Destruction is a thrash metal band from Weil am Rhein, Germany, formed in 1982 by bassist and singer Marcel “Schmier” Schirmer and guitarist Mike Sifringer. With Kreator and Sodom it built the Teutonic thrash sound. Its sixteen studio albums run from Infernal Overkill (1985) to Birth of Malice (2025). Start with Eternal Devastation (1986).
The Short Version
- Formed in 1982 in Weil am Rhein, on the Swiss border, as Knight of Demon.
- Start with Eternal Devastation (1986), then Infernal Overkill (1985).
- Schmier left around 1989 and came back in 1999. He is the last founder in the band.
- Played Houston, Dallas and San Antonio in April 2026. As of October 2026, no new U.S. dates.
Who Are Destruction?
The band started in 1982 as Knight of Demon, with singer Ulf Kühne, guitarist Mike Sifringer, bassist Schmier and drummer Tommy Sandmann. Wikipedia lists their influences as Iron Maiden, Mercyful Fate, Motörhead and Venom. Kühne was fired after clashing with Sifringer, and Schmier took over the vocals.
Sandmann told Voices From the Darkside that he knew Sifringer before he knew Schmier, and that they changed the name because they wanted one that “described the raw power better.” The demo Bestial Invasion of Hell was recorded in early 1984, Sandmann said, “in a small studio south of Freiburg.” It came out on August 10, 1984, and got the trio a deal with SPV’s Steamhammer label.
Steamhammer released the Sentence of Death EP on November 10, 1984. Destruction came up alongside Kreator from Essen, Sodom from Gelsenkirchen and Frankfurt’s Tankard, the group our Teutonic thrash guide covers together. This piece stays with Destruction. For the other two, read our Kreator and Sodom histories.
Infernal Overkill and Eternal Devastation
Infernal Overkill came out on May 24, 1985, on Steamhammer/SPV. The trio recorded it at Caet Studio in Berlin with engineer Horst Müller and produced it themselves. Udo Linke painted the cover. Sandmann recalled that the band asked a graphic designer for a new logo, and the one chosen for this record “convinced us all.”
Play “Invincible Force,” “Bestial Invasion” and the seven-minute “Black Death.” AllMusic gave the album just two stars, while Germany’s Rock Hard gave it 8.5 out of 10. Schmier rated its songs above the later ones. “The better ones, songwise, are definitely on ‘Infernal Overkill’,” he told Sleepless Magazine in 2000. Wikipedia credits the band’s early records with helping pioneer black metal.
Eternal Devastation is the one to buy first. It was recorded in April 1986 at Studio Hiltpoltstein with producer Manfred Neuner and released on July 12, 1986. AllMusic’s Eduardo Rivadavia gave it four and a half stars, and Revolver put it among its 25 essential thrash albums.
Start with “Curse the Gods,” which still opened the band’s Houston set forty years later. The record moves from the debut’s speed and proto-black metal toward a tighter thrash style. It was Sandmann’s last. He told Voices From the Darkside he might be called up for military service and doubted drumming could be a long-term career, so he decided “to free the chair behind the drums for somebody else.” Oliver “Olli” Kaiser replaced him.
Why Did Schmier Leave Destruction?
Harry Wilkens joined as a second guitarist in late 1986 and played on the Mad Butcher EP, recorded that December at Karo Studio and released in 1987. Release from Agony followed on December 1, 1987, recorded in September 1987 at the same Münster studio with Kalle Trapp. It was the first album by the four-piece, and Profile and Rock Hotel released it in North America in 1988.
AllMusic’s John Book called it “an overlooked classic.” Schmier agrees, with a catch. “I still think it’s a great album, but at that time, our problems started within the band,” he told Sleepless Magazine. He also remembered touring the States with the Cro-Mags.
After the live album Live Without Sense (1989), the split came during the sessions for Cracked Brain. “I quit during the recording sessions, actually they kicked me out at that time,” Schmier said. Sifringer’s version, quoted on Wikipedia’s Cracked Brain entry, is that “Schmier was not happy with the music anymore,” and that the band later realized it “made a wrong decision.”
André Grieder, a friend of the band from Swiss thrashers Poltergeist, took the microphone. Kaiser said they picked him for “his melodious approach to thrash,” and that they “knew there would never be another Schmier.” Cracked Brain came out on Noise Records on May 1, 1990, with a cover of the Knack’s “My Sharona”. Sifringer kept the name going with other lineups, the era known as Neo-Destruction, and made The Least Successful Human Cannonball (1998) without Schmier.
How Did Schmier Come Back?
Schmier and Sifringer stayed in touch. “I’ve been talking to Mike business-wise on the phone now and then,” Schmier told Sleepless in 2000. “I asked him once and he said no, I asked him again like half a year later in spring 1999.” They rebuilt Destruction as a trio with drummer Sven Vormann.
“We get the chance twice to become an influential band and that’s a very nice thing actually.”
That is how Schmier summed it up in the same interview. The comeback ran on Nuclear Blast with All Hell Breaks Loose (2000), The Antichrist (2001) and Metal Discharge (2003). Marc Reign replaced Vormann in 2001. Inventor of Evil (2005) moved to AFM Records. Wawrzyniec “Vaaver” Dramowicz took the drums in 2010. Our piece on how thrash survived the 1990s covers the wider comeback.
Destruction Band Members Today
The lineup has turned over since 2018. Vaaver left that year “for family reasons,” Schmier said, and drummer Randy Black came in. Swiss guitarist Damir Eskic joined on February 28, 2019, making the band a four-piece again. Sifringer’s departure was confirmed on August 19, 2021, and guitarist Martin Furia replaced him.
- Schmier: bass, lead vocals (1982 to 1989, 1999 to now)
- Randy Black: drums (since 2018)
- Damir Eskic: lead guitar (since 2019)
- Martin Furia: rhythm guitar (since 2021)
Diabolical came out on April 8, 2022, for the band’s 40th anniversary. On July 20, 2024, Destruction, Kreator, Sodom and Tankard shared one bill at the Amphitheater Gelsenkirchen for Klash of the Ruhrpott. Tankard’s Gerre called it “this historical event,” though Sodom’s Tom Angelripper told Blabbermouth in 2023 that all four had already played Mexico Metal Fest the year before. In September 2025 Blabbermouth reported on a new documentary, The Art of Destruction, directed by Ili Jelusic and Denise Dörner. “We had to face a lot of problems, and it’s in there,” Schmier said of it.
Birth of Malice came out on March 7, 2025, on Napalm Records. It was recorded with V.O. Pulver at Little Creek Studio in Switzerland and mixed by Furia in Hannover, and Gyula Havancsák painted the cover. Schmier called the track “Destruction” “the perfect opener for this album.” Hear it next to “Scumbag Human Race.”
Destruction
Weil am Rhein, Germany, formed in 1982. Start with Eternal Devastation (1986), then Infernal Overkill (1985) and Birth of Malice (2025).
Destruction Band Albums: Where to Start
Buy Eternal Devastation first, then Infernal Overkill for the rawest version of the band. Release from Agony shows the four-piece at its most technical. Then jump to The Antichrist for the comeback and Birth of Malice for the band today.
Every Destruction Studio Album
- Infernal Overkill (1985)
- Eternal Devastation (1986)
- Release from Agony (1987)
- Cracked Brain (1990)
- The Least Successful Human Cannonball (1998)
- All Hell Breaks Loose (2000)
- The Antichrist (2001)
- Metal Discharge (2003)
- Inventor of Evil (2005)
- D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N. (2008)
- Day of Reckoning (2011)
- Spiritual Genocide (2012)
- Under Attack (2016)
- Born to Perish (2019)
- Diabolical (2022)
- Birth of Malice (2025)
Destruction in Texas
Destruction’s biggest recent Texas run came in spring 2026. On the Thrash of the Titans tour, announced in December 2025, the band opened for Testament (our Testament history covers them) with Overkill in the middle slot. The Texas leg went House of Blues Houston on April 3, The Bomb Factory in Dallas on April 4 and the Aztec Theatre in San Antonio on April 5.
Setlist.fm logs the Houston set as forty minutes and eight songs. It opened with “Curse the Gods” and “Death Trap,” ran through “Mad Butcher,” “Bestial Invasion” and “Thrash ‘Til Death,” and closed with “Destruction” from the new album. Two songs came from 1985’s Infernal Overkill.
The Bomb Factory Open
Destruction played here on April 4, 2026, the Dallas stop of the Thrash of the Titans tour. The Deep Ellum room has a big open floor and a balcony, and the Studio, a few doors down at 2727 Canton St, hosts club shows.
Photo: Arielle Verdeflor via Google
For the neighborhood around it, read our Deep Ellum history. The early Destruction years also line up with Rotting Corpse’s. The band formed in the Dallas, Arlington and Fort Worth area in 1985, the year Infernal Overkill came out. Its first demo was cut at Pantego Sound in spring 1986, a few months before Eternal Devastation, as the history page and discography tell it.
Where to Hear Destruction Live
As of October 2026, the next big classic-thrash date in Texas is Hell’s Heroes IX, March 18 to 20, 2027, at White Oak Music Hall in Houston. KNAC’s lineup includes Overkill playing an old-school set, Armored Saint and Metal Church. Passes are on the White Oak calendar, and our Hell’s Heroes guide covers the festival. Watch our shows page for Rotting Corpse dates.
As of October 2026, Destruction itself has no U.S. or Texas dates announced, and the official site’s show list is empty. Songkick lists the next shows in Europe: Metal Hammer Paradise at Weissenhäuser Strand, Germany, on November 27, 2026, on the same day’s bill as Kreator, and Brutal Assault in Jaroměř, Czech Republic, August 4 to 7, 2027. Check the Songkick calendar for new dates.
Start with “Rotting Corpse” (1986)
Destruction closed its 2026 Houston set with a song named after the band, and this is Rotting Corpse doing the same thing on its spring 1986 demo, fast and dirty, down to the line “Thrash till death our raging noise” (lyrics on the lyrics page).
Sources
- Voices From the Darkside: Steven Willems, Destruction interview with Schmier, from Sleepless Magazine No. 9 (2000)
- Voices From the Darkside: Interview with Tommy Sandmann
- Blabbermouth: Schmier on Official Band Documentary (2025)
- Blabbermouth: Destruction Announces Birth of Malice Album Details (2024)
- Loudwire: Testament, Overkill and Destruction 2026 Tour (2025)
- Setlist.fm: Destruction at House of Blues, Houston, April 3, 2026
- Destruction official site
- Songkick: Destruction concert calendar
- Metal Hammer Paradise 2026 lineup
- KNAC: Hell’s Heroes IX Lineup (2026)
- Wikipedia: Destruction (band)
- Wikipedia: Infernal Overkill
- Wikipedia: Eternal Devastation
- Wikipedia: Release from Agony
- Wikipedia: Mad Butcher
- Blabbermouth: Kreator, Sodom, Destruction and Tankard Announce 2024 Festival
- Blabbermouth: Sodom Frontman on Booking More Big Four of German Thrash Shows (2023)
- Wikipedia: Cracked Brain
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Destruction formed?
In 1982 in Weil am Rhein, Germany, on the Swiss border, under the name Knight of Demon. The founders were singer Ulf Kühne, guitarist Mike Sifringer, bassist Marcel “Schmier” Schirmer and drummer Tommy Sandmann.
Who are the members of Destruction?
Schmier (bass, lead vocals), Randy Black (drums, since 2018), Damir Eskic (lead guitar, since 2019) and Martin Furia (rhythm guitar, since 2021). Schmier is the only founding member still in the band.
What is the best Destruction album to start with?
Eternal Devastation (1986), then Infernal Overkill (1985) and Release from Agony (1987). For the band today, hear Birth of Malice (2025).
How many albums has Destruction released?
Sixteen studio albums, from Infernal Overkill (1985) to Birth of Malice (March 7, 2025).
Why did Schmier leave Destruction?
He left during the sessions for Cracked Brain around 1989. “I quit during the recording sessions, actually they kicked me out at that time,” he told Sleepless Magazine in 2000. Sifringer later said “Schmier was not happy with the music anymore.” Schmier rejoined in 1999.
Has Destruction played in Texas?
Yes. On the 2026 Thrash of the Titans tour with Testament and Overkill, Destruction played House of Blues Houston on April 3, The Bomb Factory in Dallas on April 4 and the Aztec Theatre in San Antonio on April 5.
