There are days when you get a flashback to times long ago. I had one of them just the other week when Cleveland’s DESTRUCTOR somehow appeared on my mind. This resulted in another return to the old times of Metal, listening to the band’s first album “Maximum Destruction”, among other classics, and still thinking that this album kicked serious asses. A timeless Power Metal smasher full of energy, somewhere on the edge of Thrash Metal. I guess it was pure coincidence that two days later I got an offer to review “Decibel Casualties” here… Despite the fact that I always liked “Maximum Destruction”, I somehow lost track of DESTRUCTOR. Maybe it’s due to the fact that they never were a top name of the genre and disbanded soon after the tragic death of bass player Dave “Holocaust” Iannica who was stabbed on new year’s day 1988. Thus they left a legacy of one great album, a bunch of demo tapes and the anthem ‘Storm Of Steel’ on the famous tape compilation “Heavy Artillery” back then. Of course I knew that the remaining three members Dave “Overkill” Just (vocals and guitar), Pat “Rabid” Wolowiecki (guitar) and Matt “Flammable” Schindelar (drums) restarted DESTRUCTOR with a new bass player and released some more albums, I heard one or another new song but none of them really hit me hard. Thus I lowered my expectations beforehand. And my expectations were overachieved due to the sheer power and quality of “Decibel Casualties”, named like an old demo of the band. In addition, it turned out to be an album that is as DESTRUCTOR as possible. From the first notes of the programmatic opener ‘Restore Chaos’, the old veterans (meanwhile without Pat Wolowiecki) prove that they still know how to swing hammer and axe. They even sped up a bit in comparison to the old days, but it fits them well. This album delivers 35 minutes of purest Metal that will surely please any old geezer like me who loves that classic Power Metal of the 1980s. These guys ‘Keep The Faith’ and drive the ‘Metal Spike Deep’ into the face. DESTRUCTOR are ‘Metal Till Death’ (lyrically to me the most ridiculous tune on the album since I can’t stand all those typical Metal clichés at all – Frank) and if you are as well, check out “Decibel Casualties”. For more, visit www.facebook.com/destructormetal or www.puresteel-records.com while I give the album another run.