Violence & Destruction

Islander’s muscular, doom-struck music harkens back to the nu-metal sounds that bands like P.O.D. and Deftones championed in the early '00s. The South Carolina quartet’s debut album, Violence & Destruction, is both aggressive and apocalyptic, unleashing visions of mayhem amid scalding riffage and hammering drums. Frontman Mikey Carvajal commands the spotlight with a blend of harsh and clean singing that suits his lyrics' emotionally volatile content. Andrey Murphy’s guitar work is both agile and brutal, fusing hardcore ferocity with a touch of funkiness (especially on “Coconut Dracula”). Violence & Destruction's songs definitely aren't feel-good anthems. Whether the tracks slowly seethe (“Pains,” “Kingdom”) or explode with manic energy (“Side Effects of Youth”), the band’s obsession with humanity’s self-destructive side is nearly constant. In tracks like “Counteract” and “Criminals” (the latter featuring P.O.D.’s Sonny Sandoval on vocals), Carvajal defies the madness of the world with froth-mouthed fury. A sense of redemption hovers over the chaos, heard most clearly in the title track's churning battle cries.