Released: March 7, 2026
Destruction have spent more than 40 years making one particular kind of thrash metal. The riffs are jagged, Schmier’s voice cuts through them like torn sheet metal, and the lyrics usually regard humanity as a failed experiment. Birth of Malice raises a fair question: when a band knows exactly what it is, how does it keep moving without losing the thing people came for?
The one-minute title intro leads into “Destruction,” a history lesson filled with references to the band’s past and a blunt “We’re Destruction” chorus. On paper, it sounds dangerously close to self-parody. The song works because the band plays it straight. The descending riff gives it a solid backbone, Randy Black handles the tempo changes cleanly, and Damir Eskić and Martin Furia trade leads without turning the song into a guitar clinic.
That two-guitar lineup gives Birth of Malice most of its range. Destruction traditionally relied on the friction between Schmier’s bass and a single crooked guitar line. Eskić and Furia keep that foundation but add harmonies, doubled rhythms, and touches of traditional heavy metal. “Cyber Warfare” runs through rapid riff changes while the leads flash around the main pattern. “Evil Never Sleeps” slows the pace and opens into a more melodic chorus. The creeping entrance to “Chains of Sorrow” brings some needed darkness to the album’s second half.
Speed still matters, but the record is better when the band uses it selectively. “No Kings – No Masters” snaps between fast picking, a stomping chorus, and short lead breaks. “God of Gore” reaches back toward the strange, slightly off-centre riffing that separated early Destruction from cleaner American thrash. Neither song needs to race from beginning to end. The riffs are strong enough to carry them.
“A.N.G.S.T.” makes the biggest adjustment. Its staccato groove leaves wider spaces between Schmier’s lines, while the guitars create an ugly, crawling atmosphere instead of charging ahead. The change is simple, but it breaks up the album’s pace and gives the band another way to sound hostile. It also shows what this lineup brings to Destruction. The arrangements can stretch without smoothing away the band’s awkward edges.
Schmier ties greed, authoritarianism, technology, and human cruelty to one loose idea: malice begins when people discover they can profit from someone else’s fear or weakness. “Scumbag Human Race” and “Greed” aren’t subtle, but subtlety has never been his job. He writes slogans meant to survive loud rooms. Sometimes the broad language makes the subjects run together, but his disgust remains clear.
The album runs longer than its ideas require. By the later songs, another jagged riff, gang chorus, or burst of double bass can resemble something the band already used earlier. Closing with Accept’s “Fast as a Shark” points directly to the German speed-metal roots behind Destruction, though it also shows how close the band still sits to its influences.
So how does Destruction keep moving without losing its identity? By changing how the familiar parts fit together. The twin guitars add melody, the grooves create contrast, and the clear production lets the crooked riffs retain their shape. Birth of Malice doesn’t find endless room inside Destruction’s sound, but it finds enough to keep the band moving.
Written by Rob Joncas for DeadNoteMedia.
Artist information and music courtesy of the band.
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