As I Destruct – From Fear to Oblivion (Firestarter Music)

Wednesday, 10th October 2018
Rating: 7/10

In the grand tradition of making death metal more accessible by packing in some groove, As I Destruct bring forth their full-length debut with plenty of style. Keeping a melodic edge that falls outside the ‘melodic death metal’ tag, and an upbeat and aggressive energy synced up to keep everything zipping by, there’s a lot to enjoy with what they have to offer.

From Fear to Oblivion never is at a lack for headbanging riffs. The aforementioned philosophy of inserting a fair number of crunchy grooves into each track ensures that there are some smile-inducing moments always right around the corner. The melodic aspect of the band frequently occurs at the higher tempos, with slick guitar leads (“A Question of Faith”) and memorable yet explosive riffing (“Vultures of Virtue”) aiding in helping the songs maintain a corrosive energy while sticking in one’s head. When you check out a few songs, you are bound to gain the sort of adrenaline rush that one associates with other acts like Hypocrisy or Carnal Forge (in their groovier years). But unfortunately that leads to the one problem with the album. At almost 50-minutes, there’s just not enough variation in the formula to sustain it for that timespan. Most songs utilize a similar formatting, and despite the band’s best efforts, it starts to blur together more the further one goes towards the end of the tracklisting.

There’s much to enjoy in From Fear to Oblivion, particularly when sampled in smaller doses. A little more variation could really take the band quite a ways with their next effort. But as their debut, it’s still worth a gander if you dig bands that operate on the aggressive yet groovy end of the death metal spectrum.

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