Anatomia POL: Destroyers

 

 

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I might be itching for a fight, as I really feel like writing about one of my all-time fave, the infamous Destroyers. Their infamy is due to certain cultural taboos I will explain below.

Let's have the boring facts behind us. Formed in Bytom (Poland), they were active till the mid-90s, had a misfortune of being on Metalmind label, recorded two albums in two languages (the same ones that this blog uses), after which they split-up and reformed in 2018, releasing their third masterpiece.

Why do I like Destroyers? They blended a unique mix of Speed, Thrash with extreme influences, bordering on Black / Death, while also being capable of higher registers, not unlike in Power Metal. Comparing them to others, the only bands that come to my mind are early Sextrash and Living Death. I also appreciate their live performances, and how the vocalist really "breathes" with his music. Sure, one can make fun of the supposed "cheese" (so to speak), but that's how Heavy Metal should really look like. Not some shoe gazing, or incapability of interacting with people, but pogo, spikes and general disgust for the system.

However, the biggest controversies in case of Destroyers are due to their lyrics, performed in their native, polish language. In general, Polish people are peculiar, as they are not used to listen to songs featuring profanities in their own language. Even Polish Rap, where cursing is a norm, was also ridiculed because of that. And Destroyers enjoys using pornographic language. It doesn't matter that people in Poland have no qualms listening to foreign artists with much lower intellect presented in the lirycs. Polish people just don't like hearing certain words in music, especially if they can understand them :) But that's the thing about our culture.

And while I wouldn't classify Destroyers as the masters of the pen, I enjoy many of their lirycs, like "Źli" (Bad Guys), and even better sequel "Jeszcze gorsi" (Even Worse), or "Noc królowej żądzy" (Night of the Queen of Lust), "Bastiony Śmierci" (Bastions of Death? I would prefer to translate it to Legions but whatever), as well as "Zemsta roninów" (Revenge of Ronins). What is truly important, is that on the deeper glance, the topics are pretty varied and quite interesting. The band not only touches upon the social, historical, cultural matters, or warfare, but are also inspired by literature. And that's the thing, as many of their lirycs (especially their second album) are based upon works of Marquis de Sade.

Other example would be the titular Queen of the Lust, based on Catherine the Empress of Russia (let her corpse be cursed forever), who was known not only for her rampant nymphomania, but also for committing beastiality, horses included, which explains the choice of words in the lirycs. Because of that, in order to catch the references, it is required to have some general knowledge about the subjects of the songs. Indeed, this is a paradox that escaped the critics. The band just describes this world for what it is, without a makeup.

Ending this bona fide article, the music is very catchy. It might be in bad taste for some, but it's fully steeped in Metal spirit and represents whats best about Heavy MEtal.