DESTRUCTION Frontman On New HEADHUNTER Album: 'I Feel Like I Am 20 Years Old' Again

DESTRUCTION bassist/vocalist Marcel "Schmier" Schirmer has brought his old band HEADHUNTER back to life. He originally founded the group at the end of the Eighties during his time away from DESTRUCTION and released three critically acclaimed records — "Parody of Life" (1990),"A Bizarre Gardening Accident" (1992) and "Rebirth" (1994) — with a lineup that included Jörg Michael (SAXON, STRATOVARIUS) on drums and Schmuddel on guitar. These albums were out of print for a long time and were going for extremely high prices on eBay. Now each of the LPs will be re-released through AFM Records on September 7 with a remastered sound and a new booklet with pictures, liner notes and lyrics.

Schmier comments: "Since years, we talked about bringing HEADHUNTER back to life and now we finally did it! The old HEADHUNTER records which were out of stock since a long time will be re-released as 'Nice Price' CDs with a remastered sound.

"A lot of fans asked me to reactivate this band during our shows with DESTRUCTION or via Internet, but by now it was impossible for me to make this happen because of the full schedule of DESTRUCTION. To avoid the horrible word 'selling off,' I took my time to prepare the HEADHUNTER re-releases carefully. Now, even the younger fans have the possibility to listen to the HEADHUNTER songs, which are thrashy indeed, but a little bit more melodic comparing to the stuff we do with DESTRUCTION. Something like: NWOBHM meets thrash!"

In addition to overseeing the HEADHUNTER reissues, Schmier has reassembled the group's original lineup and is planning to release a brand new album sometime in the spring.

Schmier explains: "As we prepared the re-master process, I rediscovered my relation to more melodic songs and at a single blow, I had lots of new ideas that do not match with DESTRUCTION. I never lost the contact with Jörg and Schmuddel, so I asked them if they are interested in doing new stuff. Their reaction was quite positive, so we are ready to resurrect the magic of the early Nineties! [Anyone who sees this as] just another dispensable reunion will be completely wrong. The main focus of everyone goes to our main bands, but with HEADHUNTER, we have the possibility to have fun with the music we grew up with and play without any stress and pressure. In the Nineties, the name HEADHUNTER stood for independent-minded metal and everyone who asks about the sense of this reunion will find the answer on our new record which will be packed with tons of hymns and neck-breakers! We promise!"

Schmier adds: "I feel like I am 20 years old...hehe - don't worry... I didn't take any drugs!"

Schmier had the following comments on the first three HEADHUNTER releases: "We did the first HEADHUNTER record, 'Parody of Life', right after my split with DESTRUCTION. I originally wrote some of the ideas for the DESTRUCTION album 'Cracked Brain', but after the split I used some of them for the HEADHUNTER album. Maybe, that's the reason why 'Parody of Life' is the hardest-sounding HEADHUNTER album so far!

"'A Bizzarre Gardening Accident' comes with a pretty non-typical metal cover. It's very diversified and includes hard-sounding elements as well as melodical ideas. The different ideas from Schmuddel and myself [coupled] with Jörg Michael's drum style formed the typical HEADHUNTER style — something between thrash, power and NWOBHM — metal!

"For me, 'Rebirth' is the most mellow HEADHUNTER album in terms of the sound and the songwriting. It's my favorite HEADHUNTER album. After all the years, the remastered version sounds really fresh. It kicks fucking ass!"