Originally written by Gregory Bradley.
Possibly metal’s most energetic band, Destruction continues their legacy of stellar thrashing with their new album, Metal Discharge. While as generically named as the band, the music contained within is anything but generic. With more energy than a nuclear power plant, they throw light-speed riffing and aggressive vocals in your face like a fire hose pumping out sulfuric acid. As wonderful as that sounds, the real question is, does the album provide the depth required in today’s fickle metal scene? Most songs on Metal Discharge are ultra high speed, which doesn’t provide for much variety. Variety, however, isn’t exactly the point of Destruction. The point is to let loose with hyper speed and extreme aggression, and this album definitely delivers on that. After nearly twenty years as a band, you’d think that they’d lose some of their power, but that isn’t the case. There’s plenty here to quench the thirst of all you thrash fans, from the mid-paced, Slayer-esque “Rippin’ the Flesh Apart”, to the ominous, bass-heavy “Historical Force Feed”, to the killer beat of “Made to Be Broken”, this album has pretty much everything you could want and nothing you don’t. The production is pretty standard though, and the drums sound a little splashy. Thrash legends Destruction have yet to fail in their delivery of excellent thrash. There’s not much to say when the legendary quality of a band speaks for itself. While not the deepest or most intellectual of bands, they make up in pure energy what they lack in depth. Best played when you’re in the mood to destroy everything, Metal Discharge is a great example of sweet 80s thrash metal done right.
