Sentence of Death

Sentence of Death is the debut release from German thrash metal band Destruction, an EP issued through Steamhammer in November 1984. It arrived a few months before their first full-length, Infernal Overkill, which followed in 1985, so it works as the opening statement of a career that has stretched across four decades and well over a dozen studio albums.

The record is often cited as an influential thrash release, and its blend of thrash with black metal leanings helped shape the style people came to call "black thrash". Metal Forces, reviewing it in 1985, singled out the lead guitar work as some of the best heard in black metal. If you want to hear where Destruction began, and how raw and sharp-edged German thrash could sound in its early days, this is the place to start.