Destruction – "Birth of Malice"

In fact, why don't we ever talk about that 5th album...?

With the sacking of original guitarist Mike Sifringer a coupla years ago, Destruction became one of those groups that's centered around one member, in this case vocalist/bassist Marcel "Schmier" Schirmer. (Except, of course, for the fact that the band played without him in the '90s. But we don't talk about that period. Which is kinduva shame, considering the hilarity of the unofficial 5th Destruction LP, "The Least Successful Human Cannonball" ('98). But I digress, as usual.)

Of course, this doesn't mean that the group's current incarnation has no merit as a kickass metal band. Indeed, just to name a couple of examples, Destruction's fine countrymen in Accept and Running Wild have shown that it's still possible to release perfectly qualified albums with only one remaining original member. And now, Destruction are doing it again.

I wasn't overwhelmed by their otherwise decent last output, 2022's "Diabolical". Perhaps – indeed, quite possibly – the group was still settling in with their new guitarist (whatever his name is; I can't be bothered to look it up). And it feels like this process has been successfully accomplished by now, making room for a bit more than the standard thrash that dominated its predecessor.

If you listened to this album without ever having heard metal music before, you'd still have no doubt that this was it.

To nobody's surprise, though, we do start off in exactly that familiar territory. Shit, the opening track is simply named "Destruction". Yeah, they went there. And apart from the fattest, tightest distortion I've heard in years, it features such lyrical gems as "Blood brothers / Souls forged in steel / Devil's soldiers / Just pure metal is real". Yes, it's plain self-awareness, but new recent band members or not, their name has earned its fair share of chops.

And with their current drummer being former Annihilator, Primal Fear, and W.A.S.P. gun Randy Black, these guys are fucking solid. Their energy is like a machinery; every single bash at the drum kit is like a hammerblow. The riffing is as manically intense as Schmier's wonderfully profane screaming. Yes, if you listened to this album without ever having heard metal music before, you'd still have no doubt that this was it.

After the opening tracks have established a baseline of sonic reference, the group starts to make way for some variations. "A.N.G.S.T.", one of the slower things the band ever did, will get anyone throwing his or her mane around in circles to those monstrous axe chops. "Scumbag Human Race" is based on an almost swingingly syncopated groove – this is how you do that whole groove thing without pandering to the baggy pants segment. And "God of Gore" has this funky – yes, funky – mid-section, going from a shuffle to a gallop feel. None of these songs are exactly future classics, but they don't kick any less ass for that reason. And for the entire part, the level of catchiness is far from that Eurovision danger zone into which other German songwriters sometimes transgress.

With an otherwise no-shits-given, through-and-through metal attitude and energy as the current incarnation of Destruction displays on its 16th studio LP, any fan of the group and/or the genre should be more than happy here.

One or two cuts could have easily been scrapped. For example, "Dealer of Death" sounds a bit much like this one little 1984 thrash ditty, name of "Creeping Death". And one might argue that "Greed" is more curious than anything else, going from pure, dissonant aggression to a shamelessly bouncy shuffle reminiscent of Volbeat (back when they were still funny, mind you). Also, doing a cover of "Fast As a Shark"… I dunno, is it too obvious for a German metal band? And releasing it as the first single might not exactly convey a lot of confidence in one's new material. But Destruction do inject some extra testosterone and adrenaline into the classic proto-thrash metal hymn, all else being equal.

And I gotta say, with an otherwise no-shits-given, through-and-through metal attitude and energy as the current incarnation of Destruction displays on its 16th studio LP (or is it the 15th? Y'know…), any fan of the group and/or the genre should be more than happy here. Of course, we all know that metalheads are notoriously elitist (yours truly included!), and I do recall some bitching over the sound on "Diabolical", speculating about triggers being used and claiming that the guitar sound was too sterile. Well, I'm not hearing any damn triggers here. And while the production does get a bit messy this time around, it's not that seventh-circle compression carnage that has long taken so much contemporary pseudo-metal from being merely lame to being outright insufferable.

Au contraire, Destruction is as real as metal gets. And with the lamentable deluge of music in this century – metal or not – that suffers from not only aforementioned disgracefully joyless production, but also melodies getting simpler and simpler to the point of virtual non-existence, we should be grateful to have a unit like Destruction around, effectively acting as one big middle-finger antithesis to it all. Goddammit, I hate music these days.

Rating: 4.5 out of 6

Genre: Thrash metal
Release date: 7/3/2025
Label: Napalm Records
Producer: Furia/Schmier/Pulver