Destruction – The Curse of The Antichrist: Live In Agony

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This double live album, their first since 2002′s out-of-print Alive Devastation, was recorded at two shows over two years; the Wacken Open-Air Festival in 2007, and a headlining gig in Tokyo in 2009. The entire Wacken set, save Eternal Ban which is included from the Tokyo set instead, is present, in order but not consecutively. The difference in the two recordings, apart from Schmier’s mentions of the the location when addressing the crowd, which probably should have been removed to at least present the illusion of a complete show, is a slight lack of heaviness in the Tokyo recording. The Wacken recording is perfect, with a touch more bass and heavier guitars, which relegates the Tokyo recording only as low as near-perfect; there’s really not a lot to choose without listening closely. But the Wacken set also features all of the main points of interest. The Alliance of Hellhoundz, the studio version of which was packed with guest singers on the Inventor of Evil album, features guest vocalists Bobby Ellsworth of Overkill, Communic‘s Oddleif Stensland, Tom Such of Sodom and Rage‘s Peter Wagner, while the closing selection of tracks includes past Destruction drummers Oliver Kaiser and Sven Vormann in addition to current drummer Marc Reign for a medley of three tracks, including Thrash Till Death, which makes its selection from the Tokyo set rather redundant, then a third ex-drummer, Tommy Sandmann appears on vocals for Total Destaster. The set was also filmed (and Mad Butcher was released on the official Wacken 2007 DVD), so perhaps a DVD of the full set will appear at some stage. The outstanding quality of the recording certainly deserves it.

Written by Andy Lye
More: Live Albums, Quick.Play Reviews, Thrash Metal, Destruction