Destrage: Are You Kidding Me? No.

Unpredictable Italians tear up the metal rulebook

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Sometimes an album comes along from out of nowhere by a band you have never heard of before that knocks you clean off your feet. Italy’s Destrage have created one such record: a wildly inventive and ungodly catchy mix of everything from pop-punk to mathcore that possesses familiar elements but never once sounds like anything except Destrage.

From opener Destroy Create Transform Subliminate and Purania battering you like Sikth fronted by Perry Farrell and Devin Townsend to the title track that winds the album down in a sea of Meshuggah-esque time signatures and parping brass, Are You Kidding Me? No. grabs you by the throat and refuses to let go.

In a an often predictable music scene, Destrage are impossible to second-guess. It may be early to be talking about the discovery of the year, but the evidence is all too readily available.

You need this band in your life.

Stephen Hill

Since blagging his way onto the Hammer team a decade ago, Stephen has written countless features and reviews for the magazine, usually specialising in punk, hardcore and 90s metal, and still holds out the faint hope of one day getting his beloved U2 into the pages of the mag. He also regularly spouts his opinions on the Metal Hammer Podcast.