Opening night for a tour for any band could result in unbridled joy or debilitating pain. Luckily it was the former when the German thrash metal pioneers Destruction kicked off their 2022 North American tour at the Elsewhere Space in Brooklyn on 4/28.
After paying the bill for an underwhelming tagliatelle (al ragù) at a nearby Italian restaurant, I walked back to the venue and caught up with my friend Stefan for a little while until it was time to get in line as the doors were opening. After receiving my complimentary wrist stamp, I walked inside and played around on my phone until 9:15. That’s when the evening began for me.
Both Brooklyn and I were curious about Nervosa as they were ushering in a new era of the band with Prika Amaral at the helm. When it comes to older metal bands choosing who will amp up the audience right before it’s time for the main event, it comes down to preference. Nervosa impressed me and pretty much everyone else there. They have a pretty gnarly thrash sound with death metal vocal acrobatics. Diva Satanica’s vocals sounded like Sabina Classen of Holy Moses, which showcases Sabina’s massive influence. In short, Nervosa perfectly set the stage for the New York return of the German thrash icons.
After Nervosa wreaked havoc, it was time for a little more neck-wrecking thrash. The whole crowd waited for what seemed like an eternity, and what a crowd it was as they were the baddest of the bad, with the majority of the audience looking all decked out in their finest metal outfits as pretty much all of New York attended Arch Enemy at Terminal 5.
Destruction main-man Schmier mocked the absent attendees by calling them hipsters and posers a few times during his yowling stage wraps. I found that amusing. And I saw them make the most of a dicey opening night between equipment issues and a large portion of their merch missing for purchase, yet nobody seemed to give a damn. These things tend to happen, but Destruction kicked Brooklyn’s ass like absolute bosses. Destruction sounded great, and Brooklyn had a great time seeing them.
After their set, I headed on home for another shot of metal with Hypocrisy at Warsaw the night after.
