Year : 1985 (HR Records Edition 2022)
Style : Power Metal , Thrash Metal
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 381 mb
Bio:
Destructor, Cleveland, Ohio's legendary premier power/thrash band, return to Auburn with their new 2003 "Sonic Bullet" release. The extended EP contains 46 minutes and 9 tracks of ripping, over-the-top, pounding Destructor-style molten heavy metal!Auburn president Bill Peters' first encounter with Destructor was seeing the band perform their very first 'live' show in 1984 at The Pop Shop, a club managed by Chris Andrews and located beneath the historic Cleveland Agora. Already working with bands such as Breaker and Shok Paris at the time, Peters fell in love with the band's untamed energy, great songwriting, wild spirit and charismatic stage presence. The Cleveland metal scene was dominated at the time with 'technically' great sounding bands. Many questioned why Peters would choose to work with a band such as Destructor and how he could possibly record and capture the band's energy in the studio. After all, Destructor were considered to be one of the area's most 'anti-technical' of bands at the time. Despite the rough edges and regardless of the criticisms, Peters had a vision that Destructor could develop into something special and saw something in them most of his industry peers did not. He took a chance and moved forward, signing Destructor to his Auburn label in 1984. The band entered Suma Recording Studios to begin recording their debut album with engineer Paul Hamann at the helm. Destructor's "Maximum Destruction" album, released the following year in 1985 on Auburn Records, is considered by many to be an underground metal classic and quickly silenced the critics. It became Auburn's biggest seller and catapulted the band to international success in the metal underground. The album was licensed to Roadrunner Records in Europe several months after the initial release and later reissued by Listenable Records in 1999. Destructor's crushing 'live' performances in the area, both headlining and opening for national acts such as Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth, became legendary. The band received rave reviews and full features in prestigious metal publications like Metal Forces, Kerrang!, Hit Parader and Metal Hammer. In 1987, Destructor entered Beachwood Studios with engineer Jim DeMain to begin recording their second album "Decibel Casualties". The album, along with Jag Panzer's "Chain Of Command", was going to help launch a joint venture between Auburn and major label Island Records. Unfortunately, both projects never saw the light of day. Several months into the Destructor recording sessions, bass player Dave Iannicca was innocently murdered on January 1, 1988. The incident devastated both the band and Auburn president Bill Peters, who had been a good friend of Dave's over the years. Coping with losing a 'family' member was very difficult for everyone to overcome. Destructor needed time to recover from the tragedy and were in no condition to begin playing music again. Peters struggled with his emotions and his dealings with Island Records, who took more of a business stance on the whole situation. Peters eventually decided to walk away from the entire 3-year label deal. It was a tough decision but the right one he felt to make at the time.Over the next several years, Destructor struggled to keep things going. They went through several bass players trying to move forward but the chemistry continued to be missing. During these years of uncertainty, the band did manage to go into the studio and finish one song from the "Decibel Casualties" sessions, "Storm Of Steel", for Auburn's 1990 "Heavy Artillery" compilation. The compilation was dedicated to Dave Iannicca. Unfortunately, the revolving door of bass players continued to take its toll, forcing the band into hiatus in the early 90's. Destructor resurfaced in 1999 when Listenable Records reissued the "Maximum Destruction" album. Inspired by the rejuvenated interest from the reissue, Destructor entered the studio in 2000 to begin recording new material. After hearing the final mixes, Listenable expressed no interest in releasing the album and decided to drop the band from the label. Bass player frustrations continued to haunt the band and the album was never released. A song from those sessions, "The Triangle", appeared on the Heavy, oder was!? "Metal Crusade-Vol. IV" compilation.Finally in 2002, Destructor connected with Boulder bass player Jamie Walters. Although several years younger than the band members, Jamie had been a long time Destructor fan and had seen the band on a number of occasions over the years. Both parties hit it off immediately and Destructor were back on track. Jamie was the missing piece to the puzzle the band had searched for so long and hard. Then in January of 2003, Destructor and Auburn officially reunited. The two parties had been talking for nearly a year and had been unofficially working together since the summer of 2002. Peters challenged the band to write new material and the band delivered with an amazing batch of originals that followed in the same tradition as the "Maximum Destruction" album.Destructor entered 609 Recording with engineer Don Depew (Breaker) in the Spring of 2003 to record "Sonic Bullet". The EP, released in the Summer, includes 5 new recordings ("Sonic Bullet", "Heavy Artillery", "Silent Enemy", "Blackest Night", "Master Of The Universe"), two tracks from the previously unreleased 2000 sessions ("G-Force", "The Triangle") and two 'live' tracks recorded in 2002 at the Classic Metal Festival ("Pounding Evil") and at the band's opening set for Slayer in Cleveland ("Iron Curtain"). The Summer of 2003 has seen a lot of activity from Destructor on the concert front. They performed at two major festivals, the BW&BK "6-Pack Weekend" in Cleveland (headlined by Candlemass and Trouble) and the Bang Your Head in Balingen, Germany (headlined by Twisted Sister and Dio), and opened the Iron Maiden/Dio/Motorhead Cleveland tour date. The band are currently finishing up writing new material and plan to enter the studio next year to begin recording a new full-length.
Album:
High Roller Records, reissue 2022, slipcase, 40 tracks!!!, CD1: original mix version, album outtakes, remix version, CD2: compilation, demo and live recordings, THE ULTIMATE REISSUE!!! All stuff compiled, mastered and restored by Patrick W. Engel at TEMPLE OF DISHARMONY in April 2022. By 1985, Slayer, Exodus, Megadeth and Metallica had all released fantastic albums, speed metal had truly arrived in America. Digging a bit deeper, however, there was still a lot of great new underground talent coming through. One of these bands showing enormous promise was Destructor from Cleveland in Ohio. Their debut album »Maximum Destruction« was issued in 1985 by Auburn Records and received outstanding press reactions in North America as well as in continental Europe. “Cleveland had a very strong metal scene at the time,” explains vocalist and guitarist Dave Overkill. “Other bands were just established one, two or three years before we became a real band. There was Breaker, Black Death, Shok Paris and Sacred Few but no other band was playing as heavy and as aggressive as Destructor, so when we finally got a show people were amazed by our style. It was the bass player from Breaker, Ian Shipley, who introduced us to a wild and crazy drummer named Matt Schindelar in 1984. Matt immediately replaced the drummer we had at the time and the real Destructor was born.” In 1984, two demo cassettes were issued, »Smash Your Skulls With Power« and »Bring Down The Hammers«, before Destructor’s eponymous debut album »Maximum Destruction« saw the light of day in November 1985 on Auburn Records, thanks to Bill Peters. “Bill approached us after our first show and asked us if we wanted to record an EP,” recalls Dave Overkill. “We were young and hungry, so of course we said yes. Bill Peters was just starting to establish Auburn Records at this time. We didn’t know anything about the record business. Auburn did a great job for us. We had no complaints.” After the album, a further cassette called »Overdosed At WRUW« was issued in a limited edition of 100 copies. This was followed by two more tapes, »Decibel Casualties« (four tracks, 1987) and »Power Aggression« (nine tracks, 1988). This material was supposed to form the basis of a possible second album. However, as a possible deal with Island Records fell through and bassist Dave Holocaust was killed in an assault, the band threw in the towel: “Dave was like a brother to us. We loved Dave. We were in a downward spiral that we couldn’t seem to get out of. Then the 1990’s came and metal was replaced in the States with grunge. We missed our chance. Destructor called it a day after a show we played with the band Overkill in 1992. It all seemed useless to continue at this point.” The vinyl edition of »Maximum Destruction« has been remastered by Patrick W. Engel. The double CD also includes a re-mix of the album plus an entire disc full of demos, rehearsals and live recordings.
Line-Up:
Dave Overkill - Vocals, Guitars (1984-present) - See also: Vulgar Devils, ex-Nucleon, ex-Spacecore
Pat Rabid Vocals (backing), Guitars (R.I.P. 2018)
Dave Holocaust - Bass, Vocals (backing) (R.I.P. 1988)
Matt Flammable - Drums (1984-2012, 2014-present) - See also: Julia Roberts Global Warning, Vulgar Devils, ex-Nucleon, ex-Spacecore
Tracklist:
CD1:
01. Prelude in Sledge-Minor Opus 7 1st Movement (Original 1985 Mix) 00:44 instrumental
02. Maximum Destruction (Original 1985 Mix) 07:09
03. Destructor (Original 1985 Mix) 02:54
04. Take Command (Original 1985 Mix) 04:00
05. Instrumetal (Original 1985 Mix) 02:08 instrumental
06. Pounding Evil (Original 1985 Mix) 04:02
07. Overdose (Original 1985 Mix) 04:06
08. Iron Curtain (Original 1985 Mix) 05:46
09. Hot Wet Leather (Original 1985 Mix) 01:26 instrumental
10. Bondage (Original 1985 Mix) 03:48
11. Black Night (Album Outtake, Rough Mix) 03:08
12. Bring Down the Hammers (Album Outtake, Rough Mix) 03:14
13. Prelude in Sledge-Minor Opus 7 1st Movement (Remix 1998) 00:45 instrumental
14. Maximum Destruction (Remix 1998) 07:12
15. Destructor (Remix 1998) 02:54
16. Overdose (Remix 1998) 04:06
17. Instrumetal (Remix 1998) 02:07 instrumental
18. Pounding Evil (Remix 1998) 03:56
19. Take Command (Remix 1998) 04:05
20. Iron Curtain (Remix 1998) 05:46
21. Hot Wet Leather (Remix 1998) 01:29 instrumental
22. Bondage (Remix 1998) 03:48
CD2:
01. Pounding Evil ('Speed Kills II' Compilation LP 1986) 05:19
02. Bring Down the Hammers ('Decibel Casualties' Sessions 1987-1988) 03:37
03. Storm of Steel ('Decibel Casualties' Sessions 1987-1988) 04:01
04. Power Aggression ('Decibel Casualties' Sessions 1987-1988) 04:24
05. Smash Your Skulls ('Decibel Casualties' Sessions 1987-1988) 04:20
06. Destructor (Live Cleveland 18 Oct 1986) 02:56
07. Maximum Destruction (Live Cleveland 18 Oct 1986) 06:42
08. Storm of Steel (Demo Recording 1989) 03:57
09. Overdose ('Smash Your Skulls' Demo 1984) 04:27
10. Pounding Evil ('Smash Your Skulls' Demo 1984) 03:59
11. Instrumetal ('Smash Your Skulls' Demo 1984) 02:00 instrumental
12. Destructor ('Smash Your Skulls' Demo 1984) 02:58
13. Bring Down the Hammers ('Smash Your Skulls' Demo 1984) 03:18
14. Black Night (Live 'Pop Shop' Cleveland 20 Oct 1984) 03:26
15. Iron Curtain (Live 'Pop Shop' Cleveland 20 Oct 1984) 05:41
16. Hot Wet Leather / Bondage (Live Cleveland 1984) 05:50
17. Overdose (Live Cleveland 1984) 05:54
18. G-Force (Live 'WRUF FM Radio Studio A' 9 Sep 1985) 06:42
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