AN NCS PREMIERE: ZED DESTRUCTIVE — “RAPED EXISTENCE”

 

The Israeli band Zed Destructive shares the name of its founder, who is the vocalist of Winterhorde and the former lead guitarist of Thokkian Vortex. He started the band in 2017 after leaving Thokkian Vortex and began working on music with former Thokkian Vortex drummer Ariel Lior. In time Dani White joined the band as second guitarist, and Daniel Kitchka rounded out the group as its bassist.

Their first record is an album named Corroded By Darkness, which will be jointly released on August 31st by Satanath Records‘ label-partner GrimmDistribution (Ukraine) and Wings Of Destruction (Russia). In the music there are occasional hints of Winterhorde’s air of theatrical drama, but don’t go thinking that Zed Destructive is Winterhorde by a different name, because the music here is a distinctive experience that stands apart, a hybrid of death and black metal that rightly led the releasing labels to recommend it for fans of Deicide, Death, Behemoth, Dissection, Gorgoroth, Marduk, and Dark Funeral.

 

 

It will become quickly apparent when you listen to the track we’re premiering today that Zed Destructive‘s musical personality is multi-faceted. It channels vicious savagery, pummeling brutality, impressive technical flourishes, and lead-guitar work and soloing that seizes attention without becoming an over-the-top spectacle — in part because those performances are so closely connected to the songs’ central melodies, which are just as vital an aspect of the music as its ferocity.

The song we bring you today, “Raped Existence“, provides an immediate taste of Zed Destructive‘s musical hybridization, as a light and lilting guitar arpeggio ripples over ominous monster chords. That introduction unfolds into a hammering beat, jabbing riffage, and a flurry of fast, flickering fretwork that gets quickly under the skin.

The song’s hammering momentum is coupled with a sense of grim determination and bestial voracity, thanks in part to the ferocity of the growling and screaming vocals, but the swirling and trilling melodies introduce elements of beleaguered dismay as well as fiery ecstasy. The soloing is a continually scintillating experience that will please lovers of guitar pyrotechnics, yet (as forecast above) they serve not merely to get a listener’s pulse racing but also become a key driver of the song’s addictive melodic hooks.

 

We’re also including a stream of the previously released track “Deformed Minds (Hatred)“, a free download at Bandcamp, which is a savage and pulverizing war charge but again displays the band’s knack for gripping dynamism, technical skill, and evocative melody.

The album provides a lot of music for the money — it’s nearly an hour long — and it features eye-grabbing cover art by Gragoth (Luciferium War Graphics). And if you like what you hear (which we hope you will!), you’ll be happy to know that Zed Destructive are working on new material for the next album.

PRE-ORDER:
https://grimmdistribution.bandcamp.com/album/064gd-zed-destructive-corroded-by-darkness-2020
https://wod-prods.jimdofree.com/

ZED DESTRUCTIVE:
https://www.facebook.com/zed.destructive

TRACK LIST:
01. Repulsive Society
02. Deformed Minds (Hatred)
03. The Dark Wanderer
04. Church
05. Traitors
06. Raped Existence
07. Your Lies
08. Corroded By Darkness
09. Evil Wind
10. Eternal Damnation
11. The Truth Above (Deicide cover)
Length – 55:09