Schmier is not just the voice and bassist behind Destruction, he’s its keeper—its architect, even when the blueprints were torn up. In a conversation with Made In Metal, timed with the release of Birth of Malice, the band’s latest record, Schmier walked through the creation of new material, the weight of the past, and the stubborn drive that’s carried them through four decades of sonic violence.
When it comes to songwriting, Schmier keeps things fast, rhythmic, and rooted in his own instrument.
"I'm the main songwriter. So when I write the songs, I sit down, I say, okay, I'm composing on 200 beats per minute. And then I do some demos and then we meet up with the band and then we start to work on the details… we're playing thrash metal, so the drums and the bass have to be the basement for the guitars."
The most personal moment of the interview comes when he explains the track "Greed", a bitter observation of what power does to people.
"Greed is the behavior that destroys humanity. I think because you meet somebody nice, a friend of yours. But then he wins the lottery, and he gets a lot of money. And then your friend will not be your friend anymore… and he will forget about you. And that's how people change when they have too much money, too much power."
He doesn’t shy away from pointing fingers: "When you take just the richest billionaire in the world, Elon Musk. He could with his money. He could have all the people who are poor and have no food. He could give them food. You know, there would be no more poor people without food than in this world. If all those rich people would help. But they don't help because of greed."
Schmier misses a simpler ethos: "I like the hippie mentality. I like what happened in the 70s. What you have. You give to others. Let's share. It's one world. One planet. We're living on the same planet. Let's make everybody comfortable. There are enough resources. There's enough money. But no, there's greed."
In addition to Birth of Malice, Destruction is releasing a documentary focused not on their origin, but on their most difficult recent years.
"It's a documentary about five years of the band. You know, from 2019 to 2024. We had the camera team following us on tour and filming us… and at the end, it was a lot of drama and tragedy. We had Covid coming. Mike left the band. We left Nuclear Blast… and you see, it's a movie about hope. It's a movie about love for metal."
For Schmier, forty years in the game haven’t made the music industry any easier—but it has sharpened his focus: "When I started playing music, I never did music for fame. I did music because of my love for music, and the love of music still drives me. Because we are not Metallica or Slayer. We don't make millions. We make music, professional music. But we're not rich. I don't have two houses, I don't drive two Mercedes. I have a normal life. I can make a life with music, which is fantastic."
