DESTRUCTION · Release From Agony (Re-Release 2022) | BLACK LP

Black 180g vinyl, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover, insert, new 2-sided poster, mastered for vinyl by Patrick W. Engel at Temple of Disharmony, original 1987 sound. Limited to 500 copies.

Background information about 'Release From Agony (Re-Release 2022)'

Destruction didn't just help build German thrash — they poured the concrete, swung the sledgehammer, and then kicked the whole damn thing down. "Release from Agony" is the record where the band stopped being a promising young wrecking crew and became something genuinely unhinged. Recorded in 1987, this is thrash pushed past its own breaking point, technical without ever turning sterile, furious without ever losing its head.

What hits you first is the sheer density of the riffing. Mike Sifringer and Harry Wilkens lock into these labyrinthine, jagged rhythm patterns that feel like they're constantly about to snap, while Schmier's bass snarls underneath and Oliver Kaiser's drumming is a full-body assault. There's a progressive streak here that most thrash bands of the era wouldn't have dared touch — odd time signatures, tempo shifts that come out of nowhere, songs that refuse to settle into the verse-chorus comfort zone. It's aggressive music for people who like their violence with a little bit of brains attached.

And then there's the title track, a sprawling, doom-laced epic that feels like the whole record collapsing in on itself in slow motion. It's the kind of song that reminds you why "Release from Agony" still gets talked about decades later. This 2025 High Roller reissue brings back the original 1987 sound, mastered for vinyl by Patrick W. Engel at Temple of Disharmony, so every razor-sharp edge and every rumbling low end lands exactly the way it did on first pressing. If you missed this the first time around, now's your chance to feel it properly.

For fans of:
Kreator, Sodom, Tankard, Exumer, Holy Moses

Track listing

A1. Beyond Eternity
A2. Release from Agony
A3. Dissatisfied Existence
A4. Sign of Fear
A5. Unconscious Ruins
B1. Incriminated
B2. Our Oppression
B3. Survive to Die
B4. Reject Emotions

Manufacturer: High Roller Records, Bertolt-Brecht-Str. 1a, 08412 Werdau, Germany, Contact: www.hrrecords.de