Indestroy

Indestroy never belonged to the really relevant actors of the US American scene. Their first, last and only full-length from 1987 was released by New Renaissance Records and this label was known for second tier combos and low budgets, but not for exciting sound adventures. The self-titled debut makes clear why. The drums are pretty powerless and a tad muddy, the guitars sound more or less acceptable, but only during some wild solos, for example in "U.S.S.A.", they reveal their true strength. Generally speaking, the thin and cheap mix does not ruin the entire output, but it is also no sound which could compete with the productions of the real thrash masters at that time. Even after seven days without sleep, dudes like Rick Rubin would have done a better job. But I have already mentioned the unwillingness of the record company to invest in its bands and therefore the sound quality is no big surprise. Let's be happy that the label added a lyric sheet - this was anything but a matter of course.

Regardless of financial restrictions, the album possesses two hits that I cannot forget until my last day. "U.S.S.A." and "Dead Girls Don't Say No" dish up extremely catchy choruses, excellent riffs and straight song patterns. Thrash metal is no academically interested sub genre. Just be able to use the easy tools in an effective way. If you do so, it is not crucial whether you offer socio-critical lyrics ("U.S.S.A.") or you prefer to sing about necrophilia ("Dead Girls..."). On the other hand, you can make a text about whatever you want; pretty boring and immobile tracks like "Fatal Sin" will never be relevant. Indeed, the songs of this debut cover a wide spectrum in terms of quality. Be that as it may, one thing is missing for sure. Indestroy did not have the musical element that distinguished them from their competitors. The pretty raw voice does not shine with an overdose of charisma, the riffs are solid and sometimes even very strong, but their majority has no lasting effect. Some run-of-the-mill guitar parts lower the compositional level.

Indestroy's album spreads some devious vibes. The formation from Maryland does not take the highway, but some badly lit side streets where whores, pickpockets and further shady characters are waiting. Everything sounds dark, but unfortunately darkness alone does not guarantee a great record. The whole B side remains on a more or less decent level without offering any highlight. Esprit, momentum and unexpected elements are missing, especially during some mid-paced tunes. The closer almost sounds like the second part of "Dead Girls..." and this fact shows that the core competencies of the dudes did not include variety. However, their music comes from the heart and in their best moments, they play some nice Slayer-like riffs, so I don't want to talk too much about their rather uninspired moments. Thus, if you like to get lost in a time long gone by, Indestroy's vinyl can become your antique find. It will not enrich your life, but it gives you a short, widely unknown but sometimes entertaining insight into the history of the first thrash wave.

The Indestroy debut, an old weird object in my collection. Being there for almost 20 years now. Hardly playing it. Knowing I like something about it yet also remembering there's a reason I hardly take the album out again... and recently I did again for the first time in many many years.

The first reaction I pretty much get when I put on the Indestroy debut for friends after we've first played some old thrash classics, is: 'this sound is serious?'. Yes, the production comes from the tin-can-from-hell. Or a very demonic woodshed. Seriously this is one of the most laughable productions coming from the US in 1987. Hell, there are actually better sounding Brazilian albums from that year. Yes, it is that bad! The guitars are too lightweight and the bass is more audible. And the drums sounds very, uhm, natural? But seriously, a bad production never kept me from listening to metal or music in general.

However, the music is slightly better. There is hardly no originality but the enthusiasm easily makes up for it. The vocals have most in common with early material by Wehrmacht and Slaughter. Especially 'USSA' even has a certain old school Megadeth feeling on the verses (apart from the sound of the vocals obviously) but the Slayer rip-off middle section is pretty dull.

Indestory are at their best when playing full speed. 'Dead Girls Don't Say No' (highlight of the album, easily, musically and lyrically) and the earlier mentioned 'USSA' are prime examples. On a song like 'Brain Damaged' even their love for European thrash (Destruction mostly) shines through heavily.

One has to hear 'Ground Zero' or 'Justice Sucks' only once to understand not all thrash metal bands can write decent slow songs. 'A.I.M.L.E.S.S.' is a definite low point on the album. The vocals just can't make this slow song work and the production falls even more short than on the faster songs. And what is that horrible cheesy groovy seventies part on 'Dismembered'? Perfect crap there. Fortunately Indestroy do a slightly better job on 'Fatal Sin' including mid paced hippie-thrash parts even though the song is over-long.

'Indestroy' is an enjoyable second rate US album but as far as great yet under produced thrash albums go this one is totally destroyed by classics like Morbid Visions or the brilliant Infernal Overkill two years earlier. It's mostly the slow songs and parts here that ruin the album. But I sure as hell like Indestroy when they pick up the pace!

Very much overlooked, the debut from this grimy Maryland thrash band has always made me wax nostalgic, as it captured a gritty and raw vibe that few bands could really attest to in the late 80s. Everything from the excellent cover art to the horribly awesome lyrics remains fresh to me even now, when so many bands are trying (and failing) to recapture that fatal energy of this genre's youth.

Every riff on this album is excellent, with a sludgy tone which equates to thrash metal sewage. But not the kind of sewage you fear and poke a stick at, the kind you want to splash around in as it carries you out the river of toxic waste to sea and oblivion. "The Gate" has a dark occult concept which reminds one of the cheesy old movie of the same name, complete with burning solos, and Mark Strausberg's Possessed-like vocals (he actually was a member of Possessed at one point). The song also breaks into this creepy doom riff near the end, which rules. "U.S.S.A." is anchored by an amazing energetic riff, and the song is about our great nation losing its liberties in a sea of warfare and censorship. Sound familiar? I wonder why?

'Do What They Say, Just A Slave, Cradle To Grave, U.S.S.A!'

"Ground Zero" begins with another of the band's slower, creepy crawly thrash riffs, this song is your pure nuclear annihilation anthem. People were really obsessed with this back then. Next up is the necrophiliac magnum opus "Dead Girls (Don't Say No)" which is as hilarious as you think. "Fatal Sin" has a very cool intro riff, slow and gloomy, but busts out into some sick thrashing. "Brain Damaged" begins with a nice lead before picking up the pace, curiously this is one of those 'biographical' tracks which is singing about metal itself...when a band does this today I can't stand it, yet it was a little more novel back in the day. Plus, this one has some cool lyrics to it. "Justice Sucks" has some grooving bass and excellent guitar riffs, the lyrics are also pretty hilarious:

'Justice Sucks, I Spit On Cops
They Lock Me Up, You're Busted - For What
Possession, Interrogation, Of A Dangerous Substance!'

Too true, my brother. Too true, the song relates the tale of a man getting busted for smoking a bone. "Shadowlord" is a dark and evil track that will appeal to fans of Venom or Possessed. "A.I.M.L.E.S.S." begins with a cool mutation of grooving bass and guitar noise into a spooky doom part, then proceeds into one of their slower tracks, but still excellent. The album ends with the dirty "Dismembered".

Did I mention how much I loved this? The production is just excellent, very sludgy sounding distortion so the thin leads cut right through. The bass is thick and omnipresent, and the vocals are excellent, kind of a hybrid of Dave Mustaine and Jeff Becera. This is the perfect nostalgic thrash metal album, few have heard of it, few ever will, but to those that love it and live it, I salute you. The follow-up EP Senseless Theories is also quite good, but this full-length truly captures the urban thrasher spirit in a way that most of the silly modern 'retro-' bands never seem to match. Poseurs need not apply.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Continuing the discoveries of the most unknown metal bands worldwide, it’s time for Indestroy now. There was a period in which I often used to go in a second hand CD shop to buy some of the most strange and rare things in this music, without caring a lot if they were good; and once I found this album. It was almost an heat for me, ‘till the lack money and some of my CDs’ poor quality forced me to stop a bit in this discovery (some of them were really a waste of money). Well, I was very young at the period.

Anyway, let’s talk about this quite good album by a band that never became famous. They had some skills and a quite good songwriting to try to emerge from the underground but sometimes destiny is bad. Their style is simply thrash metal but not only in my humble opinion. The music quality is good and the whole band seems truly compact and aggressive in their style. The opener is on up tempo with sudden, weird, almost progressive doom parts…and that’s why I didn’t labelled them as a simple thrash metal band.

They are all very good musicians, especially the lead guitars one that always fills the songs with lots of solos in a perfect style and technique. The vocals are a bit rough but very good for the intensity here. The guitars riffs are really fast and the following “U.S.S.A” is total speed impact through fast bass drums and catchy verses-refrains. Sometimes they took something from the early hardcore movement for the instinctive sound and the sheer impact (“Dead Girls Don’t Say No”).

On the other hand we have some more mid paced songs like “Ground Zero”, “Fatal Sin” and “A.I.M.L.E.S.S.”, where the band sometimes plays some strange arpeggios and some more progressive notes. The other tracks after a mostly quite fast with a great work by the drummer and the restless lead guitarist that, by his solos, gives something more to already good compositions. All in all, it’s a good piece of thrash metal. The originality is not the most important characteristic here but if a CD sounds good, who cares?

This is actually a pretty decent album. It's not revolutionary - it's basically the kind of 80's Thrash you'd hear from basically any American band. However, there are moments of brilliance on this album, even though it's let down by a couple of slow and uninspiring tracks.

The songs are mostly fast-paced with good, Thrashy riffs that become nice and "crunchy" at times. The raw production gives a nice touch to the album and the guitars sound exactly like they should. There are a few solos here and there but it's not anything you haven't heard on your old Metallica, Overkill and Slayer CD's.

This is definitely worth a try if you're a die-hard 80's Thrash fan. Otherwise, I won't really reccomend this to anyone else.