Daksinroy - Tournament Of Destruction

Daksinroy

Tournament Of Destruction

by H.P. Buttcraft at 11 August 2014, 3:38 PM

First formed in 1994, DAKSINROY have been putting out releases since their self-titled debut album in 1997. DAKSINROY has taken long hiatuses and lineup changes to arrive right back where they started on their latest album “Tournament of Destruction”.


The first track is ironically titled “Testament” because it sounds like a mash-up of about four different TESTAMENT albums, but if they stuck to their sound on “Demonic”. The vocals are barked but really sort of softly, as to enunciate the lyrics of these songs. But does it really matter how well “Wizard of War” is pronounced clearly? I don’t think it’s a song that is easy to sing along to.

Some of the albums have interesting moments, like on “Riot” where the song goes into this dissonant funk jam that spaces out into the avant-garde but then brings you back into the thrash-ridden ultra violence of the song’s core. There is also a very live-like atmosphere on this record too where you could see some DAKSINROY shows being very similar in tone and accuracy of ‘Tournament of Destruction’.

But many of the good part of “Tournament of Destruction” are clearly borrowed or retread territory from way back in the Thrash and Death Metal good old days. There are a lot of riffs on here that are essentially watered down or outright mimicking the old music of old DEATH, SEPULTURA and DYING FETUS staples. When it all comes together, DAKSINROY actually sounds very close to DETHKLOK, believe it or not. I think if there were a Death Metal band you want to be compared to, it wouldn’t be a band comprised of cartoon characters. I like DETHKLOK to some degree but still, I feel like it only shines light on the more “br00tal” side of the culture and discredit any music that could be seen as progressive.

If DAKSINROY have been around for sixteen years making this stuff, what happened to the maturity in the songwriting? How come this album sounds like it came from the late nineties in its production and songwriting? This album sounds extremely rough and the mixing is definitely unpolished. I don’t think the ante was ever raised high enough for “Tournament of Destruction” to make any sort of notable listening experience.

I don’t know how they managed it but somehow the band hasn’t managed to progress their music over the long stretch of time they’ve been producing music. How can they be satisfied at all with this album after a long period of their lives devoted to always demanding more of themselves? I think it’s a shame how much of a disappointment “Tournament of Destruction” was considering the longevity of this band’s activity. Think of how many bands you love who haven’t been around for even close to as long as DAKSINROY and maybe that should give you a great idea of why this album fell short.