Destroyer is Eld Varg’s follow-up to the mighty debut album of One Man Army from 2021. And Destroyer is one of the heaviest albums you’ll hear.
One Man Army is no back number in that respect being similarly heavy and rather wonderful.
I like One Man Army very muchly and reviewed it in this post. Whilst the debut was, er, indeed a one man army being all down to Ollie Noakes, for Destroyer he’s expanded the line-up to bring in Micah Snow and bass and Andy Hedges on drums.
The three of them collectively as Eld Varg make a heck of crushingly heavy noise and it’s great. The Viking/Norse influences and undercurrent of One Man Army are continued here on Destroyer.
Blistering, blazing riffs battering away cutting and slashing this way and that relentlessly. Ripping solos, thunderous bass and brutally powerful drumming. Include the anthemic vocals and huge shout along choruses it’s quite the mixture.
Powering in at around forty minutes the seven songs are all concise quality without unnecessary noodling and fiddling about. It’s all about the controlled power of the delivery and holding the attention. No mucking about here at a relentless pace.
Achaman pounds away at the senses from the off. Crushingly heavy yet perhaps with a slightly funky feel with the bass.
Destroyer is relentless with so much power and energy from all three band members. A nice bit of rumbling bass leads is to The Hell of Mirrors and remains prominent in the mix as the song roars along over the seven minutes or so. Blazing riffs and ripping lead work aplenty. All in all an anthemic feel to it.
Black Starlight is has some almost melodic parts to it whilst still having plenty of ooomph.
Six Kings is another anthemic slab of cutting heaviness with the riffs slashing away, spectacular lead work and pounding drumming.
Darkest Waves delivers yet more controlled power assaulting the senses – in a good way. Here’s the video:
Then the magnificent closer of Crestfallen. It stars with some gentle acoustic guitar over the sound of flowing water. Er, what, Eld Varg doing and acoustic ballad? Surely not. Indeed not – the bruising riffage soon enough comes storming in as do the usual thunderous drums and monster bass.
Ollie shreds away aplenty and there’s a mid-section which wanders in to prog metal territory to mix things up. An epic eight minutes to end the album.
Destroyer is a most highly recommended listen. As is One Man Army. Both albums in various formats available from Eld Varg’s web site and BandCamp page:
https://www.eldvarg.com
https://eldvarg.bandcamp.com
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