Liste der Bands Stoner Destruction Evolution Relentless

Straight from San Antonio,Texas, U.S.A. Destruction Evolution is a Southern Metal/Stoner band that fuses southern rock with metal and blues, having a predominantly grungy sound at the same time. Having headlined some local shows and opening for bigger hard rock and power metal acts such as Dokken, Saxon, Kamelot and Queensryche, Destruction Evolution wants to create 'an evolution in music through sonic destruction', this creed having pretty much explained the band's name choice.

'Relentless' is their first album, it has been released this year in march, and they present their combination of dark Sabbath sound, Black Label Society heaviness and an Alice in Chains-like heavy 90's grunge vibe.

The album starts with the song called 'Friend to Enemy', sets right into the heavy groove that will be present during the whole album. It kind of reminds me of Pantera, probably because of the low, gruff vocals and the lyrics theme. The second track continues with the same heavy atmosphere and the fact that the guitars are diverse, serving all sorts of riffs, gets more and more noticeable.

At the third song, 'Fleshwound', I notice some slight changes: the vocals become lighter, you can really feel those southern rock influences as you get that tinge of melancholy, that 're-creating the past' thing.

The following songs 'Fantasy Fuel', ‘Relentless’ which gives the title of the album and represents it appropriately, ‘Fourth of July’ , and ‘Never wanted’ return to the sound we heard before, but with a bit more attitude. These are the kind of songs that you would like listen to in a bar, they are quite catchy and can get you into that rocking atmosphere. Regarding catchyness, a few people upon listening to Destruction Evolution for the first time said 'hey, that sounds pretty good', even though they aren't necessarily into this type of metal or would usually dismiss this sort of music. You might say it gives you the right heavy rocking mood, which is a major plus point for a band to have.

Up next is ‘Voodoo Vibe’ which has to be my favorite track from the album, mainly due to its dark doom like Black Sabbath sound, a hypnotic melody, and the vocals getting clearer and more intense. The band can also dish up some really nice solos as well, which is no big surprise since they can brag about having 2 Guitar Wars Champs: Chris, the lead guitarist, and Jim, the bass player, having both won the competition.

As we're getting to the end, you're surprised with even more bluesier southern rock, 'Gone Away' seems to be easier on the ears, more melodic compared to the rest of the songs. The album ends with a swampy 'sitting in the front porch' blues as the band describes it. Dragged chords with a bit of distortion and finishing with the sounds of frogs or other such swamp fauna.

I generally recommend anybody to give this band a try, even to people that haven't listened much to rock, since it's a good pick to get you into the whole genre. The main downside to this band is that listening to the whole album might get a bit monotonous to some, but that's the risk for using grungy guitars in all songs.

All in all, Destruction Evolution, they sound like a very promising band, seem like a good live act and are working on some swampy acoustic versions, so I hope I'll hear more good stuff from them in the future.