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Almost seven years since the awesome, earth-shattering mastery of Defiance signaled that this band was not yet ready to give up the ghost. That album showed off a band that was more polished and melodic than they had started out, without giving up on the feral, snarling malevolence that always stood as characteristic of this band. Defiance was mature without being soft or weak. Wildfire does not manage to be the same.

The band just does not sound as good this time out. The riffing is more accessible and clean, with a more melodic and clean edge. It's stuff that would sound amazing on like an Arch Enemy album, but for Deströyer 666 it is too weak-sounding and friendly. The production is likewise too weak and lacks grit and weight. Some of the riff work is pretty good, but it's all played with a disappointing degree of ease and restraint. The leads as well are trite, repetitive, and often irritating.

It's the vocal work and choruses that really bite my asshole. Okay, album opener "Traitor" is a nice slash of classic Deströyer 666 mayhem, even if it's not as savage as it could be. But the clean chorus on "Live and Burn" is fucking stupid and annoying, and the all-sung chorus on "Hounds at Ya Back" is grating and extremely poppy. The riffs on this song are kind of awesome, but the stupid spelling and bad singing ruin it entirely. I mean, you listen to it and are like "well, this is not so bad" but then you are like this is fucking Deströyer fucking 666, it should not sound like they are doing a Hammerfall song.

In general, this album is much stronger instrumentally than vocally or in terms of attitude or ideas. I mean, "White Line Fever"? Is this the same band that ripped out "Rise of the Predator" and "Raped"? On Defiance they managed to evolve and play more epic and melodic songs without losing their spark, but now they just sound lazy and weak, and the melodic riffs are not chained to powerful, propulsive songs that seethe with anger or hatred. Now they just sound like another fucking Death/Thrash band with simplistic songs and stupid lyrics. This album is not bad if you just listen casually, but as a Deströyer 666 album it is a fucking disgrace.