German thrashers DESTRUCTION have been a corner stone of thrash metal for a staggering 40+ years. They’ve toured all across the world, amassed 16 full-length studio albums including the recently released Birth Of Malice and paved the way for multiple waves of musicians hoping to follow in their footsteps. Whilst they’ve not necessarily deviated from their core sound, why break what isn’t broken?
“I get inspired by the world,” declares frontman Marcel ‘Schmier’ Schirmer. “We travel a lot and we’re in a lucky position and musicians to go all over the place. If the world was a happy place I’d maybe write happy lyrics! I channel a lot of the stuff that bothers me, like injustice and corruption. The way the world is heading right now is very scary. I wish I could write nice lyrics but for us it’s always been a political thing, we’ve been addressing the government and discussing religion since the 80’s and it’s never really changed. DESTRUCTION has always been a band where we just do our thing. I read a review recently where someone said ‘where is the innovation? There is nothing new?’ blah blah blah. We invented this shit! Why would we need to do something else? We’re not going to suddenly start singing about rainbows and unicorns. Birth Of Malice represents the evil of humanity. You can see it on the cover, bursting out of our logo. It’s not the devil though, it’s us. We are the root of all evil.”
The key to any successful band is consistency. Throughout their extensive tenure DESTRUCTION has developed methods which enable them to get the best output possible, irrespective of it potentially being a more costly route. “We pretty much compose in the studio. I prepare my ideas at home then we work on everything and get some rough demos nailed down so I can go home and listen back to it,” explains Schmier.
“When you get a little distance you are able to criticise yourself. In a studio it’s so loud and you feel the vibe but sometimes you don’t hear the finer details. It’s expensive to do it this way as sometimes we record songs and then throw them away but I can hear right away whether I like it or not and this does save some time and it can be very productive. I know a lot of bands have gone into a studio excited about an idea, you record it, you go home and then a few weeks later you listen back and you don’t like it as much and want to make changes but by then it’s too late.”
Some bands are not a fan of lengthy bouts of touring as they involve a significant financial commitment as well as time away from their loved ones. Schmier thrives on the opportunities he has been presented and has little intention of slowing down.
“As long as you love it, it motivates you and gives you energy. It gives you positive vibes. Why is Mick Jagger still on stage? He’s a multi-millionaire. He could be home gardening! Music is the key, it keeps you young. I love travelling and when COVID happened it broke me. It was so hard as I love visiting different countries and their different cultures and meeting fans. We’re looking to hit the road, go on tour in Europe, hopefully go to Japan and Asia. We’re planning to do a lot of touring in the next couple of years, hopefully a lot of festivals. Sadly the UK hasn’t got any easier with immigration and everything. I remember when we toured for Diabolical we had to wait at the border for about 12 hours and about the same time to leave as well so that added additional days onto our journeys to factor that in. It’s definitely more complicated these days.”
Thrash metal has experienced a rocky journey throughout the decades. It rose to prominence with the likes of METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX as well as the iconic Bay Area movement back in the 80’s before falling into an abrupt decline with the rising popularity of the grunge scene in the 90’s. It did however, experience a considerable revival in the 2000’s with the arrival of what was coined the ‘New Wave’ which included bands such as EVILE, WARBRINGER and GAMA BOMB to name but a few.
Schmier is very proud of the contributions he has made to the continued legacy of the genre. “Thrash has never been the big thing but it has always had a very stable underground scene and a lot of younger people are beginning to discover thrash metal because of the rebellious and non-conformist mentality and the rough edges. We’re not in the mainstream so sometimes that’s appealing. It can be difficult for bands to get signed though because labels are looking for the flavour of the month. We like to consider them as our offspring and we keep a close eye on the underground. It’s nice to see new life being breathed into the genre. We never had the goal to be rockstars. We just wanted to break away from the conservative German lifestyle. It was a bad time in the 80’s with nothing but pop bands on the radio so we wanted to go against the grain.
We were one of the first wave of German thrashers so when people heard us they were like ‘what the fuck is this?!’. Even people in the metal scene weren’t taking us seriously at first. Sometimes I wake up in a hotel room in Japan or New York and it’s crazy to think I’m still doing this 40 years later. It was amazing to see DESTRUCTION, KREATOR, SODOM and TANKARD all rise in popularity but they all have their own unique sound. A great achievement.”
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