Despite the rather goofy name, France's Destinity have been making their mark in their country's more-or-less unknown metal scene for over a decade. The Inside happens to be their Lifeforce Records debut. So just what are these French vets bringing to the world's table? Somewhat unique melodic death metal, with heavy industrial overtones. Think a more melodically sound Mnemic with more underground cred. 

The Inside gets off to a fiery start with "My Senseless Theory", which all in one song tells you what Destinity is all about; aggressive deep-throated growls accented by the drummer's cleaner (yet somewhat average) vocals, catchy, rapid-fire riffs and plenty of industrious overdubs and keyboard sections. This song's piano melody catches you completely offguard, and teases you towards the rest of the record.It's disappointing to note that even though the band aims for a unique sound, they end up bogging it down with the typical pitfalls of melodic death metal; atypical blastbeats, repetitive songwriting and weak vocals. The lyrics are, understandably for a foriegn band attempting to write in English (unless it's their spoken tongue, then there's no excuse) awful. While certain cool moments are scattered around the 10 tracks, there isn't a song in the bunch that really sticks.

I'll give Destinity props for carrying the metal torch in their native France and for attempting to stretch some of the boundaries of extreme metal, but to my ears they've fallen a bit flat this time around. It might be worth checking out their earlier work, released on the underground French label Adipocere, but I haven't heard it so there's no telling from this review what's in store. For a band that's shared the stage with big-names such as Cradle Of Filth and Dew-Scented, it's a challenge to pass this off as average, but that's really the best score I can give The Inside.