Destruction - Sentence of Death (Steamhammer/SPV, 1984)

By 1984 Thrash Metal was becoming quite the power in the kingdom of Metal, for the first part of the year bands all over were seemingly still searching and attempting to conjure up that security in playing and knowing what they need to do in order to properly define Thrash Metal in the studio. Destruction literally being the very young band they were at this time, got the opportunity to record a small EP to release to the masses. At this time a lot of people in the German Thrash Metal scene knew who they were, so this EP was quite a bit in demand in their community of metal heads.

"Sentence of Death" as a whole is not a bad album at all, every time I listen to it I am forced to remember some of the most primitive stages Thrash Metal went through to get to the legendary sound that commands respect today. Listening to this EP is very nostalgic, it's not overly brutal and Destruction on a lot of the songs didn't have an overwhelming sense of timing that is essential amongst people that play in a band together. However, when they plugged in and everyone started playing and doing their own thing, it somehow made sense and projected a very rebellious and tasteful style of dirty Thrash Metal. The guitar playing is very unusual on this EP for Thrash Metal. Mike used a lot of very off note riffs to make an unusual sound, and it was full of this slightly hard edge progressive sound that in essence added a lot of interest and dare say intrigue to the focus of the songs. The drumming was not overly brutal as you may expect for a Thrash Metal standard, but when changing the tempo on certain songs to acquire a strong breakdown you could hear Tommy sound like he was beating the hell out of the drums. Schmier played the bass pretty well on here, I've always been impressed with his style of Thrash bass playing because he always plays in conjunction well with the guitar and produces a structure of riffs that bounce off of it and makes the guitar sound stronger. The vocals on here are really good also, a very unusual style of vocals for Thrash Metal. Not excessively sick sounding, but not overly human sounding either.

If you can somehow program your mindset to what Thrash Metal was at this time, this could conceivably be a classic to your ears. Like I said though, Destruction has a very primitive sound here that they had not yet perfected for the Metal community to hear. However, this album is still very killer to listen to nonetheless. It was a great start for one of Thrash Metal's greatest powers to be in the coming years. Also on a side note, if you happen to purchase this EP that is now offered on a split with the first album "Infernal Overkill," be wary of the fact that the track listing is behind one track. So, for instance, when you're listening to the second track you're actually listening to third track. Steamhammer fucked up and printed the exact track listings from the records, instead of altering the track listings slightly to what they recorded the tracks in order to be when making the split with the first album on CD. The track listing you see above is the track listing from the split with the first album. (Sadistikal)

Overall Rating: 8

Line-Up
Schmier - Bass and Vocals
Mike - Guitars
Tommy - Drums