Destruction/Onslaught, The Underworld, London, 17 November

[swizzlenuts]

Thrash, beer, and violence were the overall theme of the night.

The evening of Destruction and Onslaught starts off slow with a few Ales at a nearby pub. After walking into the venue, Onslaught was on stage playing some head banging thrash riffs. While I am not familiar with the band - apart from a few songs - they put on a good show with tons of energy, and sounded tight as hell. The sound during was clean and it was easy to hear everything going on, making them even more enjoyable. After Onslaught was finished the crowd started to get a bit thicker as the time for Destruction got closer.



I made sure I had a fresh pint in my hands when Destruction came on, because beer and thrash metal mesh together perfectly at gigs, or anywhere for that matter. I anxiously waited for the band to hit he stage. Finally, the kings of thrash came on, playing 'Curse The Gods', and almost instantly the mosh pit started, rarely ceasing the entire show. The sound during was good most of the time, but the guitar could have been higher in the mix. The only time it became muddy was when an overly aggressive part came on. The problem was probably because I was closer to the bass amp instead of the guitar amp; however, this slight issue did not make the set any worse. The vocals sounded exactly as they do on the album; moreover, the guitaring and drumming were spot on as well. Marcel (the bassist) and Mike (the guitarist) had so much intensity and energy in the songs that the mosh pit’s aggressiveness gradually increased throughout. They continued playing quite a bit of old songs and a few newer songs. The definite highlight of the night is when they played 'Total Disaster'. They band stood off to the side of the stage, played the intro, then came on and annihilated us with the riffs. The crowd went absolutely nuts when the song came on, and Destruction continued to feed off of the crowd, making the entire night that much better. Do not miss Destruction if they come near you; the neck wrecking riffs and incredible energy is something any metal head will not want to miss.


The tracks I remember them playing were the following:
Mad Butcher
Bestial Invasion
Curse the Gods
Nailed to the Cross
Deathtrap
The Butcher Strikes Back
Total Disaster




Images courtesy of destruction.de.

[Russell]

Destruction have released the following statement after the recent tour of the UK.

"All three bands really want to thank all of the fans who turned out to support us on our recent tour of the UK., but we also wish with hindsight, to apologise to some of you that you had to see us in circumstances that were not ideal, at some venues which sometimes should not have even been included on the schedule. This is solely down to the work undertaken by the booking agent we opted to use, Jon Knight of HAGP Music, and we would like to draw the attention of all other bands and the fans to this person because we are most disappointed that charlatans like this continue to be in positions of power in the industry we all love – that of Metal!"

Destruction frontman Schmier adds – "After 24 years of playing Metal on a professional level, working with this Concert agency was the worst and most unprofessional experience we’ve ever had in Europe! I wanna thank all the faithful fans that made this tour a success. Our loyal crew & our brothers in Onslaught and Amenti who suffered the same circumstances as well, (Sorry mates!!) but, we all really deserve better than this HAGP Music guy, surely?! No catering on most of the gigs, no posters & advertisement for the shows and the technical rider, which we did send to the UK several months ago, all just seemed to have evaporated or been ignored!"

"Some of this tour was an insult to METAL! A bloody fuckin´ shame, but because the fans had waited so fuckin´ long, we did not want to disappoint any of you. I really hope that the of the lack of professional equipment at some of the venues will not harm any of the bands in the future or take away from the fact that we know many of you supported us to the hilt on this tour. WE found solutions to go on and did not lose a single show on this chaotic horror trip! The replacement gig (Nottingham, Old Angel) for the cancelled show (in Liverpool) came with local assistance and from within the touring family, not from HAGP Music, who then decided also to stop talking to our management and ignoring our email requests for assistance?"

Realistically, several shows on this tour should never have been booked in the first place. HAGP Music didn’t care about contracts, venues, the fans, the bands, not even his local guys who were making the best of it sometimes. To have shows announced as being cancelled without our knowledge, to not have the right equipment or have even researched the venues at all etc., caused dreadful tumult to everyone on the tour and required us ourselves to go on to Metal Forums telling people that the gigs would go ahead. How unprofessional is that? Without the long held experience of our combined band and crew and the great support shown by the ONSLAUGHT and Amenti blokes, this tour wouldn’t have survived! I publicly thank every single one!"

"It’s scary how losers like this guy, Jon Knight, can be in charge of representing us to the fans. I’m posting this, to WARN OTHER BANDS, DO NOT work with this liar! He calls himself a concert agent, but he is no more than a shady amateur!"

"Thanks again to the fantastic UK & Irish FANS; ONSLAUGHT, AMENTI and the locals that made the gigs possible! METAL doesn’t need this guy, and I can only discourage everybody to not work with him if you don’t wanna lose your ass! Be warned!!!"

[Eerie Isolation]

Was a good gig, but the organizers got in a tight situation :P