Back in the day buying imported metal meant a drive to Toronto and flipping through bins of vinyl LPs. The album cover of Destructions 1984 debut, Sentence Of Death, featured the band members in a dizzying array of metal paraphernalia from dog collars, upside down crucifixes, machine gun bullets and an assortment of leather ala Rob Halford. The band is credited as being one of the originators of Teutonic Thrash along with Kreator and Sodom and an early contributor to the development of Death Metal. Mad Butcher is a furiously fast and slightly disturbing ode to murder.
9. "Total Death" by Kreator, 1985
I have to admit to not knowing much about Kreator until I began digging into the genre defining bands that I ignored for various reasons at the time of their release.. A compatriot of Destructions, Kreator too is credited with sowing the seeds for Death Metal. Total Death is early thrash at its best with a lyric that spoke to both nuclear destruction (a big concern in the 80s for most of us) and atheism, an interesting mix. A re-formed Kreator has experienced recent success with their last two releases, 2009s, Hordes Of Chaos and 12s, Phantom Antichrist.