Diabolical

In August 2021 Schmier told Metal Pilgrim that founding guitarist Mike Sifringer had drifted away months earlier, skipping the demo sessions where the new songs were written and never coming to the studio. A few weeks earlier Destruction had played the Area 53 Festival in Leoben, Austria, without him; by then they had also moved from Nuclear Blast to Napalm Records. Sifringer's departure was made official on 19 August 2021. His replacement was Martin Furia, an Argentinian-born, Belgium-based engineer and producer known for work with Nervosa and Evil Invaders, who had toured with the band as sound technician and tour manager since 2016. The single "State of Apathy", released the same day, was his first recording with them. The album was recorded at Little Creek Studio in Switzerland. The booklet dates the sessions to early 2021 and credits Schmier as producer and V.O. Pulver with recording, mixing and mastering, the last two done in August 2021; only the backing vocals were recorded elsewhere, by Martin Buchwalter at Gernhart Studios in Troisdorf, Germany. The line-up was Schmier on bass and vocals, Damir Eskić and Furia on guitars and backing vocals, and Randy Black on drums. Schmier called the sessions the most fun the band had had on a record in a long time, and a kind of therapy for him; Eskić described the studio work as very spontaneous. Napalm Records released Diabolical on 8 April 2022, the CD in a six-panel digisleeve (NPR1082DGS); Ward Records' Japanese edition (GQCS-91161), out the same day, holds the same thirteen tracks. The label presented it as the band's fortieth-anniversary album. The title-track video features the Mad Butcher, by Schmier's count only his second appearance in a Destruction video. Track seven is the earlier single "State of Apathy", and the closing track is a version of G.B.H.'s "City Baby Attacked by Rats"; Gyula Havancsák made the cover and the booklet. The album spent one week on the German albums chart, at 12.