German thrashers Destruction have released their 17th studio album, Born To Perish, out now via Nuclear Blast. Frontman Schmier recently spoke with BraveWords scribe Carl Begai about the making of the record. Following is an excerpt from the forthcoming feature.

Schmier: "We've been struggling with the idea of getting a secong guitar player for the last few years; should we do it or not? On the one side there is this cult thing about being a trio, and there aren't many power trios left. We started with Rush and Triumph, Motörhead and Venom, and we became one, which was great because three guys get along better than more (laughs). Fewer opinions, you always find a solution to a problem. Also, it was a challenge as just three guys making a lot of noise on stage and being a tight unit. Mike (Sifringer) is a great guitar player, but playing live or writing songs, we were limited by some of the things we could do with only one guitar. So, we talked about getting a second guitar player but it had to be the right guy. This time, Randy (Black / drums) was in the band, the songwriting was going well, we talked about it again and I said 'If we don't do it now, we might never do it.'"

"I was at a Kreator show with (new second guitarst) Damir (Eskic) and Mille (Petrozza) asked me 'Is this the new guitar player for Destruction?' I told him no, Damir was just a friend, but Mille knew he was a great guitarist and asked me why I didn't bring him into the band (laughs). I never thought about it before because Damir's been close to the Destruction family for years now, working with me on some outside projects and stuff.  So, the next day I called Damir and told him I had an interesting idea about a second guitarist for Destruction (laughs). It's one of the best decisions we've made in years; the live shows have been amazing, the chemistry is great. We all get along so well it's actually kind of scary. Sometimes changes are necessary but I think we needed to do this for the good of the band."

Watch for the Destruction feature story on BraveWords, coming soon.

Oder the album here, and watch the new clip below

Born To Perish was recorded in January and February 2019 with VO Pulver at Little Creek Studios in Switzerland and is the first Destruction album featuring Randy Black on the drums and new second guitar shredder Damir Eskic! .

The stunning cover art was created by acclaimed artist Gyula from Hungary, who has also created artwork for Annihilator, Grave Digger, Stratovarius, Tankard and many more.

Tracklist:

"Born To Perish"
"Inspired By Death"
"Betrayal"
"Rotten"
"Filthy Wealth"
"Butchered For Life"
"Tyrants Of The Netherworld"
"We Breed Evil"
"Fatal Flight 17"
"Ratcatcher"

Bonus:

"Hellbound"

"Inspired By Death" visualizer:

"Betrayal" video:

"Born To Perish" visualizer:

(Photo - Liné Hammett)