Born To Destruct – God Of Destruction

Born to Destruct (BTD) a four piece Punk band from the University City of Cambridge released their ninth studio album God Of Destruction via Punkbob Recordz on 1st February 2018.  This follows 2016 release Devasteight With Destruction. Read a detailed bio here. I like the way they cleverly work the word destruction into many of the album titles. In this case God of! Last year BTD welcomed new drummer Priest, from Russia with love?  With a Black Metal background I’m not expecting him to bring too many love songs into the mix but we’ll see!

Indeed new boy Priest starts the new album off with a fast tom tom style drumbeat, before a few guitar chords are thrown in and the listener is asked ‘Are you ready’ not just once, but three times for good measure. and when the band are satisfied that we are Woodstock yells ‘Well let’s go’ and we go straight into the strong guitar chord opening for Mongrel a hard hitting number which reminded me of Spunk Volcano & The Eruptions’ Smack In The Teeth and BTD’s own All The Gear But No Idea and a bit of Sandie Shaw’s There’s Always Something There To Remind Me thrown into the mix, ending with a few woofs, howls and erm a Miaow so a veritable Heinz 57 of a song! Then it’s time to get down and dirty for Meltdown with it’s pummeling drumbeat and dualling riffs. A bit of radio interference aptly starts Wavelength, with the chorus ‘You, you’re not on my wavelength. Wrong Station. Wrong Planet’ and a Buzzcocks meets Fight Back vibe. Rain, thunder and a Cybermen heavy stomp leads into the title track God Of Destruction with a heavy drum beat and clashing guitars. We stay with the Destruction theme for the GBH like Destruction Crew. Words of Wisdom tells you to keep a light on because ‘We will be the band we want to see’ – true that, why wouldn’t we want to see them? Although I prefer dark, dingy venues so no need to keep the light on! Survival 101 a super-fast one reminding me of their own Drop The Needle.

Then we come to the nearest thing we are going to get to a love song on the album Nothing Without You (Volcanic Mix) with an October 31 style old metal start, it soon speeds up and after Woodstock says Spunky time, we get some fine riffage which could well be Spunk Volcano’s fine finger-work, or Baby Spunk’s? Whichever, the following vocals definitely belong to Spunk Volcano, who tells us ‘I am nothing without you’ before the Motörhead fast Get Ready, the hard hitting Drinking Gasoline then an anthemic song for small boys the world over who want to drive a Tank, and if you’re as old as me, then you may remember a rock band called Tank, who I saw supporting Motörhead back in 1982 and I picked up a bit of Tank in this song of the same name, if you can’t drive a Tank then you need to be able to Run Like Hell! Last but not least is the thirteenth and final track Louder Than You, with the rousing chorus ‘I am louder than you’ this is going to be good one to sing along to at gigs as loud as you possibly can!

There we have it God Of Destruction played havoc with my ears, in a good way and whilst thirteen may be unlucky for some, not for Born to Destruct as they’ve baked another batch of Roarsome Rock (cakes) for your delectation! Cambridge University needs to give Woodstock an honorary degree for his services to Punk Rock.

For Fans of Spunk Volcano & The Eruptions; Dirt Box Disco; Buzzcocks; The Stranglers.

Highlight Tracks: Meltdown; Louder Than You

Purchase here

Track List