Destruction Thrash Anthems

German thrashers DESTRUCTION have launched a PledgeMusic pre-order campaign in support of their upcoming album, "Thrash Anthems II". A leader in direct-to-fan platforms, PledgeMusic allows artists to get more personal with their fans, offering pledgers updates straight from the band and items not available anywhere else.

Together with their countrymen Kreator and Sodom, Germany's Destruction constituted the dominating triumvirate of Teutonic thrash metal during the 1980s. And even though they ultimately failed to match these peers in terms of commercial success and longevity, at least two of their albums still qualify among the crème de la crème of the decade's speed metal. Heavy metal underwent a worldwide revolution in the early '80s, when the lingering lessons from '70s giants like Black Sabbath and Judas Priest crashed head-on with the D.I.Y. ethos of punk rock and the sheer velocity of Motörhead to spawn the much ballyhooed New Wave of British Heavy Metal, which, in turn sparked a far more powerful and lasting bastard offspring: thrash metal. Of all the nations contaminated by this musical virus as it proliferated unchecked, Germany was second only to the U.S. in terms of widespread infection…

Many seem compelled to call The Antichrist the 'comeback' album for Destruction, but this not chronologically nor logically the case. The sound here is one lifted straight from its predecessor, All Hell Breaks Loose, but pummeled into perfection…

Many seem compelled to call The Antichrist the 'comeback' album for Destruction, but this not chronologically nor logically the case. The sound here is one lifted straight from its predecessor, All Hell Breaks Loose, but pummeled into perfection. That album was a fresh act of violence borne from a stagnant musical relationship, while this is like a freight train hitting you at a thousand miles an hour, a mushroom cloud being formed over your conscience, an instant window to everything you loved about this band in the 80s and then some…

This 2 CD-set presents two aspects of Purcell's music: religious music and instrumental music. Let's start by the first CD. It includes magnificent anthems for the Church for soloists, choir, and orchestra. The first track to open the CD, "Rejoice in the Lord alway", is probably one of Purcell's most famous anthem. The beautiful introduction (sometimes known as the Bell Anthem) prepares the entry of the two countertenors who expose the melody, intoned by the choir later. As with Purcell's style, the music is always refined. The soloists are all top-notch here, and the choir (King's College of Cambridge) is, as always, magnificent. It is really nice to hear the soprano part sung by boys, as I think it gives another dimension to Purcell's music.