Destroyed In Seconds – Divide And Devour Review

From Destroyed In Second’s Facebook “about” info:

Band interests: Disrocking your fucking face in. D-beats.

Personal interests: Stomping out ignorance, fascism, racism, greed, organized religion, proud boys, patriots, and MAGA culture.

Well, then… Sign me up for the disrockin’, fellas…

It’s been eight years since D.I.S.’ last release, Becoming Wrath. Back then, I was more enamored of their first album, 2010’s Critical Failure, which was anything but a failure amongst the critics ‘round these parts. (Or at least, the handful who care about d-beat / crossover style hardcore.) Made of a Wolfbrigade-y d-bashing with a lovely dash of vintage crossover skate punk, Critical Failure was — and still is — a hell of a good time. In the span between those two albums, Jon Tomala replaced Mike Fisher behind the mic, and his bellowing roar pushed D.I.S. a step or two closer toward a more straight-ahead Swedish d-beat sound.

Back then, I’d have told you that the vocalist switcheroo came at the expense of some of the band’s identity, and hey, that may be true, to a certain extent. But in listening back to Becoming Wrath now — and in my quite-a-few spins of this long-delayed follow-up — I must concede that it’s also a bit of empty criticism that didn’t hold up, because the change certainly didn’t come at the expense of any of the Destroyed In Second’s power and pummeling. At the end of the day, in a d-beat field filled with similar-sounding bands paying fealty to a handful of similar-sounding masters, well… power trumps any other quality, any day and every way.

Independently released, Divide And Devour is a rock-solid rager, built upon the same foundation as the two albums before it: thick-toned, raw-throated aggression, all furnace-blast bellowing and relentless Discharge drive, gang-shouted chorus and wall-of-distortion guitars. It’s a tried and true formula, for sure, but it’s one that works almost every time, and D.I.S. wields it with the expertise one would expect from the veterans they are. From the irresistible breakdown beatdown in the opening title track through the hints of melody that poke out from the jagged edges of “The Badge” to the savage circle-pit riffery of “American Carnage” and “Buzzards,” Divide And Devour is a relentless half-hour ride through the wastelands laid by Discharge and Disfear and Disclose and so on. By the time “Sulfur” stomps in to wrap up the proceedings, dese beats and dose riffs have definitely disrocked dis face in… (Thanks — I’ve been waiting this whole time to make a terrible “dis” pun.)

All d-beat dad-jokes aside, if you’re looking for some kind of boundary-pushing expansion, then Destroyed In Seconds (and pretty much all of d-beat in general) is not the droid you’re looking for. But if you’re looking for a skull-cracking blast of fascist-bashing fury wrapped in high-quality hardcore, well… D.I.S. is it.