Album Review: Within Destruction – ANIMETAL • Hardbeat

Within Destruction – ANIMETAL
Release Date: 11th April 2025

Slovenian Metalcore rockers Within Destruction are back with their fifth album, ANIMETAL. The album is full of throwbacks to their early deathcore days, expertly blended with the more electronic sounds of anime soundtracks to create a piece that is truly worthy of its series. Across the 12 tracks, the band covers subjects from demonic sleep paralysis to being in love with cyber girls. There’s a little something for everyone.

Title track ‘ANIMETAL’ showcases the previously mentioned blend of metal and electronic components, with a long mid-section chant of “ANIMETAL, GO! GO!” you won’t forget the title anytime soon. The song also gives us a nice meaty guitar solo, showcasing the talent of guitarist Howard Fang, a talent which is also showcased towards the end of the song ‘CYBERGIRL’, giving the song a nice structure following a hectic love requiem to a Cyber Girl.

‘KANASHIBARI’, which translates to sleep paralysis, is a shift from the up-tempo anime tunes from the album to create a darker song made of lyrics of being trapped in darkness and heavy use of bass, creating a melody that gives an overall uneasy feeling while listening. With a name translation of Sleep Paralysis, Within Destruction, did exactly what they set out to create with this one.

The real staple track from the album is ‘STAY 4EVER’. A song which explores the mentality around staying or leaving a relationship and the struggles of that feeling, ‘STAY 4EVER’ is a song that can be sung at the top of your lungs while you’re in your feelings. This is also one of the many tracks on ANIMETAL that feature the use of the infamous ‘blegh’ vocal – it is in good company alongside other tracks like ‘DEMON CHILD’ if you need to get your daily fill.

ANIMETAL slows down for a soft landing with its closing track ‘A LOVE THAT SLOWLY DIED’. This closing track brings together a lot of the themes from the album, including a broken relationship and its immediate consequences. Being the most vulnerable song on this release, it gives a true reflection on the feelings that have been explored, giving a sense of closure, a fitting theme being the closing track.

ANIMETAL is a story of love, loss and anime, and is a labour of love from the band 15 years in.