The Destiny Program - Gathas
The Destiny Program are the German reformation of Destiny, who had to change their name due to another conflicting band. They've been pretty successful in their line of music, creating hardcore albums with touches of progressive melodies. One moment it's a kick to the face and the next it is oddly chilling and soft. However, cut away the momentary progressive layers and all one has is another hardcore album. Thankfully, on their latest album, Gathas, The Destiny Program try to be as diverse as possible in their sound, and create very thoughtful song titles and lyrics that traverse new alleys rather than the usual hardcore sound. However, boiled down its still pretty mundane hardcore.
Why? The vocals are the typical grunt while the musical chaos tries to make as much noise as possible. However, there's some moments that actually show thought and skill, rather than just mindless trends. "Avesta" is downright typical hardcore with a few melodies, but nothing amazing. Expect a lot of tracks like these throughout the album. Then there's the more interesting ones. "Through The Progressive Line" features a bit more melody on the guitars and more breaks in between chords rather than just a constant stream. The beginning of the track has a great drum intro and continues to be solid throughout the rest of the song without becoming lost in the guitars. "Road To A Recent Passage" finally lets up the hardcore trend with a very interesting interlude that is soft and progressive with the gentle plinkings before ripping back into the heavier chords. "The Current Horizon" continues this by featuring more melody and more singular string arrangements that add more depth to the vocals. It still grunts and rolls, but with style this time. "Convention And Predictability" is the ultimate contrast because it is very unpredicatable. Sporting clean vocals, excellent melodies, and an alternative harmony that is not The Destiny Program that fans really know, all of a sudden there's a new leaf turned for the band that opens tons of new doors. It is possible that with tracks like these, they aren't conventional hardcore anymore.
"The Illict" sound brings things back to the hardcore fold, but again there's that melodic section from the previous song that is so enjoyable. "Children Of The Earth" is certainly hardcore, but the guitars have less distortion and more melody incorporated, sounding a bit like Mouth Of The Architect or Neurosis with its clash of harmony and brutality. The beginning is especially distorted and offers a new, slow beginning for The Destiny Program's standards. Overall, the tempo is slow, even, and rather enjoyable. "Yasna" continues this in the sense it adds a new feature which includes layered vocals. Between the screaming and clean vocals, the screaming always wins. However, they don't clash; instead there's a mechanical harmony between them that goes well with the guitars. "The Blackwater" keeps this formula but adds more melodic aspects on the guitar. However, the vocals definitely are in the forefront of the music, which tends to overtake everything else. "Angra Mainyu" is similar to "Spenta Mainyu," except the the guitars have a more consistent melody and don't just leak distortion all over the place. Near the end everything goes static- literally- and then there's some choral female vocals that become the highlight of the album... and a possible lead into the future.
Although The Destiny Program still show signs of wear from their hardcore side, there's definitely a lot more crossover and new moments that help define a more progressive sound. It takes a full listen through Gathas to really appreciate it; skip around and one may just pass it off as mediocre hardcore. Hopefully in the future The Destiny Program will continue to make their music more dynamic by adding extra vocal effects, like on the the last track, and more melodies while still retaining their hardcore style. Things seem to be looking up just when things felt like they were going down.
Why? The vocals are the typical grunt while the musical chaos tries to make as much noise as possible. However, there's some moments that actually show thought and skill, rather than just mindless trends. "Avesta" is downright typical hardcore with a few melodies, but nothing amazing. Expect a lot of tracks like these throughout the album. Then there's the more interesting ones. "Through The Progressive Line" features a bit more melody on the guitars and more breaks in between chords rather than just a constant stream. The beginning of the track has a great drum intro and continues to be solid throughout the rest of the song without becoming lost in the guitars. "Road To A Recent Passage" finally lets up the hardcore trend with a very interesting interlude that is soft and progressive with the gentle plinkings before ripping back into the heavier chords. "The Current Horizon" continues this by featuring more melody and more singular string arrangements that add more depth to the vocals. It still grunts and rolls, but with style this time. "Convention And Predictability" is the ultimate contrast because it is very unpredicatable. Sporting clean vocals, excellent melodies, and an alternative harmony that is not The Destiny Program that fans really know, all of a sudden there's a new leaf turned for the band that opens tons of new doors. It is possible that with tracks like these, they aren't conventional hardcore anymore.
"The Illict" sound brings things back to the hardcore fold, but again there's that melodic section from the previous song that is so enjoyable. "Children Of The Earth" is certainly hardcore, but the guitars have less distortion and more melody incorporated, sounding a bit like Mouth Of The Architect or Neurosis with its clash of harmony and brutality. The beginning is especially distorted and offers a new, slow beginning for The Destiny Program's standards. Overall, the tempo is slow, even, and rather enjoyable. "Yasna" continues this in the sense it adds a new feature which includes layered vocals. Between the screaming and clean vocals, the screaming always wins. However, they don't clash; instead there's a mechanical harmony between them that goes well with the guitars. "The Blackwater" keeps this formula but adds more melodic aspects on the guitar. However, the vocals definitely are in the forefront of the music, which tends to overtake everything else. "Angra Mainyu" is similar to "Spenta Mainyu," except the the guitars have a more consistent melody and don't just leak distortion all over the place. Near the end everything goes static- literally- and then there's some choral female vocals that become the highlight of the album... and a possible lead into the future.
Although The Destiny Program still show signs of wear from their hardcore side, there's definitely a lot more crossover and new moments that help define a more progressive sound. It takes a full listen through Gathas to really appreciate it; skip around and one may just pass it off as mediocre hardcore. Hopefully in the future The Destiny Program will continue to make their music more dynamic by adding extra vocal effects, like on the the last track, and more melodies while still retaining their hardcore style. Things seem to be looking up just when things felt like they were going down.
- Spenta Mainyu
- Avesta
- Plagarism Commission
- Through The Progressive Line
- Road To A Recent Passage
- Out Notional Possession
- Trivial Commodity
- The Current Horizon
- Convention And Predictability
- The Illict Sound
- Liars Poker
- Children Of The Earth
- Yasna
- The Blackwater
- Angra Mainyu
Bastardized Records
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Sep 5, 2010
Sep 5, 2010
Next review:
No Hawaii - Snake My Charms
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