Teutonic Thrash Metal: Destruction Style

Hi GMC!

Welcome to my new series based on Teutonic Thrash Metal bands!

"Teutonic thrash metal is a regional scene of thrash metal music that originated during the 1980s in Germany. Along with Bay Area thrash metal, East Coast thrash metal, and Brazilian thrash metal, it was one of the major scenes of thrash metal in the 1980s." - Wikipedia

In this first lesson I will cover one of the 3 kings of Teutonic Thrash Metal.
I’m talking about the band Destruction, which is also credited, with Kreator and Sodom, as pioneers of Death Metal genre.

Music Style:

I have read a cool quote that says that Destruction defined their style in a matter of weeks just after they heard the British metal band “Venom”. Some other influences cited as the first ones that inspired them to start a band in 1982 were Iron Maiden, Mercyful Fate and Motorhead. In this track I tried to emulate the sound and style of their powerful music that combines Thrash, Speed and Black Metal.

Tonality, Chord Progression & Scales:

Thrash Metal uses mostly minor scales and tonalities. This tune moves around Aeolian, Phrygian and Blues Scale, all minor scales and the key is E minor, most of the time. There is also a modulation to F#m that you’ll find indicated in the slow videos.

Techniques:

This is a rhythm lesson but it’s extremely fast so it’s not an easy one. You have to be a good right hand thrasher to be able to play the first riff of this one. The techniques here are alternate picking and palm muting.

Sound:

The sound of this tune is pure metal! I used my Pod HD500 to build a guitar sound that finally really impressed me. I didn't know that my Gibson could sound as metal as this lesson. I used the ENGL Fireball emulation with a 4x12 ENGL cabinet.

Click HERE to download my Pod HD500 Patch used for this lesson.

Tuning:

I used standard 440 tuning

Tempo:

180 BPM

Ok guys – time for metal!