Against I - Destruction Lullaby (EP Review)

Mushroom clouds. A dystopic world. Grey and lifeless universe. Blow that universe to hell. Against I are back with “Destruction Lullaby”, a follow-up to their previous EP, “A Perfect Smile”.

They have come out “angrier than ever!” blending melodic grinding death guitar with crushing grooves.

Hailing from Sweden, the trio was formed in 2022 by Fredrik Keith Croona (vocalist), Mathias Back (guitars) and Anders Ström (Drums).

Their cover says it all: anger at the world that lies sedated by the idea that they incorrectly could never do any wrong until they were proved wrong. Very wrong.

It is overall, a heavy album, pulsating with the lifeblood a headbanging rhythm to encourage you stomp and mosh . Vocals rip through with menacing clarity managing to balance the cacophony of music and the vocals as they charge into battle with equal stature. They tend to lie on a similar plane the whole time, but at times, get injected with the blood of demons to give it a dark, evil character.

Each song opens with an intro to lure you into the melodic mayhem within the song or military-style drill sergeant beat. Bass, catchy riffs and whatever sound they used to make “Calm before the storm” all add to the intro list. At times the intro works well, and then other times it might seem like the song just enters from left field without allowing any of the song to meld into it and flow together into the main body of the work. “Dark Devine” and “A Violent Dream” have a similar pace to the intro creating what could be considered then a couple of songs that will give you a sense of security that in their style or have you swap between the tracks trying to work out the differences.

“World in ruin” has this sweeping infectious melody to it that becomes catchy as it follows along what is a comfortable music path. Behind the music, the choir sound playing in the background elevates the song adding body and mystery to it. Other times they do something similar with a synthesizer, which they use more liberally throughout the album as the hoofs of the beast than the actual horns.

Burning bright in the background, the drums light a fire up the ass of songs. Double bass whips are present as they should be but they spew their flame into the songs at times rather than constantly just burning the track with them. Their vibe is hot and feels like your always looking into it with a comfortable reverence of its power. “Death defined” breaks down in a couple of places with Anders smashing the toms with all the anger they claim to have.

Throughout the album, there are golden parts that will highlight a track for you as pass through the album. They have produced an album with an overall of balance of tone and added flavour to it without overcomplicating it all.