Thrash Anthems II

Thrash Anthems II is the sequel to Destruction's 2007 album Thrash Anthems: another set of the band's own 1980s songs, recorded afresh. Schmier, the band's bassist and singer, said there had been many requests for a second volume and that the songs were picked together with the fans, and the product notes for the Japanese edition describe the selection as a fan vote. Nuclear Blast did not want to make the album at first, so the band turned to PledgeMusic and raised the money for the production from its supporters. The campaign page, running by February 2017, promised backers reports on the songs to be recorded, the sessions and the cover, and called a record made without a label a new challenge for the band. The trio of Schmier, guitarist Mike Sifringer and drummer Vaaver played everything, with Vaaver also singing backing vocals. According to the CD credits, V.O. Pulver recorded and mixed the album at Little Creek Studio in Switzerland and co-produced it with the band. Guests took several of the guitar solos: Ol Drake on six songs, among them "Confused Mind", "United by Hatred" and "Antichrist", Michael Amott on "The Ritual", and Pulver himself on "Black Death" and "Satan's Vengeance". The twelfth track, a version of Dead Kennedys' "Holiday in Cambodia", is billed as a bonus track. The cover art is by the Hungarian artist Gyula Havancsák. In the end Nuclear Blast took the album on and released it on CD and double LP on 10 November 2017. Ward Records issued the Japanese edition on the same day, with the same twelve tracks. A video for "United by Hatred" accompanied the release, cut from footage covering more than thirty years of the band's history. The album did not enter the official German albums chart.