ED NOTE: I had already started writing this review, with a planned release date of 12/20/19 and Town Destroyer decided to drop a new on the same date. So I decided to also review the song as well, but it will be a different post. Please look for that review too on this site shortly. Thank you.

Town Destroyer is a melodic hardcore band from Houston, Texas. Their release, “Petrichor,” is a collection of attractive songs, but they might be more than meets the eye.

Petrichor is a peculiar word that is associated with the smell that permeates after a long period of rain. What that means to the album is slightly uncertain. It’s a pleasant word, something that the album is not. This album is heart wrenching diet of loss, pain, and anguish. Which feels much further away from the pleasantries associated with the rain.

The version being reviewed here is the Deluxe Edition of “Petrichor,” which contains two more songs than the normal version. However, the addition of the two songs makes them album feel slightly imbalanced. The original edition of this album was released back in 2017. The deluxe edition was released earlier this year. At the time of this review, there is no way to listen to the old version so comparing the songs is difficult.

The album opens up with “Afterthoughts.” A song from the original version, but not a bad song at all. Honestly, Afterthoughts might Town Destroyer’s strongest song. Which isn’t to say the rest of their collection is bad, but those songs will be touched on later. “Afterthoughts” begins with a short cadence. A lovely guitar rift to entice you into, like a siren song. Only for the song to beat you mercilessly with a torrent of emotion. Followed by a short spoken word section, and then right into a part reminiscent of older hardcore. Afterthoughts is an emotional journey through a landscape wrought with turmoil. It ends too soon before, but as the lyrics in the song perpetuate “all good things must come to an end.”

“Afterthoughts” feels like a song you might hear at the end of an album, and considering this is the beginning of the album, you would expect nothing but the best from the rest of the album, but sadly the rest of the album falls apart after Afterthoughts. “Let Loose,” the first song to follow “Afterthoughts,” is just a decent song. It does nothing terribly new, and feels like a complete mimic of other songs. This version of Let Loose contains additional help from Matt Losoya of Secondhaven, however his vocals seem to get lost in the song.

The third song, “Transient,” is the first new song the album, and because of that it feels a little out of place. It’s actually a good song, and if it were on a different album, it might be a great song. It starts with a very Hotel Books sounding spoken word section, but it doesn’t stick with that. It continues into a regular melodic hardcore song and doesn’t go back to the spoken word theme. “Transient” has some great sections, and some well-written lyrics, but this doesn’t feel like it works with the album.

“Chemical Imbalance,” the fourth song, has possibly the least derivative lyrics of the entire album, and because of that, it is possibly the second strongest song on the album. It was featured on the first version of this album. It has some great guitar work, and some excellent sections of pure emotion, reminiscent of Acres at times.

The fifth song, “For Your Eyes Only,” feels a lot like “Transient,” which makes sense because it’s the second and last new of the new songs on the album. It has some great sections, but much like “Transient,” ultimately feels out of place on the album. For whatever reason, while the entire album is melodic hardcore, “Transient” and “For Your Eyes Only” feel like a different type of melodic hardcore. And that’s what makes these songs weird on the album. Two years can change people a lot, so with the inclusion of old and new songs on the album, it’s obvious that people have changed.

The last two songs on the album, “Dismantle” and “Recover,” are decent enough songs, with Recover being the better of the two. “Dismantle” feels like a throwaway song. If it were on a bigger album, it might be the one skipped the most to get to the better songs on the album. “Dismantle” has some moments of intensity, but nothing that feels new. It’s a tired song, however, after taking the song in the context of 2017, this might be a rather strong song, but that’s a big issue. Conversely, “Recover” is a pretty good song. It has an excellent instrumental section, followed by an intense ending that brings you back to the intensity of “Afterthoughts.” “Recover” is the perfect song to end this album. It brings you back to what this band needs to achieve. They should seek to sound like “Afterthoughts,” “Recover,” with a bit of “Transient” and “For Your Eyes Only” sprinkled in.

Bands change, and two years can do a lot to the sound of a band. This album is imbalanced in all the wrong ways. But it is not a bad album. Taking each song on their own and not putting them up against the rest and you have some great songs. The issues arise when listening to the album straight through. “Petrichor” is a decent album, and it should be a mere stepping stone for the band do great things in the future. They have great talent, and the lyrical writing is sound, they just need to hone their skill a bit more. With a bit of work, Town Destroyer can be the next great melodic hardcore band.