The Destro

The Destro took their moniker from an antagonist within G.I. Joe lore, a designation evidently favored by multiple acts given that two similarly titled groups exist without the article “the.” They coalesced during 2001 in Gainesville, a Dallas suburb situated in Texas. Fellow Texas act Pantera supplied the clearest sonic model, yet the Destro further folded black-metal and grindcore elements into their speed-metal framework. An earlier incarnation had already assembled in summer 2000; vocalist Eric Daughtry, guitarist Nick Emde, bassist Steven Nottingham, and drummer Jono Garrett ultimately adopted the Destro name in 2003. Over the ensuing three years the quartet issued two self-released EPs while steadily enlarging their live itinerary. In 2006, Unearth frontman Trevor Phipps placed the band on his own imprint, Ironclad Recordings, whose distribution partner is the established metal independent Metal Blade Records. Their debut full-length, As the Coil Unwinds, arrived the following spring.