The Destroyed – Russian Roulette / 2006 Self / 8 Tracks / http://www.thedestroyed.com / http://www.bertswitzer.com / Reviewed 26 April 2006

The Destroyed start is in a tremendously annoying way. It almost seems as if “Dangerous Bomb” was a sound check, or at best some band fucking around in their garage. At some point, the structure of the song becomes audible to the listeners, but this is only a minor consolation at best. The vocals are snotty in the classical punk sense, but the band seems to drag its listeners over the coals for much too long on this track. The song sounds as if someone put a 45 on at 33 speed; perhaps if the band kicks things into high gear the opening salvo would be more effectual.

This same strung-out sound is present during “A Window”, even if the track is almost thirty years old. The splashing of the drums during the track seems to have no context; the infusion of the track with a slight hint of grunge music is perhaps the only thing that allows The Destroyed to improve their stock to listeners. The Destroyed really seem to be the punkier equivalent to Steve Lieberman, in the sense that there are confusing musical structures that are largely extraneous to the song at hand. While the production of the disc is not too terribly professional, the interesting compositions that await listeners (“You”) make the album hard to sit through. There is no doubt that the band has talent, but perhaps there should be another round of revision in regards to the arrangements before the song is committed to the disc. The one thing that is a positive The Destroyed on “Russian Roulette” has to be the vocals, which take up the flag of individuals as diverse as Iggy Pop, Neil Young, and even Billie Joe Armstrong.

However, the strung-out nature of this disc is even present in the vocals here; what needs to be done is a streamlining of everything that is The Destroyed. The kernel of good idea is present throughout “Russian Roulette”, but the process of committing this kernel to disc is flawed. “Crime Wave” is perhaps the one track that shows what The Destroyed are capable of; the extraneous arrangements are scared back and the structure is more visible than anything else on this disc. Let’s hope that The Destroyed cut another album that goes back to basics here in the near future, and then they can recapture the glory of all those years ago.

Top Tracks: Crime Wave, A Window

Rating: 3.5/10

[JMcQ]