Photo Credit: Matty Vogel
Hailing from Sacramento, California, Destroy Boys have unleashed their fourth studio album on Hopeless Records. This latest offering, Funeral Soundtrack #4, shows signs of maturity from a band that began making music ten years ago, when Alexia Roditis and Violet Mayugba were only fifteen years old. Here is a band that were nominated at the Sacramento Music Awards in 2017, and deservedly so, after releasing debut album Sorry, Mom in 2016 at the tender age of 16!
Opening track Bad Guy was most likely written through rage as the opening lyrics testify, as Roditis sings “I wanna spit on your face, fall from grace.”. Other than the lyrics, the song starts almost acoustically before exploding into grungy guitars. Next up is Plucked, the first single from the album released back in March. The vocals on this one are the standout, this is one of the punkier tracks on the LP and also one of the best. Beg For The Torture offers more of the same high-octane, loud punk style, but at 1.25 minutes is far too short – by the time your just getting a feel for the song it ends. Praying is much more what we are looking for from this album, with its catchy guitar rhythms backed up with some serious lyrics: “Am I stupid/Am I an object waiting to be picked off the shelf?” asks Roditis, this one pushes the four minute mark and is one of the standout tracks.
Amor Divino offers a surprise as the song is sung completely in Spanish, a nod to Roditis’ Argentinian roots. The title of the songs translates as Divine Love and is a nice mellow moment from the album, reminding us of a couple of previous releases from Mexican band The Warning. It fits perfectly, moving away slightly from the punk theme that runs throughout Funeral Soundtrack #4 as we get to hear the vocal range being more prominent. The guitar work on Shedding Skin is very prominent from Mayugba, working well alongside the vocals, while Should’ve Been Me is another standout track and another of the recent released singles, but again it lets us down with the fact that it runs to only 1.02 minutes. The song itself is hardcore punk, the vocals and guitar are again an outstanding feature, the video for this one and is worth checking out.
You Don’t Know takes the album into a more soothing indie direction before You Hear Yes, the only collaboration on the LP, where they team up with Mannequin Pussy and Scowl to explore female empowerment. This track is well written lyrically as they ask the question, “Why can’t I walk in the street without men bothering me? Why does he poison my heart, control my life from afar?” The three vocalists on this song work brilliantly together. The thirty minutes is over too quickly as the album closes with Boyfeel, the dual vocals from Roditis and Mayugba again standing out.
Destroy Boys recently appeared at Reading & Leeds Festival, heading back home to follow with a North American tour in October.
8/10
Standout Tracks: Plucked, Should’ve Been Me, You Hear Yes
For Fans Of: Mannequin Pussy, Scowl, Lambrini Girls
Written by: Alan Brown
