Psych Fest Record Reviews

Destruction Unit

Arizona's Destruction Unit gets a lot of credit for its ability to burn shit down. It's understandable – turbine guitars, spiked drums, and backlit vocals – but there's a hypnotic, almost soothing quality to the music. Deep Trip stands as the quartet's first proper studio album after a litany of cassettes and singles, and it embraces the warm void more than ever before. "Bumpy Road" swings back and forth with a reservoir of tingling white noise, while opener "The World on Drugs" pounds out a death-rock miasma with its eyes on the buzzards. Poorly mixed? Yes. Is that the point? Probably. Destruction Unit appreciates chaos, as their guerrilla bridge show a few SXSWs ago demonstrated, but Deep Trip proves they know how to play their instruments even if ducking behind a wall of squall. (Sat., 3:45pm, Levitation Tent)