Regarding Thrash Metal, few bands have been as prolific and significant as Germany’s Destruction. One of four key components of the German Thrash Metal movement that emerged in the ‘80s (alongside Kreator, Sodom, and Tankard), Destruction has been defined by furious, speedy guitar riffs, low growling vocals matched with unexpected high-pitched screams, and energy that is impossible to deny. In fact, that unhinged charge of power is fully on display over four decades after their formation with 2025’s Birth of Malice.
What is to be Destruction’s sixteenth studio album, Birth of Malice, arrives through Napalm Records on March 7th following an epic 40th anniversary tour that unfolded over the last few years in North America, South America, and Europe. A concert experience for the ages, interestingly enough, the release of Birth of Malice is almost forty years to the date of Destruction’s debut full-length album, Infernal Overkill (which was originally released on May 24, 1985).
Falling into place in a lovely designed fashion, the consistent force of Bassist/Vocalist Marcel “Schmier” Schirmer has kept the fire burning for Destruction through thick and thin. Clearly determined to keep music going, he is joined by Canadian Drummer Randy Black (known for his work with Annihilator) and Guitarists Damir Eskic and Martin Furia. This four-piece has been the foundation for Destruction in recent years, and let us say, it meshes together quite well.
Sounding tight, as if they were a band who has played together twice as long as they have, the intensity of Destruction is as pronounced as ever with Birth of Malice. The follow-up to their 2022 album Diabolical, dare we say that this new collection is more blistering than ever before.
With a total of twelve new songs, the album includes the amply titled “Destruction,” “No Kings – No Masters,” and their cover of Accept’s “Fast as a Shark,” which have been out creating friction. These are joined by more recently offered singles “Scumbag Human Race” and “A.N.G.S.T.,” which arrived respectively in January and February of this year.
Each of these pre-releases is a glowing example of first-rate Thrash Metal, but the remainder of what fleshes out Birth of Malice is equally potent. Including the breakneck assault of “Cyber Warfare,” complete with a message about lost humanity, there is also the outstanding stamina of “God of Gore,” a thick groove amidst “Chains of Sorrow,” and a darkly enthralling “Evil Never Sleeps.”
Coming together as what could be one of Destruction’s most distinctive, refined albums in decades, you could say that the mad butcher trimmed the fat for a lean and mean Birth of Malice. Far from a disappointment and highly impressive, Cryptic Rock gives Destruction’s latest album 4 out of 5 stars.
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