Review by Vladimir on November 19, 2023.

Back when I was a teenager and still discovering obscure bands in the oldschool heavy and thrash metal section, one of the band’s that I remember discovering was Destructor with their first album Maximum Destruction. It has been a while since the last time I listened to any of those thrash metal classics from my teenage years, including that album in particular, then all of a sudden, I see that a new album by Destructor is coming out in November which had me like “Holy shit! For real?”. That got me instantly curious to see what it would be like to revisit an old relic from the past, so for today’s review, I will be covering Destructor’s fifth full-length album Blood, Bone, and Fire, due to be released on November 24th via Shadow Kingdom Records. 

The flames are already burning high and loud with the opening title 'Blood, Bone, and Fire', rocking out with heavy metal riffs, double-bass drums and Dave Overkill’s dirty vocals. This is not only a great start and an absolute banger, but an overkill of a song that dominates with double-bass drumming and even reverse blast beats during verses, which gives an extra power to the song and a great deal of promise that you will be hearing more kickass stuff along the way. Although some would say that an already strong impression from the beginning basically means that the rest is definitely going to suck, however with this album, that is not the case. From start to finish, no song ever marks the point where the album drops its ball, basically each track is strength of steel all the way through from the first riff to the very last one. This album practically dominates with the “heavy as fuck” songwriting with sick heavy metal riffs, wall-breaking drumming and solid vocal performance by Dave Overkill. The songs are wild and loud all the way through, especially the fourth track 'Never Surrender' which has such a simple yet banger thrash riff that strikes like a hammer on the anvil. On top of all the bone breaking and absolute murder, we do get some glimpses of catchy mid-tempo heavy metal riffing, appearing on tracks 'Depths Of Insanity' and 'Hammering The Steel', both of which rock out with all their glory. Other interesting inclusions I would like to point out is the epic and powerful instrumental track 'The Calling' which manages to absolutely crush everything that stands in its way with its total of 2 minutes and 16 seconds runtime. Just as the album begins on a very high note, it ends on an even higher note with the closing track 'Dominate', which has some powerful dual guitar melodies in the style of Judas Priest, which are backed up by a rocking bass line and double-bass drumming, while ending with the same whammy bar intro that started the album. I can guarantee that each track on this album will make you lose your shit completely, especially since I haven’t heard anything so heavy and hammering as this album. The best way I could describe the overall energy and the aggression of this album would be “Maximum Destruction” (yes, it’s a pun intended) or perhaps the last two tracks 'Hammering The Steel' and 'Dominate'. Another thing that this album does great is the badass presentation with the cover art that depicts a stonewall dungeon with spikes, chains, hooks, dismembered body parts and bones, focusing on a nude female slave with her hands chained and witnessing a four-armed barbaric figure with an iron mask covering his eyes, pushing two victims into the fiery pit. I believe that if you dare to try and make another cover art that would represent the overall musical output of this album, I don’t think you can get better than this. Blood, Bone, and Fire indeed! Production-wise, the album is just killer sounding all the way through with the kind of guitar tone and drum sound that are on the edge of causing an earthquake. 

I have to say that this is one killer album that left me speechless from the moment I pressed “play” and you can tell that I was amazed with what I have just witnessed. Revising this old relic with a new craft turned out to be a successful mission that I 100% did not regret, and I am sure as hell glad to have taken my time and checked it out. Oldschool heavy and thrash metal fans, especially longtime Destructor fans, should not miss this album when it is released, because otherwise you will end up just like the victims on the cover art. 

Rating: 9.2 out of 10