A thrash band’s sophomore album usually does one of two things: expands upon the ideas of the first record and tightens up the instrumentation, or gets all experimental with progressive movements and odd time changes. For Destruction, their second album, 1986's Eternal Devastation, was a mix of the two. The band improved on the musical side, while stretching their wings and getting technical with the song structures.

It was a valiant effort that overcomes production issues to be one of the best underground thrash albums of the mid-‘80s.

Only a year separated Infernal Overkill and Eternal Devastation, but that short time seemed to do the trick for the German metal trio. The band made great strides with their instruments, especially guitarist Mike Sifringer. He’s a maniac with the uncoordinated solos on “United By Hatred” and mountain of riffs that sounded like a million chainsaws roaring in unison.

The dry production takes away from Sifringer’s potency as a guitarist, but considering their lack of financial backing during this period, the result was far from surprising. Still, the band worked around this issue, and made sure to not lower the intensity or devil-may-care attitude. “Curse The Gods” rips up all religious affiliations, and “Eternal Ban” gives the middle finger to authority and those who dictate how others should act in their daily lives.

These songs go on for up to six minutes, yet never feels dragged down in stale rhythms and unnecessary intros.

The tasteful clean beginnings to the opener and closer, “Curse The Gods” and “Confused Mind” respectively, are the positive exception to the intros rule. The band even gets in a solid instrumental with “Upcoming Devastation.” A negative aspect of the record is bassist Schmier’s vocals. His yelps and random fits of pitchy screams have gotten better, but Schmier wasn’t in complete command of his voice back in 1986.

Destruction would finish the ‘80s strong with Release From Agony and started off the ‘90s with a bang in the form of Cracked Brain. Things got very unsteady after that, as the band languished for the better part of a decade, before getting back on track in 2000. Eternal Devastation was a step up in songwriting from their debut and another reason why they are so acclaimed in the thrash world. For getting technical and maintaining the band’s biting intensity, Eternal Devastation gets the nod for this week’s Retro Recommendation.

“Curse The Gods” Live 1988 Video