SEALED. SHIPS SAFE!
The photo used is a stock image of the pressing which shows what comes inside the LP. Obviously each vinyl record will look different :)
“You naughty Sharona! What the fuck are you doing here!?” I’m pretty sure this is what Andre Grieder, the Schmier replacement here, had wanted to sing at the beginning of this track; the man must have been quite astonished to find out about their one-stunt colleagues’ choice for a cover inclusion... I guess the Destruction team were still healing possible “cracks” in their “brains” caused by Schmier’s departure, so aberrations of the kind were to be expected, more or less… This lusty, horny Sharona must have spread some difficult to cure “venereal” disease around the metal artistry cause other acts (Eldritch, Hammerfall, Pink Cream, etc.) have also succumbed to its ruinous charm through the years. Whatever it takes to get over the loss of a lover, or a relative, or a frontman…
By the end of the 80’s Destruction were ahead of almost every other thrash metal practitioner, from Germany and Europe in general, but they also saw themselves surrounded by more greatness, just like that, emitted by the others (Sodom, Mekong Delta, Vendetta, Paradox, Kreator, Deathrow, etc.); greatness that was coming in spades, threatening to disrupt their leadership. Just the right time to lose your emblematic frontman, some would say, although that epidemic was already started by the Udo/Accept split-up five years earlier, and later took more victims (Anthrax, Sabbat, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Helloween, etc.). Destruction were just one of the many befallen by this misfortune although that occurred at the worst possible time again, when they had to respond to myriads of high quality albums that came out in quick succession as last defenders of the old school idea that was fading fast at the time.
The recruitment of the mentioned Andre Grieder from the fellow Swiss thrashers Poltergeist was the right decision as the guy had what it took to fill in the big vacated shoes although his style was quite removed from Schmier’s very specific mean semi-declamatory, witch-like croon; Grieder was able to actually sing, and this gave more depth to the band’s technically precise fretwork. And with him on board the Destruction batch were ready to give it one, possibly more go’s in the future. But first things first; let’s see how those “cracks” could be filled in for a start…
Music-wise this album is a direct follow-up to the great “Release from Agony” the opening title-track cutting and slicing its way through with expert clinical guitar work, with Grieder’s venomous, but attached vocals adding more to the heightened speedy drama the latter also enriched by a fabulous twisted lead section thrown in mid-way. A totally enchanting beginning which seamlessly flows into “Frustrated”, the legitimate twin of the opener, thrashing with the same amount of clinical technicality and intensity, with a bigger sense of melody also reflected in a few more dramatic riff applications. “S.E.D.” is a more minimalistic cut with creepy technical guitars gradually moving up the aggression scale, the surreal jumpiness of the rhythm-section recalling Mekong Delta including in the nervy fast-paced staccato section. “Time Must End” is a more sprawling, progressive thrasher the guys varying the time-signatures more frequently, with speedy “blizzards” rising out of the blue intercepting the slower, more elaborate passages, and with sudden tempo shifts overwhelming the listener who will be completely won for the band’s cause by the dazzling leads again near the end.
The fanfares begin, and the femme fatale Sharona enters with all her cliched, faded gorgeousness. The The Knacks’ original was already a ridiculous jump-arounder, and this sped-up, slightly thrash-peppered version of it doesn’t do much except upset the fan who will sincerely hope that similar “pitstops” from the intricate thrashy roller-coaster won’t happen later. And they won’t as the following “Rippin’ You off Blind” promises with its officiant stomping riffage that enters the ensuing speedy melee which surrenders to more technical accumulations later, all three sides walking hand in hand for a bit the guys having a lot of fun pulling out these fabulous multi-layered rifforamas with so much energy and panache. “Die a Day Before You’re Born” is a fine swirling headbanger keeping it relatively straight, and “No Need to Justify” doesn’t need “to justify” anything presenting more balladic, doomy motifs which don’t change much throughout save for an isolated fast-paced crescendo. “When Your Mind Was Free” has a relaxed, lazy beginning which is enriched by several leaps and bounds, but remains on the pounding, not very eventful side Grieder spicing up the rigid approach with the casual high-pitched scream.
The epitaph doesn’t reach the high level of the preceding material the band taking it easy towards the end, kind of exhausting their hi-tech arsenal, or maybe not willing to surpass the previous opus with more exuberant performance, thus missing to also fully compensate for the mood breaker that “My Sharona” is. Regardless, the first half is a total technical shredfest which should have filled the fans’ hearts and souls with loads of sharp lashing, also quite clever riff-patterns until the arrival of the somewhat downbeat finale. Said finale may have been intended as a desirable shift from the hyper-active formula applied until that point as similar pacifying arrangements can also be spotted on other works the same year, like Sacrosanct’s “Truth is What is”, Kreator’s “Coma of Souls”, and another brain “deterioration”, Vendetta’s “Brain Damage”; and later have their rightful place on other technical/progressive sagas like Heathen’s “Victims of Deception and Depressive Age’s “First Depression”, and even Coroner’s “Mental Vortex” if you like (remember “the heaviest” cover of all covers at the end, The Beatles’ “She’s So Heavy”).
Grieder was apparently inspired by his stunt with Mike Sifringer and Co. as with his comrades from Poltergeist he quickly assembled the “Behind the Mask” album a few months later which quite successfully tried to repeat the technical feats from the album reviewed here, also providing a very similar slower, less engaging, not very exuberant ending. Influences, influences, and how far/near they can reach… only that they never served as a template for their own creators again who hit the very bottom instead in the mid-90’s with several awful variations of the groovy numetal formula; arguably the most humiliating metamorphosis ever witnessed within the thrash, and possibly even metal overall, circles (“Cold Lake”? No?”). A lesson well learnt, and the old frontman well taken back in the late-90’s for another seemingly endless string of thrash anthems that continue to repair all possible brain cracks, and a fair number of annoying maladies around the world mostly caused by one-night-stands with beautiful Sharonas.