Originally written by Jeremy Garner
Only six years from their inception, and Oslo Norway extreme metal outfit She Said Destroy are amassing some well deserved press within the metal scene over their peculiar amalgam of audio terror, blending multifarious influences ranging from noise rock, thrash, death, and the odd black metal moment.
The main point of interest for She Said Destroy is their incredible ability to be both brutal and melodic simultaneously within the same breath, utilizing a powerful dual vocal combination, subtly technical drumming, and wall of sound guitar lines to craft an interesting and compelling myriad of metal genres slamming into one another to create one of the more interesting results of the year. The closest bands that have a similar result and points of comparison are the modern death metal harmonies of Vehemence spliced with the rhythmic sledgehammer riffing of Amoral. “Time Like Vines” and “Shape Shifter” epitomize the frightening control and killer songwriting with arrestingly thick melodic lines and varying stylistic and dynamic shifts that make Time Like Vines the record that it is. The frequent tempo changes and variations keep things moving at a comprehendible but unpredictable pace whether slowly plodding forward, mid paced churning, or full out breakneck assault, She Said Destroy keep everything under control and tightly compact with a simultaneously nuanced, and direct tour de force sound.
Though She Said Destroy write some killer lead lines with excellently crafted harmonic progressions that defy immediate predictability, many of the rhythm sections, especially the polyrhythms end up becoming a bit over done and repetitive with the band not changing from riff to riff quite as quickly as the music calls for. The straight-ahead death metal sections like “Beyond the Borders of our Mind” lose some of the intensity and come off as a bit more heavy handed and unsure compared to the rousing fluid melodicism and somber powerhouse created by songs like “Der Untergeher”. It doesn’t exactly ruin the listening experience of Time Like Vines, it’s just a point of notice that’s slightly disappointing, detracting from the album as a whole.
The entire Armageddon, Anyone? demo (“Swallow my tongue, Joy to the world (the coming of Kali)”, and “Armageddon, Anyone?”) finds itself rerecorded and nestled comfortably between the newer material with a practically seamless stylistic integration offering a vibrant testament to the fact that She Said Destroy have been on the same path of destruction since the beginning, though musically speaking, some of the tracks are slightly lacking compared to the newer material.
Time Like Vines does in fact trample down conventionality in a crusade to formulate themselves as some of the more interesting and distinctive extreme metal artists out in the scene today. It’s pretty damn uncommon to find a band that has the ability to create fairly original modern extreme metal that defies genre classifications. With more time and focus, She Said Destroy has the potential to become a full-fledged force of nature to be reckoned with.
