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Destruction > Inventor of Evil > Reviews
Destruction - Inventor of Evil

Detector of Sin - 61%

Soul_Sucker_666, January 17th, 2024
Written based on this version: 2005, CD, AFM Records (Digibook, Enhanced, Limited edition)

Destruction is my least favourite band among the Teutonic Big Four of thrash. I consider them rather mediocre compared to the other three bands. While they have released a few great albums, the majority of their discography is, at best, mediocre. 'Inventor of Evil' is the last album I enjoyed at some extend, and the last time I truly cared about a new release from them. Despite always giving their new releases a listen, I consistently find that my lack of interest in them is justified.

Except for 'Eternal Devastation', I find it challenging to consider any of Destruction's albums as masterpieces. While most albums until “Inventor of evil”, excluding outliers like 'The Least Successful Human Cannonball,' showcase great moments, they are often balanced with some less engaging or mediocre sections. The early albums suffer from production and sound issues, whereas the later ones lack consistency, featuring both standout tracks and fillers. The albums after “Inventor of evil” tend to be somewhat uninspired. Despite these criticisms, when Destruction performs a best-of set list live, they emerge as one of the most metal and thrilling bands to watch. It's a pure delight for fans of true thrash, operating as a metal best-of experience in itself.

Inventor of Evil, much like its predecessors, boasts both stellar moments and filler tracks. Despite the opening track's lengthy and somewhat unnecessary intro, it evolves into an outstanding thrash metal song with a fantastic riff and an overall headbanging quality. The true highlight of the album is 'The Calm Before the Storm,' which deviates from the typical thrash metal style. This track, reminiscent of something from Headhunter (Schmier's other band), exudes rock-ish and melodic vibes. Despite its departure from the usual thrash sound, it leaves a lasting impression, particularly thanks to the groovy and catchy refrain riff. 'Twist of Fate' is another standout, a catchy and short track that grabbed my attention from the very first listen. Life's a bitch indeed.

Regrettably, most of the other songs in the album lack a single remarkable, mind-blowing riff. There is no standout section that truly captures attention. The musicianship, while serviceable, remains basic and standard, lacking any extraordinary elements. The solos, while not particularly amusing or memorable, are passable but fall into the realm of typicality. The vocals adhere to the familiar Schmier style, with occasional double or triple vocal lines, but fail to deliver truly outstanding moments throughout the album. The refrains are mostly forgettable and conventional, lacking creativity or originality.

'Inventor of Evil' doesn't come across as a particularly aggressive or fast-paced album. It has its moments of speed and mid-tempo beats, but it doesn't establish itself as a furious offering. Additionally, there's a subtle pseudotechnical feel at times, with riffs aiming for technicality but not achieving a genuinely technical quality.

The 'Alliance of Hellboundz' seems to function as a tribute to metal music. While I can appreciate a few tracks with a similar theme, I generally find the concept of these songs somewhat cheap and hollow. Most of them come off as cringy, especially when multiple guests are involved, resulting in a somewhat chaotic composition that feels more like a fun project than a serious artistic endeavour. This holds true for this particular song as well, despite featuring some elite guests contributing a line or two. In the end, I find myself preferring the version with only Schmier.

The production is clear, yet it leans towards a somewhat modern and digital sound. I can't say I'm particularly fond of the album's sound, which, however, is somewhat characteristic of newer Destruction releases. It's heavy enough but doesn't quite reach the level of being super heavy. The cover art would be genuinely appealing if it weren't for the overly digital aspect, which, personally, is a significant turn-off for me. Nevertheless, I appreciate the return of the mad butcher, offering a certain level of brutality and featuring nice colours.

In general, the album is not trash; it's quite enjoyable overall, but it doesn't rise above being just an okay album. Not all tracks are equally great, and there are some filler tracks or parts. While it's not the worst Destruction album, it marks the point where I found myself less engaged. Since then, subsequent albums seem to maintain a consistent lack of inspiration, featuring maybe one or two tracks I might like, leaving me overall uninterested.

Ultimately, 'Inventor of Evil' is not a must-listen, unless you are a diehard fan. On the other hand, it's not truly subpar either but rather falls into the realm of mediocrity. If you haven't heard of them before, there are other albums that are must-listens, and you might want to explore those first before considering this one.

About an inch harder than the last discharge - 73%

autothrall, March 7th, 2011

Continuing the streak of 21s century productivity, Inventor of Evil once again saw Destruction adorned in their modern studio ethics, with an effective polish that mirrors The Antichrist. 2003's Metal Discharge had of course been a letdown after that masterpiece, but this album summoned froth a little more diversity in its composition, and ultimately squeaks by in its overall quality. That's not to say that there aren't a few mishaps along the way, or that Inventor of Evil is built of the same fiber as any of their classics, but enough happens to hold off the wolves for another few years, and it seems that, beyond their miserable 90s output, an underwhelming Destruction is still a force worth some consideration.

"Soul Collector" erupts with brick heavy guitar rhythms and bass that bounces right up against it like seal infantry assaulting a shore, another down-pitched vocal intro that honestly doesn't add much to the flavor of the track or the album, but it eventually becomes a straight up onslaught with a few segues of curving, surgical guitar. "The Defiance Will Remain" does a lot less for me, and when the song title is predictably spat forth late in the chorus, it feels all too similar to "Nailed to the Cross", albeit briefly. Then the band launches into the most astonishing, awkward cut on the album, "The Alliance of Hellhoundz", which is like a USA for Africa supergroup of European metal musicians, only instead of performing "We Are the World" they're thrashing out over some admittedly average guitars that do very little to highlight the individual talents the band have brought on board.

Seriously, there are like 20 guest vocalists on this track, and they're each dispensed in a few lines that mesh together into Sifringer's leads and Schmier's guidance. A few of them are distinct, like Messiah of Candlemass or Peavy of Rage in his lower range, but so many of them are lost in the woodwork. Some like Doro just sound bad, and then you've got a few barked or growled lines from Speed (Soilwork) or Shagrath (Dimmu Borgir) that just don't stand out. I also barely noticed Biff Byford, Paul Di Anno and Mark Osegueda to my disappointment. An interesting concept, this, but you know what might have pepped up the entire album? If they had spread out the guest vocals among separate tracks. Same level of gimmick, but less overwhelming. At the very least I came out of this wanting to hear Messiah Marcolin front an entire German thrash album... (more thrash than Memento Mori, at least).

Once the smoke clears, the album is left to sweep up the remains, and it does so admirably through a few of the better songs, strategically located right in the center of the proceedings, like the mid-paced but focused "No Mans Land" or the thundering belligerence that carries "The Chosen Ones". "Dealer of Hostility", "Under Surveillance" and the playful "Twist of Fate" also have a few choice riffs between them, but the overall construction is not as strong. There are a few bonus tracks including a Schmier-only version of "The Alliance of Hellhoundz" which does not spare us from the mediocrity of the music, and also a by the numbers rendition of "We Are the Road Crew" by Motörhead, which sounds glossy and knife-sharp in the Germans' hands, but doesn't really add much value here.

Packaged with another cover homage to the band's 'Mad Butcher' mascot, Inventor of Evil makes for another grisly, attractive addition to your discography. Functional enough as a head jerking, angry thrash dosage, but rather fruitless in terms of the memorable choruses and riffs that paved the band's road through the 80s or earlier 21st century. You could skip this entire album and not be the worse for wear, but at least half of the tracks deliver the neck breaking you seek, just don't go seeking this out for any 'curiosity' about their 'party' song. I think we already had enough grandstanding self-glorification with "Thrash Till Death" to last us a lifetime, never mind "Metal Discharge" or "The Alliance of Hellhoundz". We get it already. You're back. You're happy. We're happy to have you. Stop celebrating and kick our asses like "Mad Butcher" and "Total Desaster"! This is a trend I really hope the band will drop for future releases.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Not the best but still going strong - 87%

CHRISTI_NS_ANITY8, February 26th, 2009

After the 1999 reunion with Schmier at the vocals once again, Destruction seems even more dominating and destructive. All Hell Breaks Loose and The Antichrist displayed a terrific power demonstration by a band that definitely reconquered the long sought after thrash metal dominance, while the always good Metal Discharge went back in production to be more bounded to a certain 80s influence, as the songs lost a bit of anger but just a bit. With this 2005 album, Inventor of Evil, the first thing we can notice is the production that returned to high levels even without being the extremely massive one on those two albums I mentioned before.

“Soul Collector” welcomes us with a fucking heavy mid-paced part that lasts for few moments. There’s just the time to warm up and the restart is behind the corner. The riffs are raw and massive as the very first vocal parts enter: the time has never passed for Schmier and his childish tonality is always there to disturb our dreams. The blind fury of the band reaches the limit during the fast chorus in which the drummer puts out few blast beats! Unbelievable. “The Defiance Will Remain” is nothing but another brick on the teeth. The tempo never slows down and Mike is just relentless in putting out so many riffs. Sometimes they are even a bit dissonant with a progressive touch. Don’t be surprised because the band experimented this also in the past and this is actually very good to give variety without losing anything in impact, even during the more mid-paced sections.

The atmosphere is particularly gloomy, also because sometimes we can meet distorted vocals on the background as “Alliance of the Hellhoundz” enters with all its guests on vocals. The progression is a mid-paced one, throwing more importance on the groove. At the end, here what it’s important is to give the right evidence to the guests. So, we can find good performances by Biff (Saxons), Speed (Soilwork) and Shagrath (Dimmu Borgir) among the others. The song itself is nothing particular and at times the vocals don’t suit at all, being a bit forced. To increase the intensity we can find truly detonations like “No Man’s Land” or the punkish “Twist of Fate”.

“The Calm before the Storm” contains dark arpeggios and sudden restarts. The chorus is always quite catchy as the intensity remains unvaried and I want to remark the very good bass drums work here. “The Chosen Ones” continues on the same style and the bass drums work is again devastating. The structures are quite varied without being astounding and sometimes the riffs are not that memorable. The choruses tend to be similar but the viciousness here almost deletes these imperfections. “Dealer of Hostility” is the classic filler here, being a quite mediocre attempt to modern thrash. The tempo is slower and the riffs are always the same.

“Under Surveillance” displays again a great drums work but we remain just on decent levels. Surely the first two songs on this album are the best so far. A more modern touch is audible on “Seeds of Hate”, especially on the riffs but it seems that the intensity is going down. “Killing Machine” adds more dynamism; the tempo is again faster and convincing. Mike is the monster that puts out all those riffs. “Memories of Nothingness” ends this album in a quite calm way, without forgetting the always dark touch. All things considered, the first songs are the best if you love Destruction. The rest is not bad but not at the same levels of the previous efforts. Few parts sound a bit tired even if we must give credit to this band for being always with ous, even after 25 years of metal.

Still thrashing onwards - 86%

The_Boss, April 2nd, 2008

Thrash metal is possibly the greatest of all the sub genres in metal and Destruction are one of the biggest names in the thrash scene. Well, while they are quite popular they are often forgotten amongst other giants like Kreator and Sodom in the German scene and Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer in the American scene. Either way Destruction are legendary thrashers since ’82 playing it true all the way through. Their latest offering Inventor of Evil seems to be a worthy addition to their legacy thrashing about with a dirty and raw throw back to their early days but with a better slickened production and a more modern take on riffs and such.

Fortunately though they haven’t veered of course like some other greats like Exodus and Overkill but at least the songs here are actually quality thrash which goes to show who really knows how to rock. The Destruction gang starts off with Soul Collector with some gritty vocals and riffing that gets things going but it doesn’t quite pick up until The Defiance Will Remains rumbles up and then the thrashing starts. An excellent song with great vocal performance both lead and back up and some catchy and vicious riffing and thrashy solo. This continues with a pattern throughout the rest of the album with some excellent songs that make me think Destruction are probably the best of the Teutonic 3 songs, well at least now they are, with headbanging numbers like No Man’s Land, Under Surveillance and The Chosen Ones will surely snap you neck in seconds of the opening.

The musicianship as always with these guys is great, the drumming is powerful and doesn’t let up as it should being the highlight in a couple songs like in Twist of Fate or Killing Machine with raging power it overwhelms you and pummels your ears! The bass makes itself noticed in a few songs but nothing too big or noticeable which could change since thrash bands with powerful bass lines work perfectly but that’s not more than a minor complaint. The vocals are vicious as ever spitting line over line with venom and ferocity.

It seems that the approach Destruction have taken with a more modern production attempt and allowing its natural evolution to take place. Inventor of Evil is certainly a worthy addition to the legendary discography of Destruction, but while it is a great album it probably could have been better falling in certain areas to lack of diversity or originality but in the end it’s a fun thrashing album that does its job in keeping the listener entertained and reminding you that Destruction still knows how to fucking thrash.

Inventor Of Evil - 90%

enemyofgod, November 11th, 2005

The tried and true old school German thrash masters Destruction are back with yet another release amidst a slew of new releases coming at us every which way. With this latest releast Inventor of Evil,I am happy to announce our beloved Germanic Butcherers are back and definitely still in their prime!

Ever since the band reunited with long time vocalist Marcel 'Schmier' Schirmer in 1999, Destruction has released album after album of blistering old school thrash giving all of us old school thrashers the absolute madness we thrive on. Ranging from good to amazing on each album, everything from 2000's All Hell Breaks Loose through to 2003's Metal Discharge left me almost non-chelantly expecting a continuation of greatness with their 2005 release, and boy were my expectations held true. Not only is this a great album, it is one of their better ones, only being bested by The Antichrist in greatness. Featuring incredibly catchy riffs (including some riffs in Dealer of Hostility that take alot of influence from the Bay Area Thrash scene), songs that are NOT monotonous (Destruction for me can sometimes fall victim to creating unoriginal music at times), and of course the trademark vocals of Schmier in top form. The only problem I have is with the third track...

The Alliance of Hellhoundz is like the extreme metal version of Hear N' Aid. Featuring an all star heavy metal cast consisting of Biff Byford (Saxon), Doro Pesch, Shagrath (Dimmu Borgir), Björn "Speed" Strid (Soilwork), Paul Di'Anno (ex-Iron Maiden, Killers), Messiah Marcolin (Candlemass), Mark Osegueda (Death Angel), Peter "Peavy" Wagner (Rage), and Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy, Pain). The intention of this song was obviously to bring together some of the biggest names in the industry to sing about the greatness of heavy metal, which is fucking cool, I am down with metal fellatio in songs, but what I don't like is when 3345945 metal vocalists try to one up one another in the same song with different styles just thrown together for the sheer fact that it can be done. As far overall quality, this song is passe instrumentally with the entire focus on the vocals, and the vocals themselves are cluttered adding absolutely nothing productive to the song.

Despite the one hiccup on the record, the rest of the tracks remain untainted classics in the making. If it weren't for the heart and soul embodied in every member of Destruction, I sincerely do not know what the state of thrash would be in right now, regardless of what country the music is being played in. Every album Destruction has released in the last 5-6 years has been an important accolade for not just thrash, but metal in general. It shows that a band can hold true to their sound yet continue to evolve and really give the fans what they want to hear. In honor of this, everyone grab your nearest beverage and raise it high, for I am declaring a toast.....Long live metal, long live thrash, and long live Destruction! Let there be many more years left in the hearts, creativity, and talent of this band to get the job done to help entertain poor schmucks like myself. CHEERS!

A bit forgettable, but still great - 72%

BurntOffering, October 24th, 2005

Destruction come back again full of energy and agression, but seem to have depleted the riff tank a bit. This album is a bit more experimental, not saying that it's sacrificing the thrash, but it's taking on some new ideas and bringing back a few old ones.

We start off with "Soul Collector" which has a long mid paced intro, and breaks out into some amazing thrash. Really catchy and even some well placed blastbeats (not the homoerotic kind) in the chorus. Probably the best song on the album. Next we have "The Defiance Will Remain". This song has some good riffs, but the pre-chorus seems really forced. Mike throws in some nice soloing here though and Schmier seems pretty pissed in this song. The chorus is a bit weak though. "The Alliance of the Hellhoundz" is a pretty well done song. With 9 or so guest singers they did this one pretty well (I heard it was a mess live though). Every singer has thier parts done clearly and you can make everyone out easily. This is also an uber catchy track, every riff is memorable here, unlike most of the album. The lyrics are composed of references to songs and bands that glorified the metal scene, similiar to "Thrash 'Til Death" on "The Antichrist". Some nice soloing here as well, Mike's Lead guitar abilities have gotten a bit better and believe Harry Wilkens plays a guest solo on here as well. "No Mans Land" is next and it's a pretty standard thrasher which is also pretty catchy and is one of the more memorable songs on the album. They are starting to go a bit overboard with the double vocal attack at times though. "The Calm Before the Storm" is next and I think they try to use a similiar formula to "Reject Emotions" from the "Mad Butcher EP". It's definatley no "Reject Emotions", but it's quite an intresting listen. It's not much of a slaughter fest, but has some intresting riffs, and is a nice counterpoint to the rest of the songs, making it stick out and be memorable."The Chosen Ones" is the first song where we kind of start to see the album lose it's catchiness and seem generic. The song isn't very memorable, it's okay......but, it's not crushing me in the face with brick like "Soul Collector" did. It also goes on for a bit too long, it would be an okay 3 minutes song, but it's 5 minutes. "Dealer of Hostility" is a lot better than "The Chosen Ones" and parts of it sound like it could have been on "Release From Agony", but the song dosen't pick up too much.....it's just dosen't have that kick to it. "Under Survelliance" picks things up again!! This song has catchiness and is memorable, and has that punch to it. It's more comparable to something off of "The Antichrist". That main riff is awesome stuff, why aren't more bands playing like this?! "Seeds of Hate" was the first time I ever asked myself "What the fuck?" while listening to a Destruction album. That little intro deal was pretty strange. Overall this song is a really big downer, and just dosen't do anything for me really. There is a few nice riffs throughout, but not really worth listening to to get to them. There is this wierd voice in this song that reminds me of the shitty mechanical voice from Cynic's "Focus". "Twist of Fate" has a punky edge to it, making it one of the more enjoyable tracks, but nothing really special or memorable and thank Satan it dosen't go on for 6 minutes like "Seeds of Hate". "Killing Machine" gets back to the thrashin'.......finally. This song is pretty well done is alot better than that last few tracks and that riff after the chorus is awesome!!!! Comparable to Dark Angel. Nice solo, and this one is a definate winner. "Memories of Nothingness" is a little outro that is kind of nice, but really pointless.


Overall it's pretty decent, nothing too amazing. It's not as brutal as "The Antichrist" or "All Hell" and it's not as catchy or riff orientated as "Relase From Agony" or "Cracked Brain" and it's not quite as evil as "Eternal Devestation" or "Infernal Overkill", but I found it to be a slight step up from the repetative wonders of "Metal Discharge". Recommended? Sure. There's some really great songs on here, some are much better than others though. RECOMMENDED

Inventor Of Evil - Revised! - 70%

Warpig, September 12th, 2005

As you might have guessed from the title, this is a revised review of “Inventor Of Evil”. The original title was “Disappointing” and the rating was 50%, which is, from today’s point of view, far too hard. I really listened to this album many, many times before writing the review, but I should have given it the chance to grow, instead of listening to it in quick succession. So here’s the (hopefully) final version.

“Soul Collector” starts off with a “Curse The Gods”-like intro, which should have been a song of its own, because it has basically nothing to do with the song itself and it is definitely too long. The actual song begins at 1:34 with a riff in the vein of “Mortal Remains” / “Historical Force Feed” and evolves into real thrasher, even with blastbeats during the chorus. Although I needed some time to get into it, this has become one of my favourites on the album by now.

“The Defiance Will Remain” is a great song, and in contrast to “Soul Collector” I liked this one immediately, mainly because of the extremely catchy riff during the chorus. However, the break at 2:05 nearly ruins it. First of all, it slows down the song, and it is played in 7/8. Nothing against slow parts in a thrash song (listen to the break in “Nailed To The Cross” to see how it’s fuckin’ done) or odd timings, but they have to fit the song. This here is just terrible though and it sounds like it was done for its own sake.

“The Alliance Of Hellhoundz”: After all that has been written about this song, I must say I was quite disappointed when I first heard it, because it’s a bit overproduced. I mean, if you have 10 world-class singers on one song, you should be able to hear every one of them clearly (they should have listened to HEAR ‘N’ AID before). However, if you listen to it a few times and work your way through the production this is a really enjoyable track. At least I know now that Messiah Marcolin probably has the most distinctive voice in metal.

In my original review I really misjudged the following two songs, namely “No Mans Land” (including a break at 2:20 with slight reminiscences of “Bestial Invasion” and “The Ravenous Beast” (vocals)) and “The Calm Before The Storm” (including an intro which is highly reminiscent of “Reject Emotions”), and although these are not quite classics, they are by all means good songs. However I still think that the chorus of “The Calm Before The Storm” would have sounded a little better in 4/4 time, instead of being played in 6/8.

“The Chosen Ones”: Now this song still does nothing for me. Strangely enough everything seems to go well. The riffs are decent, the pre-chorus sounds very promising, but in the end it simply doesn’t work out.

“Dealer Of Hostility”: Promising start… Not bad, not bad at all… Another solid track. However, I think they could hit the gas a little more.

“Under Surveillance” starts off pretty slow, but it gains more and more speed and when you get to the pre-chorus, you are eventually reminded that you are listening to a fuckin’ thrash band. Sadly, then comes the chorus and they step on the brakes again, but at least the chorus is pretty catchy.

“Seeds Of Hate” is, apart from a few eruptions and the last part of the solo section, even slower than the previous tracks. It begins very interesting though. The opening riff is just brilliant and the oriental singing (which kind of reminds me a bit of HOLLENTHON) is certainly something special by DESTRUCTION standards. However it goes downhill fast from there. Apart from the solo part, which is pretty good, this is probably the most boring song on the album.

Fuck yeah! “Twist Of Fate”, sounds like the perfect bastard of “Bonded By Blood”-era EXODUS and “Beat The Bastards” / ”Fuck The System”-era EXPLOITED. No unnecessary intros, no useless breaks and no strange timings - just a 3 minute assault of punky thrash. Killer!

Two in a row! The album ends with the fantastic “Killing Machine”, and just like “Twist Of Fate” this is another straightforward fast one including a chorus riff that is highly reminiscent of “The Butcher Strikes Back”.

The limited digibook edition includes a cover of one of the best songs of all time, namely MOTÖRHEAD’s “We Are The Road Crew”. You certainly can’t do much wrong with that, but I also think it’s nearly impossible to outdo the original and this holds true for the DESTRUCTION version, too. This is by all means a great cover, but I’ll still stick with the original.

Conclusion: Although “Inventor Of Evil” certainly is no “The Antichrist”, it is a far better album than I first realised. So if you don’t like it the first time(s) you hear it, just lay it aside and listen to it later. You may be surprised…