DESTRUCTION's SCHMIER Says Drummer RANDY BLACK Has Same 'Thrash Swing' As DAVE LOMBARDO

Music Frenzy recently conducted an interview with vocalist/bassist Schmier of German thrash legends DESTRUCTION. You can listen to the entire chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On DESTRUCTION's current record label, Nuclear Blast:

Schmier: "I can't think of a better label at least for me as a metal musician. I think it's the most competent label, the best people working there. I've been on different labels, and on this label, the people really take care of all the bands. They take it seriously. They let you do their stuff. They help you, but not try to change the band. That's lovely. It's not easy times for the music scene. Stuff is changing everywhere. I hope Nuclear Blast will be the label that I can finish my career with in some years."

On how DESTRUCTION maintains their core sound:

Schmier: "I think if you love what you do, it's like everything in life. Do it with dedication and do it with passion. That's what we do. We love music, we love thrash, we love metal. We still have fun doing this. I think you can hear this on the album."

On the German heavy metal scene:

Schmier: "We have the most heavy metal festivals in the world. That's a crazy achievement, but on the other side, we have the most conservative media scene. That means that metal is not played on the radio here. Metal is not played on TV. It's really difficult to get any heavy metal going on in the mainstream. We have a really strong scene, a lot of metal fans and festivals, but the mass media still ignores metal here. It's fucking weird. But I can't complain. The scene is really strong. We also have pretty good physical releases here. Many people are still buying CDs and vinyl here, it's great."

On the contributions of new second guitarist Damir Eskic:

Schmier: "We could write this album with full force. The knowledge of having two guitars for the album and live, it was great fun doing all the harmonies and the double solos and guitar attacks on the album. He's such a fantastic player and a great guy. I wished we would have done this a little bit earlier, but sometimes you have to wait for the right moment to introduce a second guitar and a new guy. For us, it was the right moment now. It really feels great. We've played a lot of live shows together already as a four-piece. It really adds a new dimension to the band having a second guitar again."

On new drummer Randy Black (ex-PRIMAL FEAR):

Schmier: "He actually contributed some drumbeats and some patterns. This is the first time in many years that the drummer also wrote some patterns that we basically used first. Then, we created the songs on top of the drum patterns. It was very interesting. We never worked like this before. Randy's a very experienced guy. He's a very skilled player, so he was very happy to contribute. It really makes a difference on some songs. Also what he has and not everybody has, he has a swing in his playing. He has this thrash swing that [former SLAYER drummer] Dave Lombardo has. When he plays fast and relentless and brutal, he still has a certain swing in his playing. That's a gift that not everybody has."

On how DESTRUCTION's current four-piece lineup has helped expand their sound on their new studio album, "Born To Perish":

Schmier: "It was just the time to do something else. I felt like if we don't do the four-piece now, I will be miserable when I die that I missed out on something. I'm a guitar freak; I'm a fucking bass player, but I love fucking guitars. It bothered me the last years that we could never go full-force on the albums. When you're a trio, you always have to hold back a bit. When you play live, we're not using any backing tracks. You have to compose a song for a trio. Now we could finally shoot out of all cannons again, and we could compose an album that has no limit with the guitars. I really enjoy that. It sounds as good live as on the album."

"Born To Perish" was released on August 9 via Nuclear Blast. The disc was recorded in January and February 2019 with V.O. Pulver (PRO-PAIN, BURNING WITCHES, NERVOSA) at Little Creek Studios in Switzerland.