You can see why, even for a band that works at a snail’s pace (six full-lengths in twenty eight years doesn’t exactly scream ‘work ethic’), Deströyer 666 continue to be a dependable draw card for record labels. You know exactly what you’re going to get with new album Never Surrender before you slip the needle in the groove, and, for many metal fans of a certain age, that’s more than enough assurance to prompt a purchase…

And those are the people the band cares about – the ones who put their hands in their pockets. So if people like me, who rarely if ever pay for their musical fixes due to our privileged position pushing pens for t’internet’s delectation, don’t particularly care for the abject lack of anything even inhabiting in the same post code as originality on NS, who cares?

I guess the root of this writer’s frustration with D666 in 2022 is that we appear to have a band who sound, in terms of execution and downright musical skill, as good as they ever have. Some of the guitar playing here is absolutely fabulous, with lead guitarist Bez and band doyen KK Warslut delivering a wall of sound at least as good as any of their contemporaries from way back who may still be extant. So why harness that skill to playing the riff from Judas Priest‘s Painkiller in rehashed form, as they do on the title track? If you can play that, you can play pretty much anything, so why not try something new rather (even in the same vein) than something familiar, just on the odd occasion?

Still, my Mum always told me to try and concentrate on positives, so it should be noted that three songs here – Grave Raiders, Savage Rights and Better Dead – are absolute rippers. But the sad takeaway from this overall is that, despite possibly having their best lineup ever, Never Surrender sees Deströyer 666 slipping down the blackthrash pecking order and giving ground to many rivals operating in the same field both at home and overseas. That’s a sad thing to report, and yet I still believe KK and kompany have it in them to pull this out of the fire and deliver something truly thrilling in the (hopefully) not too distant future…

Never Surrender is out now.