Behind the Mask

Destillery is one of those run-of-the-mill bands that exist all over the world and never make any bigger waves. Heavy metal must have one of the highest bands-to-fans ratio among the thousands of genres of music, and while a lot of bands are essentially crap, there are diamonds among the less-known groups. Destillery is not one of those, but it does not belong in the crap division either. At least their music is fun, and even somewhat skillfully executed, and while it does not tilt the axis of the Earth and build a new Rome in a day, it certainly deserves a place in the pantheon of respectable quite-not-up-there-with-Judas-Priest metal bands.

The name of the game is heavy metal with hints of traditional power metal from the years when it wasn't yet called power metal, and to take the easy road to describe the music, the band sounds like the 80s Helloween playing covers of unknown studio takeout tracks of Iron Maiden; very traditional, in other words. The riffing has something Maidenesque in it. It's obvious that Master Harris is not playing the bass gallop, even though the bass work is very competent. The Helloweenish parts stem mostly from the vocal style and certain other stylistic choices, and the combination certainly pleases the ears.

The music is, to be blunt, rather harmless, but it has plenty of entertainment value. The songs lack hooks that could really fix the attention on them, and while the overall professionalism is there, the lack of hit potential and memorable sing-along parts in this kind of traditional stuff is a pity. The band would certainly have the skill to play virtually any songs, but the ones they have on Behind the Mask are unfortunately not masterpieces. None of them suck, and to name the missing ingredient is very difficult, but that special something is not there. The album is not something that sticks to the mind, and in the chosen trade of Destillery, stickiness is a must. The production could certainly be much heavier, and the band manages to sound less heavy than it actually is riffwise.

On the other hand, Behind the Mask is certainly enjoyable for what it is, and it works marvellously as driving music or as background music at work; there's a time and a place for something that doesn't disturb or steal the attention from more important things. Paying more attention to the album shows a lot of good musicianship, and the basswork stands out with plenty of little details, but unfortunately the tunes are so middle-of-the-road that the act of actually paying attention takes plenty of concentration. There are parts that have some orginality or very skilled traditionalism to them, but the fundamental construction of the songs almost manage to hide them.

The faster songs are generally better than the slow ones, and maybe moving to a more power metallic direction could have served the band better. As it is, Behind the Mask is bound to remain among the thousands of minor albums of the mid-90s, and even if it is fun, it's not an earth shaker. It is, on the other hand, a holotype of basic heavy metal, and might make its way to a collection of a metal museum in 5 million years from now.

To be enjoyed as a Bic Mac of traditional metal, but not savoured as a rare Kobe beef steak.