Release Date: September 25, 2009
Label:  AFM Records

TRACK LISTING

Disc 1
1.  The Butcher Strikes Back
2.  Curse the Gods
3.  Nailed to the Cross
4.  Mad Butcher
5.  The Alliance of Hellhoundz
6.  D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N.
7.  Eternal Ban
8.  Urge the Greed of Gain
9.  Thrash Till Death
10.  Metal Discharge

Disc 2
1.  The Damned
2.  Cracked Brain
3.  Soulcollector
4.  Death Trap
5.  Unconscious Ruins
6.  Life Without Sense
7.  The 7 Deadly Sins
8.  Antichrist
9.  Reject Emotions
10.  Thrash Till Death
11.  Total Desaster
12.  Bestial Invasion

Total playing time: 1:37:59

By now you should already know about Destruction.  No, really, you had better at the very least be aware of Destruction and their lengthy history as the progenitors of German thrash metal, and if you consider yourself a thrash fan at all, you’d better own at least one of their ten fine full-length albums.  Let me amend that statement.  You’d better own at least one of the albums featuring vocalist/bassist/thrash legend Marcel “Schmier” Schirmer.  Let’s all look away politely and continue to pretend that The Least Successful Human Cannonball and the two preceding EPs never happened.   Let’s instead live in the present… or in the not so distant past, depending on when you’re reading this.  Whenever this is, the year 2009, an amazing and impressive twenty five years after the release of their seminal Sentence of Death EP, Destruction bestows upon us the lengthy double disc live CD The Curse of the Antichrist - Live in Agony.

Live albums are generally a bit of a mixed-bag proposition.  Plenty of people hate them and view them as nothing less than wholly unnecessary.  Others, particularly the completists amongst us, see them as vital entries into bands’ catalogues.  I’ve always sort of viewed them with a kind of bemused indifference.  All too often I’ve picked up a live album by one of my favorite bands only to be hopelessly frustrated by dismal sound quality, or questionable song selection, or a disdainful combination of the two.  I guess I would just rather go out myself and actually see the band perform live, or else listen to their studio creations. 

Thankfully, The Curse of the Antichrist - Live in Agony suffers from none of the usual live album shortcomings.  The sound quality of the recording is really quite good.  I’d go as far as to say, in fact, that it’s one of the clearest, cleanest sounding live metal albums I’ve ever heard.  Song selection is always going to be a point of contention amongst fans.  Someone’s always going to be upset that some tracks were left off, while others will bemoan the inclusion of what they consider lesser (generally newer) material.  This is bound to happen more so when a band has as fat a catalogue as Destruction.  Again, however, the song selection is pretty damn good here.  It’s a veritable greatest hits collection for certain, with a couple ‘bound to be classic’ recent tracks.  The two discs contain material from Destruction’s performance at Wacken 2007 in their home country, and the Tokyo stop of the D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N. tour.  The Wacken song selection is the better, and there’s a cool guest vocal appearance by Blitz from Overkill, Oddleif from Communic, and Peavy from Rage on “The Alliance of Hellhoundz”.  Later, for some strange reason, they blaze through a rendition of “Thrash till Death” with three drummers. Elsewhere it’s enjoyable to hear Schmier admit to having imbibed a little too much sake, and attempt to banter about with the crowd in Japanese.

Basically if you’re a huge Destruction fan, you probably already have this.  If you’re a casual fan, or completely new to Destruction and Teutonic thrash metal, I’d suggest picking up 2007’s Thrash Anthems instead, as that’s also a re-recording of their greatest hits, but done in the studio setting.  As far as live albums go though, this is definitely worth your money.

Destruction - The Curse of the Antichrist: Live in Agony

January 18, 2010

Reviewer: J. A. Burt

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