mason Beard in Reviews | 8 Comments
2016 was certainly the year for reunions. We had everyone from Blenderhead to Hopesfall to Advent. 2016 also saw the reunion of Metalcore giants, Destroy the Runner and the release of their new EP, Void.
“Bloom” is a great way to start off the EP. The track has the old-school Metalcore mentality, alongside violins in the intro and programming all throughout. The track fades out into “End Transmission”. “End Transmission” was the album’s first single. The track starts off with some high pitched screams and continues the old-school Metalcore sound. The song did shock me with an expletive and got me thinking. The line made me wonder if the band didn’t want to be associated with Christianity anymore. Though some bands have used this word in their songs and have remained Christian. Maybe DTR will address this one day. Who knows? All I know, is the track certainly doesn’t disappoint.
“Underwater” seems to exhibit some emotional Metalcore/post-hardcore and the occasional Deathcore vocals. The track certainly brings to mind bands like My Heart to Fear and Fit for a King with their most recent releases. The track is about 5 minutes long, most of which is clean vocals. XXI is another band that comes to mind when you listen to this track. “Glass Sky” definitely brings the heavy Attack Attack!/For Today sounding guitars with the clean vocals, followed by the Harsh/Unclean vocals. The track is pretty heavy. “I AM YOU!!!”
“Ivory” starts off very slowly and melodically, with violins, keyboards, and melodic sounding guitars… and then kicks in with some incredible brutality and layered vocals (love it). The song is pretty chaotic. Not like math metal or anything, just so much is happening and not in different time signatures. Around 3 minutes it becomes melodic, and then returns to the chaos. Legit track. It kind of reminds me of Haste the Day’s Coward. “Born To Hate” doesn’t disappoint. Melodic, brutal, emotional. What more could you want from a metal track? The track even gives a For Today sounding pre-breakdown buildup. With the title “Born to Hate”, the track is almost guaranteed to be heavy, and in this case it certainly is.
Void is probably the most melodic album I’ve heard this year. The EP definitely is going to bring back old fans and bring in new ones. Go buy this sucker!
For those who like: XXI, My Heart To Fear, Fit For A King, Haste the Day
I’ve stated this before but not a fan of cursing in music, especially if you’re so called christian. It brings me back to the days when I wasn’t walking with the Lord.
“The line made me wonder if the band didn’t want to be associated with Christianity anymore.” I think that’s what people got from Sleepwave’s first album as well, as another that did such a thing. POD’s the only band I can recall that met the latter statement of cursing like that and staying Christian. IDK, after so many occurrences of Christian bands who ultimately fall off, let people down, or prove to be hypocrites, things like this have led me to a “no longer Christian” default of sorts. I guess that’s my being jaded because of so many others. It’s… Read more »
You’re not alone in being jaded.
(btw who here remembers Jingle Balls?)
The other band I remember who recently swore and is still marketed as Christian is Kings Kaleidoscope in “A Prayer.” I thought they did it tastefully, and I understood the use of it. To each their own though
Yes, I think there’s always a way SOMETHING can be done…just about. It doesn’t seem this is that, though. The Almost did it on their song “Monster Monster,” in my opinion. I just don’t think there is a “tasteful” interpretation of that word. Most other words of that nature, they have some sort of secondary meaning that can be used appropriately. Even in an instance where you’re talking conversationally, I think it changes. However, when your “Christian” product, which you had months and years to put together, picks what most would consider the #1 word on the list of inappropriate… Read more »
I was expecting to get more of a saints sound from this released, which I would probably have liked since I am missing that sound recently. What they do give us is very solid and I wasn’t expecting it.
Have they posted lyrics for this album yet?
Idk
Oh I see you embedded the lyrics video, so there is that.