Destruction - Under Attack

Artist: Destruction
Release Title: Under Attack
Year: 2016
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Genre: Thrash Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Under Attack
2. Generation Nevermore
3. Dethroned
4. Getting Used to the Evil
5. Pathogenic
6. Elegant Pigs
7. Second to None
8. Stand Up for What You Deliver
9. Conductor of the Void
10. Stigmatized

Few bands make it to 30 years of activity, but Destruction have managed that feat with a slew of quality EPs, some fine live albums and numerous compilations gathering their releases together to help bide that time. Now on album fourteen and their eighth post-reunion effort, the long-running German thrashers carry on their Teutonic leanings with a stellar effort from Nuclear Blast Records on May 13th, 2016.

Utilizing the same rabid rhythms and rattling thrash riff-work it has plenty of enjoyable nods to their classics without offering much deviation being given the rather those same galloping rhythms being full of fiery performances that are like more modern versions of their late-80s work. Balanced out with some stylish mid-tempo chugging and it manages to get close a lot of times to their classic sound while being balanced out with the occasional mid-tempo plodding chug-style rhythm that gets utilized here. Though this one manages to sound relatively similar to the type of work featured in their discography, that inherently is the album’s lone downfall. As ravenous and aggressive as the majority of the material is, there’s never any sense of the group expanding or broadening it’s horizons to really give us something new or interesting. It’s all pretty much by-the-numbers style riffing and rhythm patterns which is fun by going along through the motions of fast-paced old-school thrash but doesn’t really offer up the feral energy of their early work or the relentless aggression of their earliest post-reunion work that remain their best efforts. It isn’t detrimental to the album as a whole but does manage to stick out somewhat, especially on a group this deep into their catalog.

Though it’s got a familiar ring of the past running throughout this one, it’s simply a matter of not really distancing itself enough to really take on the classics even with enough to like here that it instead becomes recommended more for nostalgic fans of the band who’ve come this far already or just the most complete connoisseur of old-school thrash.

Score: 87/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://www.destruction.de/