| Destroy the Machines | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 25, 1995 | |||
| Recorded | October–November 1994 | |||
| Genre | Metalcore | |||
| Length | 34:10 | |||
| Label | Victory | |||
| Earth Crisis chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
Destroy the Machines is the debut studio album by American metalcore band Earth Crisis, it was released in 1995. [2] It is widely considered a landmark release in metalcore.
Earth Crisis recorded Destroy the Machines in the studio of progressive thrash metal band Believer in Pennsylvania, being introduced to them by friend Jim Winters of Conviction, who also toured with Earth Crisis. Guitarist Scott Crouse, who admired Believer, was inspired by them to practice arduously and improve his technique. On the album, the band determined to make the songs sound like "somebody continuously hitting something with a hammer", picturing every song as "pounding, pounding, [and] pounding." [3] MetalSucks described Destroy the Machines as a "hardcore take on the Pantera/Exhorder/Prong school of late 80s-early 90s power groove thrash". [4]
Commenting on the lyrics, Allmusic stated that "[they] burn with resentment directed at those who (in the estimation of vocalist Karl Buechner) bring contamination and death to the earth and the defenseless creatures that reside on it." [1] The overall theme is an approaching ecological apocalypse, the destruction of defenseless creatures, self-destruction, and a means of liberation which is proposed as being veganism and straight edge. [5] By the time of the tour in 1995, Buechner was personally taking care of twelve rescued animals from Syracuse Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, where he volunteered. [6]
In April 2018, NME named Destroy the Machines one of the fifteen best hardcore punk albums of all time. [7] Kerrang! placed it among "The 21 Best U.S. Metalcore Albums of All Time." [8] In 2017, Loudwire ranked Destroy the Machines 7th on its list of the best metalcore albums of all time. [9] Dan Gump of Life Sentence Records named it the most representative album of the 1990s. [10]
The Duch band Born from Pain [11] and the Argentinian band Nueva Ética ("New Ethic" in Spanish) [12] are named after songs from the album. In March 2015, celebrating the release of The Discipline EP which re-released songs from Destroy the Machines, several musicians and animal right activists paid tribute to it, including Davey Havok of AFI, Andy Hurley of Fall Out Boy, Peter Daniel Young and Toby Morse of H2O. [13]
The song "Forced March" was covered by Between the Buried and Me on their 2006 album The Anatomy Of . [14] "Born from Pain" was covered by Eighteen Visions on their covers album 1996 (2021). [15] "The Wrath of Sanity" was covered by First Blood on their 2012 album FBI Vol. 1 . [16] "The Wrath of Sanity" is quoted in the songs "No Contest" (2005) by Gather [17] [ unreliable source ] and "Rules of Conviction" (2017) by First Blood and Jesse Barnett, the latter of which was dedicated to Earth Crisis and Path of Resistance. [18] Maroon quotes Destroy the Machines in their 2006 song "24HourHate". [19]
An increase of animal rights activism corresponded with the rise of vegan straight edge bands during the 1990s, [20] a phenomenon which activist Peter Daniel Young attributes largely to Destroy the Machines. [13]
All songs written by Karl Buechner.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Forced March" | 3:48 |
| 2. | "Born from Pain" | 3:16 |
| 3. | "Destroy the Machines" | 3:12 |
| 4. | "New Ethic" | 2:53 |
| 5. | "The Discipline" | 3:47 |
| 6. | "Deliverance" | 3:09 |
| 7. | "Inherit the Wasteland" | 2:50 |
| 8. | "Asphyxiate" | 2:56 |
| 9. | "The Wrath of Sanity" | 3:51 |
| 10. | "Fortress" | 4:29 |
| Total length: | 34:10 | |
Earth Crisis is an American metallic hardcore band from Syracuse, New York, active from 1989 until 2001, reuniting in 2007. Since 1993 the band's longest serving members are vocalist Karl Buechner, lead guitarist Scott Crouse, bassist Ian Edwards, and drummer Dennis Merrick. Their third and current rhythm guitarist Erick Edwards joined the band in 1998.
Karl Buechner is an American musician from Syracuse, New York, best known as the frontman for the hardcore band Earth Crisis. He is also the singer of Freya, Path of Resistance, Vehement Serenade, Apocalypse Tribe and 1000 Drops of Venom.
Metalcore is a fusion genre combining elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk, that originated in the late 1980s. Metalcore is noted for its use of breakdowns, which are slow, intense passages conducive to moshing, while other defining instrumentation includes heavy guitar riffs often utilizing percussive pedal tones and double bass drumming. Vocalists in the genre typically perform screaming, more popular bands often combine this with the use of standard singing, usually during the bridge or chorus of a song. However, the death growl is also a popular technique within the genre.
Shai Hulud is an American metalcore band formed in Pompano Beach, Florida, in 1995, and later based in Poughkeepsie, New York. The band is named after the giant sandworms in Frank Herbert's novel Dune.
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Deathcore is an extreme metal subgenre that combines death metal with metalcore. The genre consists of death metal guitar riffs, blast beats, and metalcore breakdowns. While there are some precursors to the concept of death metal fused with metalcore/hardcore elements seen in the 1990s, deathcore itself emerged in the early 2000s and gained prominence beginning in the mid-2000s within the southwestern United States, especially Arizona and inland southern California, which are home to many notable bands and various festivals.
Andrew John Hurley is an American musician. He is the drummer for the rock band Fall Out Boy. Prior to Fall Out Boy, Hurley played in several hardcore punk bands. He joined Fall Out Boy as the full-time drummer in 2003 and was in the band's lineup until its hiatus in 2009. Following that, he formed the heavy metal supergroup The Damned Things with Fall Out Boy guitarist Joe Trohman; the group went on hiatus after its debut album, Ironiclast (2010), due to band members focusing on their original bands' new album cycles. Hurley moved on to hardcore punk band Enabler which released a debut album and toured in 2012.
Gomorrah's Season Ends is the second studio album by the American metallic hardcore band Earth Crisis, which was released in 1996.
Breed the Killers is the third full-length studio album by the American metallic hardcore band Earth Crisis, released in 1998. It was their major label debut and only release for Roadrunner Records, before subsequently returning to Victory Records. The last song on the album also appeared on their first release, All Out War.
Slither is the fourth full-length album by the American metalcore band Earth Crisis, released in 2000. It marked a return to Victory Records following the band's 1998 Roadrunner Records album Breed the Killers. Slither ventured into the nu metal sound popularized by '90s metal bands such as Korn and Deftones. The album peaked at No. 50 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart.
Last of the Sane is the fifth album by the American metalcore band Earth Crisis, which was released in 2001. After this album the band split up and Karl Buechner, Erick Edwards and Bulldog went on to form the band Freya. This album consists of seven covers of songs by other bands, three demo versions of earlier songs, and a new track titled "Panic Floods".
Starkweather is an American heavy metal band from Philadelphia formed in 1989. They have a complex experimental metal sound often including use of dissonance, intricate tempo changes and avant-garde sensibilities. Starkweather helped pioneer the hardcore punk/heavy metal crossover sound that would later be known as "metalcore", as well as being a major influence on the mathcore subgenre. They have influenced many of today's top selling hardcore/metal bands such as Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Mastodon and Coalesce among many others.
Matthew Ian Fox is an American musician, founding member and a current lead guitarist for the hardcore punk band Shai Hulud and his side project Zombie Apocalypse.
To the Death is the sixth studio album by American metalcore band Earth Crisis. It is the band's first album since they reunited in 2007. It is also their first recording for major label Century Media, released on April 20, 2009 in Europe and May 5, 2009 in North America.
Salvation of Innocents is the eighth album by American metalcore band Earth Crisis, released in March 2014 by Candlelight Records. It is their first concept album about animal rights and anti-vivisection. Vocalist Karl Buechner divided the theme into three parts throughout the album: the feelings of the protestors, the viewpoint of the vivisectionists, and what the animals are experiencing. A comic book of the Liberator series published by Black Mask Studios was made in collaboration with the band and released simultaneously with Salvation of Innocents, sharing similar conceptual ideas and artwork.
Beatdown hardcore is a subgenre of hardcore punk with prominent elements of heavy metal. Beatdown hardcore features aggressive vocals, gang vocals, heavy guitar riffs and breakdowns and lyrics discussing unity, brotherhood, volatile interpersonal relationships and machismo. The genre has its origins in late 1980s New York hardcore bands such as Breakdown, Killing Time and Madball, and was pioneered in the mid-1990s by bands like Bulldoze, Terror Zone and Neglect. The definition of the genre has expanded over time to incorporate artists increasingly indebted to metal, notably Xibalba, Sunami and Knocked Loose.
Firestorm is the second EP by American metallic hardcore band Earth Crisis. It was released in 1993 and marked the band's first release through Victory Records. Firestorm has been described as a landmark release in hardcore punk for its metal influences and political, militant lyrics, along with helping "pioneer what would become both a signature sound for the band, as well as metalcore as a whole – right alongside the likes of Integrity." The title track is considered Earth Crisis' best-known song.
SECT is an American-Canadian vegan straight edge band formed in 2015, consisting of vocalist Chris Colohan, guitarists James Chang and Scott Crouse, bassist Steve Hart and drummer Andy Hurley. It released a self-titled debut album in 2016 and, after a signing to Southern Lord, the sophomore No Cure for Death in 2017.
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