-Destruction-

Destruction is one of the early legendary thrash metal bands from Germany among giants like Sodom and Kreator. The band was founded in 1983 in Weil am Rhein by Tommy Sandmann (drums), Mike Sifringer and Schmier (bass & vocals). Earlier Mike and Tommy were playing together in a band called Knight Of Demon. They were looking for a bass player so Schmier joined the band. They now wanted to go for a heavier and faster sound which resulted in the departure of the guitarist and the former vocalist. That was when they changed their name to Destruction.

In 1984 they went to a small studio in Freiburg to record their very first demo called "Bestal Invasion Of Hell" on 16 tracks. The studio was rather cheap but it still cost them a lot of money since they had to pay for it themselves and were still going to school. This demo led to a record deal with SPV Records and the release of their fist mini-LP called "Sentence Of Death". They had a big success in the underground and in 1985 they supported Slayer for their European tour.

Over the next few years Destruction released a couple of albums and established themselves as one of the leading thrash metal bands of Europe with several successful tours. In 1987 the band started having problems as the drummer Tommy left the band. Oliver now started using drum sticks instead and Harry joined as a second guitarist. In 1987/1988 they toured both North and South America as well as southern Europe.

With the two new members the band started going in a different direction and "Release From Agony" was not only given positive critics. In 1989 they fired the frontman and singer Schmier and Destruction was a completely new band. The 1990 album "Cracked Brain" featured André Grieder as a guest vocalist. The fourth album was received rather poorly, Destruction lost their contract with SPV/Steamhammer and gathered a few new members.

When Schmier was fired from the band in 1989 he started up a new band called Headhunter together with well-known Jörg Michael (a.o. Stratovarius). He also started his own restaurant business in his hometown in Germany since he wanted to stay away from the music business for a while. The press and fans wanted the "real" Destruction back though and in 1999 the two original members Mike and Schmier reformed the band together with a new drummer from the local metal scene. They started their comeback at the biggest german open air festivals - Bang Your Head, With Full Force and Wacken. In 2000 they released a new album "All Hell Breaks Loose" and in 2001 they went on an European tour together with the Norwegian thrash/black metal bands Susperia and Dimmu Borgir.