Destino Final- Atrapados (2009)
Spanish hardcore band Destino Final is an improvement on their previous incarnation, Invasion. Gone are the all-reverb vocals, gone are the dreary guitar-drone “soundscapes.” I respect the band’s decision to just ROCK, and to dispense with noise-for-its-own-sake.
At the same time, this record was hyped to death, and I can’t really see why. Leaving aside the quality of the music, nothing about the image of this band or their sound particularly grabs the imagination. Normally an over-hyped band has something about them, some mystery or gimmick or backstory which overtakes the music and hurdles them into the media spotlight, as it were. Atrapados, however, is neither amazing nor pretentious: it is just kind of solid. And that is not a quality that usually ends in hype.
Destino Final, without much flare, have synthesized a number of European hardcore styles: Anti-Cimex, Destrucktions, and early Italian bands can all be heard here, seamlessly incorporated… but robbed of any real drama, also. We all remember how Tragedy hit like a bomb because their songs were intensely narrated and emotionally-staged. The same thing is true for Anti-Cimex (“Victims of a Bombraid,” anyone?) and the best of Italian hardcore (“I.K.Y.C.I.M.F.”). Destino Final, however much they lay down a convincing stomp, ultimately dissipates their energy in a mere wash of typical effects and vocal drift. They never take me any place I haven’t been before.
In the end, this is a pretty good record. Nothing really jumps out at you, but it “earns its keep.” It neither rocks me as hard as I would like, nor conjures up some other world, nor emotionally connects, but it is a solid record. As devoid of missteps as it is devoid of the painfully-vivid imaginative powers of the bands from which they draw.
