Live Review: Destruction - KK's Steel Mill, Wolverhampton
25th October 2023
Support: Whiplash, Enforcer, Crisix
Words: Richard Oliver
Photos: Tim Finch
Celebrating their 40th anniversary of existence, Teutonic thrash legends Destruction have embarked on a lengthy European tour with a stacked package of bands. This tour saw two of those dates hit UK cities with a night in London followed by a stop in Wolverhampton at the mighty KK’s Steel Mill (a second night in London was scheduled for the 26th but had to be cancelled for logistical reasons).
Opening up the evening were Spanish crossover thrashers Crisix who were making their first live appearance in the UK outside of London. Due to the early door of 6pm on a weeknight, the venue wasn’t as rammed as could be but there was still a respectable sized crowd watching Crisix unleash their light hearted yet furious brand of thrash. The small crowd did not deter the band from bringing everything they had to their short set and the band were all smiles for the entirety of their performance. Their enthusiasm was infectious as lots in the crowd were smiling, laughing and headbanging as well as one guy throwing some impressive and very entertaining dance moves. Crisix have a sense of humour to their thrashing insanity and songs such as ‘World Needs Mosh’, ‘Macarena Mosh’ and ‘Ultra Thrash’ set the mood for the evening plus a medley of covers including Metallica, PAntera and Anthrax also got big cheers from everyone watching. Crisix were tremendous fun and embodied the joy of thrash metal.
It seemed that a time window to 1985 had been opened in Wolverhampton and stepping through it were a bunch of spandex wearing heavy metal maniacs from Sweden called Enforcer. Enforcer are at the forefront of the NWOTHM (New Wave Of Traditional Heavy Metal) movement with a sound that wholly embraces classic metal from the 1980’s with elements of traditional, glam and speed metal. Another band with bags of energy on stage as well as boundless enthusiasm, Enforcer were on top form with a performance that was equal amounts furious, cheesy and most of all - enormous amounts of fun.
The songs ranged from furious speed metal such as ‘Destroyer’ and ‘Live For The Night’ to pure heavy metal anthems like ‘Undying Evil’ and ‘Take Me Out Of This Nightmare’. What did spoil the set a bit was the inclusion of a poorly chosen ballad ‘Nostalgia’ from the bands last album. Considering that Enforcer were surrounded by thrash metal bands on this bill, they should have stuck to fast and energetic songs for the night rather than killing the vibe with a sappy ballad. Other than that misstep, Enforcer were a joy to behold and an absolutely killer live act that ensured I had a massive smile on my face.
When this tour was originally announced the main support act was announced to be Razor but unfortunately due to illness, Razor had to pull out of the tour. This was devastating news as I had wanted to see Razor perform live for years but thankfully a more than worthy replacement was drafted on the tour in the form of New Jersey thrashers Whiplash. Considering my love of old school thrash, Whiplash was one band I had never managed to see live before. Frontman and guitarist Tony Portaro is the sole original member of the band and was joined on stage by touring members of the band - bassist Will Winston and drummer Rider Johnson. The band weren’t as energetic as their younger predecessors of the evening but the band simply got on stage and ripped out some speed and thrash metal anthems.
Most of the set was drawn from their 80’s output with songs such as ‘The Burning Of Atlanta’, ‘Insult To Injury’ and ‘Red Bomb’ getting the best response from the audience and especially from the elder thrashers in the crowd. Being a three piece with only a single guitarist, the band lacked some of the heftiness in their sound and Whiplash would definitely benefit from a second guitarist to add some more weight to those awesome riffs as some songs lacked a bit of power compared to their studio recorded versions. That said, when the band brought out the big guns such as ‘Stage Dive’ and ‘Power Thrashing Death’ I was too busy banging my head to care about how many guitarists were on stage. It was great to finally see Whiplash perform live but they need a bit more oomph to their live sound to stand alongside some of their contemporaries.
Not only was this the 40th anniversary celebration of German thrash legends Destruction but according to Schmier it was the first time they played this area since Birmingham alongside Celtic Frost in 1989. The band were definitely happy to be playing in the Midlands again and seemed suitably impressed with KK’s Steel Mill calling it the best venue they have played in England. Destruction are a lean, mean thrashing machine with a massive sound and they absolutely delivered the goods at this show.
Although the departure of Mike Sifringer in 2021 was a blow for the band, the guitaring team of Damir Eskić and Martin Furia more than do justice to the material with a barrage of chaotic thrash riffing and ripping solos whilst all eyes were on bonafide thrash legend Schmier with his snarling vocals and thunderous bass which was ably assisted by the pounding drums of Randy Black which shook the walls and ceiling of the venue. Considering this was a celebration of 40 years of Destruction the setlist was very much concentrated on the early years of the band with a handful of songs from the early 00’s and only one song representing the past 20 years of the band.
Absolutely no complaints about what was played in the set which included Destruction standards such as ‘Curse The Gods’, ‘Nailed To The Cross’, ‘Bestial Invasion’ and ‘Mad Butcher’ but it was also cool to hear some deeper cuts from the early albums such as ‘Antichrist’, ‘Tormentor’ and ‘Eternal Ban’. It would have been nice to hear some material off albums such as “Metal Discharge”. “D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N.” and “Under Attack” but understandably with fourteen albums to pick from and only an hour and 20 minute set sacrifices have to be made. It was great to hear all the old school material from the band with a full and beefed up sound compared to the thinly produced originals on the albums.
Before leaving the stage the band performed a song which is the motto for any thrash metal obsessive ‘Thrash Till Death’ and if all thrash metal shows were as enjoyable as this one was then thrash till death are definitely words to live by. After nearly five hours of thrash and speed metal I’m sure there were some ringing ears and stiff necks the morning after.
Photo credits: Tim Finch Photography
