Search and Destroy - Search and Destroy

Before delving into this review, let me make it clear that I am no connoisseur in Metalcore nor am I the authority to quote in Post-Hardcore but I shall make a critique on the Metalcore scene as an outsider. I respect the scene as it is, but there are just some things that I don’t get.

First problem that Metalcore has is that it is a broad term that no scene has actually defined the phrase properly, causing confusion and exacerbating the genre wars between subculture. At least when crossover existed back in the 80s, there was a clear set of what the rules were and the genre/subculture wars had a clearer definition.


The result being is that there is a wide spectrum on what it falls into, leading to a lot Metalheads, hating on the Metalcore presented to them, despite the existence of closer to the Metal spectrum Metalcore bands. The second problem is that it exists in the internet age where everything new is treated like a novelty.


This has caused people to not take the art seriously and easier to be seen as a trend instead. A person can easily empathize with old conservative elitists when the concentration of bands are so high in such a short period, coupled along with bands sounding so similar to each other because they get the same influence from the same set of bands.


A whole new set of bands sound like each other because they listen to the same band in a short period of time but has a limited gene pool. This situation is not unique to Metalcore itself, check out later era Gore-Grind bands and the multitude of Cyber-Grind bands in the late 90s.


Every single band copied each other that every riff is a cannibalization of a distant cousin. Everyone sounds like a 4^th cousin of At the Gates with E-string breakdown abuse and that became a stereotype of the scene (which fortunately, isn’t true.) So with those two conventions established, how does it correlate with the music of Search & Destroy?


Well, it’s the very fact that this band calls themselves Metalcore but it leans closer to Post-Hardcore while at the same time the band does not fall into the category of another regurgitated breakdown of another Metalcore band.

Checkered shirts? Flannel shirts? I'm pretty sure they're not from Seattle.

At first instance, I have to admit, I don’t get the dubstep (forgive me if it sounds pejorative or my mislabelling of the music) intro that the band inserted into their EP. So it made me feel that it was done out of novelty’s sake. Another trademark of music made in the internet era, where people get influenced with huge range music because of the availability of music at their fingertips. It can be good or positive, it’s up to your perception of the rapid pace globalization.


Not only that, the band uses it as glue in between certain songs that kept me wondering whether the band tacked in on variation sake or do they honestly respect that electronic beat that they need to feature it? However when the guitars come in, the notes hit those uplifting parts you hear a Post-Hardcore track, in a modern way.


It sounds like Envy without the Post-Rock parts and has a heavy emphasis on the melody created not through Gothenburg riffs but to an almost atmospheric feel. Even though the riffs at times does resemble some sort of Melodic Death Metal influence that Metalcore’s gene pool has overlapped a lot but most of the time it does not remind anyone of that Gothenburg feel.


Probably the band appeared slightly late in the game that it has enough time to process all the materials that appeared from 2000-2004, causing them to cherry pick the best elements on what could constitute something memorable. In no way there is any form of dark atmosphere created here, but something that you could lay-back to but having an enough kick from the distortion to keep you awake.


In fact, there are parts that sound like the more melodic Post-Hardcore parts of Isis. The vocals also sound like a cross between the tough-guy Hardcore of the Hatebreed variant with the harsh Post-Hardcore influenced bark of Isis. This is at times coupled with gang shouts that sounds lighter and of the more conventional Gorilla Biscuits type sing-a-longs. (Or should I call it shout-a-longs?)

It's either he thinks he is on a baseball pitch or he is about to throw the mic. Then again, all Hardcore kids look angry.

However, the breakdowns still sound jarring to me, maybe because the limited range of what a breakdown could be constituted as a breakdown. There are two ways around the usage of breakdowns, find a way to make it more energetic, that it does not sound like something that is stopping halfway through of a proper energy burst, or the other way is to use it creatively in different patterns.


The later, has assisted the creation of Djent but this band is no way in that category. The former however isn’t still what the band falls into. The breakdown still sounds forced, as I it is used to justify the Metalcore tag of the band, to make it sound tough. It sort of reminded of how Killswitch Engage actually sounded good in their poppy parts but starts to sound like a stuck blender when they try to deflect the homophobic insults of the tough-guy Hardcore community.


That is unfortunately, what the general masses seem to think when told to imagine how “Metal” sounds like. To be fair, those bands were also a direct descendant of the groovier side of Pantera and Sepultura’s Arise with the harsher side of Hardcore. What people need to realize is that it could work well as glue between their transitions and ultimately stood out like a sore thumb.

While the band has some sort of talent to create memorable, uplifting, pseudo melodramatic melody, the band is still hung up of pleasing what their genre tag implies. The band tries to be unique but ends up adding elements that seem to be closer to a novelty than something that suits the music. While that is how experimentation works, and some experiments fail, some work, this falls into the former category for those certain elements.


This band however is one of those bands that have succeeded in things that they didn’t expect to create but does realize how much they could do if they realized it. Now it may be offensive to order bands on what they can play or could not and I am not advocating that. From this review, which I hope they could take in is that, it could be great if they ever refine those sharp edges that sounded jarring because I do hell love the melodramatic parts.

PS/ This EP is from 2012 and I decided to review this because I wanted to add more South East Asian bands to the blog. Plus, the EP was free, so why not, right?

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Searchandestroyband
Bandcamp: http://searchanddestroyband.bandcamp.com

Terence A. Anthony commutes between Kuala Lumpur and Kuching. Co-Founder of Aural Chaos. He also writes for Greater Malaysia and Opinions Unleashed.