A… Read Full Bio ↴Destructor is an American power/thrash band from Cleveland, Ohio.
Auburn president Bill Peters' first encounter with Destructor was seeing the band perform their very first 'live' show in 1984 at The Pop Shop, a club managed by Chris Andrews and located beneath the historic Cleveland Agora. Already working with bands such as Breaker and Shok Paris at the time, Peters fell in love with the band's untamed energy, great songwriting, wild spirit and charismatic stage presence. The Cleveland metal scene was dominated at the time with 'technically' great sounding bands. Many questioned why Peters would choose to work with a band such as Destructor and how he could possibly record and capture the band's energy in the studio. After all, Destructor were considered to be one of the area's most 'anti-technical' of bands at the time. Despite the rough edges and regardless of the criticisms, Peters had a vision that Destructor could develop into something special and saw something in them most of his industry peers did not. He took a chance and moved forward, signing Destructor to his Auburn label in 1984. The band entered Suma Recording Studios to begin recording their debut album with engineer Paul Hamann at the helm. Destructor's "Maximum Destruction" album, released the following year in 1985 on Auburn Records, is considered by many to be an underground metal classic and quickly silenced the critics. It became Auburn's biggest seller and catapulted the band to international success in the metal underground. The album was licensed to Roadrunner Records in Europe several months after the initial release and later reissued by Listenable Records in 1999. Destructor's crushing 'live' performances in the area, both headlining and opening for national acts such as Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth, became legendary. The band received rave reviews and full features in prestigious metal publications like Metal Forces, Kerrang!, Hit Parader and Metal Hammer. In 1987, Destructor entered Beachwood Studios with engineer Jim DeMain to begin recording their second album "Decibel Casualties". The album, along with Jag Panzer's "Chain Of Command", was going to help launch a joint venture between Auburn and major label Island Records. Unfortunately, both projects never saw the light of day. Several months into the Destructor recording sessions, bass player Dave Iannicca was innocently murdered on January 1, 1988. The incident devastated both the band and Auburn president Bill Peters, who had been a good friend of Dave's over the years. Coping with losing a 'family' member was very difficult for everyone to overcome. Destructor needed time to recover from the tragedy and were in no condition to begin playing music again. Peters struggled with his emotions and his dealings with Island Records, who took more of a business stance on the whole situation. Peters eventually decided to walk away from the entire 3-year label deal. It was a tough decision but the right one he felt to make at the time.
Over the next several years, Destructor struggled to keep things going. They went through several bass players trying to move forward but the chemistry continued to be missing. During these years of uncertainty, the band did manage to go into the studio and finish one song from the "Decibel Casualties" sessions, "Storm Of Steel", for Auburn's 1990 "Heavy Artillery" compilation. The compilation was dedicated to Dave Iannicca. Unfortunately, the revolving door of bass players continued to take its toll, forcing the band into hiatus in the early 90's. Destructor resurfaced in 1999 when Listenable Records reissued the "Maximum Destruction" album. Inspired by the rejuvenated interest from the reissue, Destructor entered the studio in 2000 to begin recording new material. After hearing the final mixes, Listenable expressed no interest in releasing the album and decided to drop the band from the label. Bass player frustrations continued to haunt the band and the album was never released. A song from those sessions, "The Triangle", appeared on the Heavy, oder was!? "Metal Crusade-Vol. IV" compilation.
Finally in 2002, Destructor connected with Boulder bass player Jamie Walters. Although several years younger than the band members, Jamie had been a long time Destructor fan and had seen the band on a number of occasions over the years. Both parties hit it off immediately and Destructor were back on track. Jamie was the missing piece to the puzzle the band had searched for so long and hard. Then in January of 2003, Destructor and Auburn officially reunited. The two parties had been talking for nearly a year and had been unofficially working together since the summer of 2002. Peters challenged the band to write new material and the band delivered with an amazing batch of originals that followed in the same tradition as the "Maximum Destruction" album.
Destructor entered 609 Recording with engineer Don Depew (Breaker) in the Spring of 2003 to record "Sonic Bullet". The EP, released in the Summer, includes 5 new recordings ("Sonic Bullet", "Heavy Artillery", "Silent Enemy", "Blackest Night", "Master Of The Universe"), two tracks from the previously unreleased 2000 sessions ("G-Force", "The Triangle") and two 'live' tracks recorded in 2002 at the Classic Metal Festival ("Pounding Evil") and at the band's opening set for Slayer in Cleveland ("Iron Curtain"). The Summer of 2003 has seen a lot of activity from Destructor on the concert front. They performed at two major festivals, the BW&BK "6-Pack Weekend" in Cleveland (headlined by Candlemass and Trouble) and the Bang Your Head in Balingen, Germany (headlined by Twisted Sister and Dio), and opened the Iron Maiden/Dio/Motörhead Cleveland tour date. The band are currently finishing up writing new material and plan to enter the studio next year to begin recording a new full-length.
Pat Rabid - guitar
Jamie Boulder - bass
Dave Overkill - guitar/vocals
Matt Flammable - drums
Maximum Destruction
Destructor Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Carrying a megadeath hunk
Of blackened steel
Bring forth megaton
Elimination
Because of their need
For power causing war
Ride on
The fiery winds
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Holocaust of damnation
The lyrics to Destructor's song Maximum Destruction talk about the implication of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. The singer in the song is carrying a "megadeath hunk of blackened steel" which refers to the atomic bombs. The "fiery winds" refer to the wave of heat and force that destroyed everything in their path. The lines "Bring forth megaton elimination because of their need for power causing war" speak about how the use of atomic bombs is a result of nations competing for power, which leads to destruction.
Line by Line Meaning
Onward through the sky
Moving ahead through the air with a sense of purpose and direction.
Carrying a megadeath hunk
Moving with a large mass of lethal substance or tool capable of causing significant damage.
Of blackened steel
Referring to the color of the material carried and indicating a certain degree of hardness and strength.
Bring forth megaton
Calling upon a high-destructive capacity bomb to unleash maximum devastation on the target.
Elimination
Getting rid of something or someone completely in order to attain total victory.
Because of their need
Pointing out a particular cause or motivation for an action in progress, which stems from an internal drive or external factor.
For power causing war
Explaining a major reason why conflicts arise between nations or groups, which is often the desire to gain or maintain a certain level of control or influence over resources, territories, people, or ideologies.
Death screams
The sound of agony and despair expressed by those who are dying, wounded, or affected by the violence and destruction around them.
Ride on
Continuing to move or progress despite obstacles, challenges, or risks.
The fiery winds
The intense and destructive force generated by the detonation of explosive devices, which can spread harm and devastation over a wide area.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Referring to the two Japanese cities that were targeted and destroyed by US atomic bombs near the end of World War II, causing massive casualties and long-term effects on the survivors and the region.
Holocaust of damnation
Evoking a sense of massive suffering and loss caused by an event or process that is utterly devastating and ruinous.
Contributed by Oliver M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Ronald van Bruggen
How the hell is it possible you don't like these guys. This album was and still is an awesome cultalbum. Of course we can't all like these guys, but the quality of this album is beyond discussion.!!
Andy Kohler
This rocked. I haven't heard this since Destructor was on the radio late at night on a local metal show.. They were hilarious, totally irreverent and the dj was getting mad. She played Maximum Destruction and it blew my mind!
coolay coolipetor
To była kapela, pamietam dostałem od kumpla kasetę, zajechałem ją na maxa, zdążyłem zrobić ze 3 razy kopię, też pocinali :(, szkoda, że te czasy już nie wrocą:(
LatexCult
this awesome band bring me so much great high school memories \m/ \m/
Koko Ricky
Darkthrone's newer work strongly resembles the latter half of this song. Really great early speed/thrash.
HELL77
what a fuckin great album, i first got this record in 1993,i was 15 and crazy about thrash ,also right about this time i started to get a lot into death metal,it is funny because it was albums like this that started a phase in my life where all i want it to do was to listen to heavy and fast shit..all these years ,im 32 now and i still love this album to death..and i still want to hear heavy and fast shit, and i know now i will till i'm 80 maximun fuckin destruction greetings from lima-peru
robson nascimento
muito boa a banda alemã old school thrash metal '80
Ronald van Bruggen
Fantastic song ! Love their album a lot !
Gabriel Flamand
Excelente banda!!! de lo mejor de esos años!!!
Roberto MR
this album is great. too bad they are not well known