Damage Case – Destination: Underground

I’ve been reviewing quite a lot (mostly extreme metal) music being sent to me from various labels from Poland. That’s also the case with Putrid Cult, a label who just recently sent me a couple of latest releases from their label. Damage Case is the moniker of this four-piece hailing from the city of Gdańsk.

The line-up consists of; Tomasz „Thomas” Knieć (bass & vocals), Łukasz „Shadock” Radecki (guitars), Jacek Langowski (guitars) & Arkadiusz Kozakiewicz (drums). For those of you who’re not familiar with their sound, all you have to do is to look at the band’s moniker (“Damage Case”, a bastard track from the late Lemmy) and you’ll know immediately that we get six tracks of a Motörhead-style dirty rock’n’roll. Apart from more than obvious Motörhead references, this Polish quartet throw some heavy, black, retro-thrash and punk influences into the mix.

Tracklist for Destination: Underground EP:

1. Fallen Angel
2. War Sacrifice
3. Of Pain and Pleasure
4. I Am the Antichrist
5. The Lord Unchained
6. Betrayer

The opening track “Fallen Angel” (listen below) reminded me of Motörhead’ “Ace Of Spades”, with some typical yet catchy and engaging and attactive guitar rhythms, alcohol-drained excellent vocals, catchy chord and repetitive yet insane drumming. “War Sacrifice” has slightly different vibe with melodic and cool guitar guitar solo, track you can sing along with. The next one is called “Of Pain and Pleasure”, featuring this totally catchy chord and a masterpiece of a solo! It’s a top-notch track where the band definitely shows that they’re capable of creating their own original tunes, rather than just being the Motörhead clones. After this middle masterpiece we move to “I Am the Antichrist” which is the absolute flagship track off the EP! It is a song that is a bit reminicent of “War Sacrifice” due to its own vibe; with great riffs, excellent vocal lines and good driving chorus which drives the song forward. “The Lord Unchained” is another absolute bombshell featuring some old classic patents while at the same time being impressive, captivating and convincing, both in regards with vocals and other instruments. The last track “Betrayer” reminds me a bit of (early) Kreator and Sodom, as this fast song mixes punk and thrash metal. It completes the work of destruction delivered throughout Destination: Underground EP.

Each subsequent track is a real headbanger, but one of the biggest pros of this six-tracker EP are the vocals, where the lyrics sung by the frontman can be easily understood, making it a listenable pleasure to my ears. In pretty much all six songs there’s a space for music to grow and develop. All of them has both melodic and more aggressive parts, which makes it qute diverse and interesting to listen to. It’s clear that the guys paid attention to the chords, melody and the lyrics. It resulted is a really strong production that has the depth, complexity, and is done (mixed & mastered) in a way that is masterfully done, sounding pleasing to the ear.

Destination: Underground is a good release, and I’m convinced that the EP will allow them to gain new fans and will certainly not disappoint the old ones. For further information on this particular EP visit https://damagecase1.bandcamp.com/album/destination-underground