As if the past forty years hadn’t flown by quickly enough for German thrash titans Destruction, it’s already time to move forward from the anniversary celebrations of 2023 and get back to the bread and butter of studio recordings. On their sixteenth full-length release (fifteenth if you ignore 1988’s anomalous The Least Successful Human Cannonball), Birth of Malice (Napalm Records), the band’s founder member Marcel “Schmier” Schirmer looks to the past, present, and future for inspiration, reminiscing over old times as well delivering warnings and observations of a more contemporary nature.

After the heartbeat, acoustic guitar, and demonic vocal effects of the introductory title track, it’s time for a trip back to the beginning with the eponymously titled “Destruction.” Quite why it’s taken over forty years to actually come up with this title only Schmier can say but it’s here now and that’s all that matters. After the savage if glaringly obvious opening gambit of “We’re Destruction!,” the song kicks off with just the right amount of “Curse the Gods” style familiarity before launching into chaotic dive-bombs, frantic riffing, and lyrics that name-checks songs from the band’s early days.

Technology is the enemy of metal again with the vicious assault of “Cyber Warfare,” a classic spidery Destruction riff surrounded by a warning rooted in the ’80s. “No Kings – No Masters” is loaded with frantic punk thrash energy while “Scumbag Human Race” finds Schmier taking his already excessive vein-bulging level of anger even higher, the massive “God of Gore” following close behind with no sign of calm on the horizon.

Pick scrapes and bass guitar open “A.N.G.S.T.” with moody intent, the mid-paced cut about battling fear and inner demons unleashing a vintage Destruction riff halfway through. Unlikely to win any business marketing awards, the rip-roaring “Dealer Of Death” is about BASF, the German chemical company responsible for the manufacture of Zyklon B during WWII.

“Evil Never Sleeps” shows a (slightly) more melodic side to the band, the impressive track occasionally sounding like fellow countrymen Accept. “Chains Of Sorrow” is another groove-filled monster crammed with old-school venom before Canadian drummer Randy Black blasts out the intro to the penultimate ‘Greed’, a track that balances an early thrash attack with a certain level of swing. All new songs exhausted, the band close by returning to the land of Accept, covering the classic “Fast As A Shark” at an even more breakneck velocity than the original.

With Schmier on top form, the twin guitars of Martin Furia and Damir Eskić add to the cacophony with buzzsaw riffs and solos which range from the melodic to the piercing mayhem of pinch harmonic whammy nosedives. Sounding every bit as intense as they did back in 1983, Birth of Malice stands as yet another high point in a long and illustrious career. 

Buy the album here:
https://lnk.to/DESTRUCTION-BirthOfMalice

8 / 10
GARY ALCOCK
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