Evil Place

Do you like Kill ‘Em All? What about Diamond Head? Did you feel Hetfield’s uncontrolled screams in a teenager voice were cool in Metal Up Your Ass and No Life til Leather? Well then this is for you.

Those who enjoy NWOBHM will find this band to be a lost gem in the flooded 80s market. With a very classic heavy metal sound – loud bass, thin guitar sound, simple drumming and loud vocals as leading role – Destroyer apparently only released this single. The overall sound of the band is very easy to frame; take Diamond Head-like guitar tone, diffuse it, add a loud bass, add pre-Kill ‘Em All garage sounding Metallica vocals and that’s how Destroyer sounds. The production is not very good; although all the instruments are perfectly audible, the vocals are a bit loud and the guitars sound a bit diffuse and low.

The single kicks off with “Evil place”; a fast paced tune, very trashy singing with a lot of screeches, good standard heavy metal drumming, a catchy main riff and bass lines accompanying the rhythm guitars. I love it when the guy screams “Eeeeeeeee-vil, place!” and then “IIaaaaaaaaaaoh!” – much better than Heatfield’s late era” yeeeeeeeeheeeeea”s. The guitar solo shows a capable guitar player deeply inspired by Diamond Head. Moreover, the last leads in the song are similar to “Am I evil?”s first leads after the drum intro – in a slower pace than Diamond Head, though.

The other song, “Stand and Deliver”, sounds a bit whinier and it’s not that good (although still is enjoyable). Not as fast as “Evil place”, the chorus is similar to the one in the previous song; scratchy, uncontrolled screams of “Deliiiiiiver”, “Deliiiiiiiver”, with a strong similarity to “The Ripper”s chorus. Of course, the occasional random screams are also present, and once again, the guitarist is the shining star, with another showy solo. Although the other members do not outstand, their performance is good, especially the bass player, who once in a while comes up with his own lines different from the rhythm guitars.

If you nearly are an old Metallica fan, you should check this out of curiosity, although apart from this anecdotic vocal coincidence, the music itself is good and worth checking. If you like this you should also check Diamond Head’s Lightning to the Nations and any of Metallica’s material up to and including Kill ‘Em All.