This City Speaks in Tongues

Weird riffing, weird song structures, weird compositions in every aspect. There was no other way for me to describe She Said Destroy's debut album Time Like Vines. And some things don't seem to change.

With their second effort, This City Speaks in Tongues, She Said Destroy managed to take their songwriting approach even one step further without neglecting the qualities, a good song must have. They utilize a huge variety of different extreme metal styles and don't even fear to include melodic leads or acoustic parts. If the thought of black metal riffing evolving into technical death metal parts, just to burst out into a melodic hardcore riff is intriguing you, then you should probably give this album try. However, as mentioned before, the progressive nature of the music never distracts from the fact, that these are whole, consistent songs, you are listening, too.

The stylistic variety is also reflected in the vocals, which are absolutely well executed and change from deep, grind-like growling to high, black metal styled shrieks. The drummer will instantly attract your attention with his repertoire of weird time signatures and fills, sometimes leaving you wondering, what the heck is going on.

You will find very memorable Riffs on this album, as well as technical beasts, which will need several listening sessions to grasp. That being said, the guitar work is what I like the most on this album. Whether it's melodic chord progressions or tremolo picked black metal riffs, She Said Destroy always deliver great riffs, no matter what style they are in. Even the bass guitar is audible at some points (which means a lot in metal) and it does a good job at punctuating the guitar riffing, while (sadly) never really standing out of the whole picture.

The production fits She Said Destroy's style very well. The drums are almost perfect in the mix and the guitar sound has the needed punch, while the vocals blend in very well, without being too loud or too low.

To conclude this review, let's just say, that every open minded fan of extreme metal seriously needs to check this album out and that progressive metal fans without any interest in black or death metal should at least give it a try.

She Said Destroy are back, better than before and they are a force to be reckoned with.