Destruction

A Savage Symphony - The History of Annihilation

Written by: EW on 27/03/2010 10:09:07

Coming not more than 6 years after their excellent "Live Discharge - 20 Years of Total Destruction", "A Savage Symphony - The History of Annihilation" has a lot to live up to in my mind. "Live Discharge" was about as comprehensive a DVD as I own, but given Destruction's renewed status within the thrash metal world in the last 5/6 years who's to say they weren't deserving of another DVD anyway?

The main bulk of "A Savage Symphony" is made up of the band's 2007 performance at Wacken Open Air, a performance I witnessed first-hand myself. Consisting of a number of "gimmicks", as frontman Schmier put it, this special show included the guest appearances of a number of old members, friends of the band, including Blitz of Overkill, Peavy of Rage, Angelripper of Sodom and Oddleif of Communic, and a live appearance from the band's 'mascot', the infamous mad butcher whom has adorned a number of their covers down the years. Destruction's performance on a setting this big is as good as would be expected from a band of their calibre - with 3 members on such a big stage they can sometimes feel lost, but the dominant figure of Schmier is always on hand to keep things in check and entertaining for the audience. Everyone knows about the efficiency of Wacken these days and that runs through to their recordings; the quality is great with multiple camera angles and a soundboard recording to keep the home viewers happy in a setlist comprising the bands’ essential greats (“Bestial Invasion”, “Mad Butcher”, “Total Desaster” and the likes) and a collection of other tracks taken from both pre- and post- split-up.

This time around we also have an hour-plus interview documentary detailing in explicit detail the history of the band through the mouths of the members themselves who were there throughout it all. Of the kind you will probably only watch once even if you are a Destruction fan (especially if you don't speak German - thank you for subtitles), it nevertheless exposes the formation of the band and also the quarrels that led to the 'Neo-Destruction' era in the mid-90s absence of Schmier. With an extra few bonus videos and content, "A Savage Symphony" is well above the average and a recommended purchase to anyone interested in these hugely influential German thrash legends, even if your main interest was, like mine, in reminiscing in good times and attempting to spot yourself in the WOA 07 crowd. And no, I couldn't find myself either.

8

Download: N/A
For The Fans Of: Kreator, Sodom, thrash metal
Listen: Myspace

Release date: 29.01.2010
AFM Records

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