The Antichrist

After touring All Hell Breaks Loose through Europe and America, the band wrote new material and went back into Abyss Studios in Sweden in April 2001. The booklet says the album was recorded at the Abyss in Pärlby during April and May that year. Peter Tägtgren produced again, with bassist and singer Schmier and guitarist Mike Sifringer credited alongside him. Tägtgren and Lars Szöke recorded it, it was mastered at Cutting Room, and the backing growls came from Tägtgren and Magnus "Masse" Broberg. Sven Vormann played drums. After the short opener "Days of Confusion" comes "Thrash 'Til Death", which the label presented as a statement of the band's outlook and a salute to the great thrash bands. All the songs are credited to the band, and Thomas Ewerhard did the cover and layout. Looking ahead to the next album in an interview on the band's website, Schmier said Tägtgren had done a great job on The Antichrist but that it was time to look for a new challenge, and that Destruction would produce the follow-up themselves. Nuclear Blast released the album in Germany in August 2001; in June the European release had been reported for 27 August. It spent one week in the German album chart at number 89. The CD has eleven tracks, while the LP adds a 2001 re-recording of the older "Curse the Gods" and a cover of The Exploited's "U.S.A.", played as "Fuck the U.S.A.", for thirteen; some CD pressings hide "Curse the Gods" after a run of silent tracks. The Japanese edition of 3 October 2001 added live recordings of "The Butcher Strikes Back" and "Tears of Blood" and "Fuck the U.S.A.". Vormann left during 2001, and Marc Reign took over the drums.