Schmier

In addition to pioneering black metal, Destruction was part of the second wave of thrash metal in the mid-to-late-1980s, along with US bands Testament, Sacred Reich, Death Angel and Dark Angel. Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic stated that the band "fell under the spell of the emergent New Wave of British Heavy Metal as classic metal met the D.I.Y. ethos of punk rock, then evolved into thrash metal."
For most of the 1990s, the band was not signed to a record label and self-produced their albums until they signing with Nuclear Blast in the early 2000s.
Destruction's early releases are considered thrash metal classics. Some journalists consider them to be among the greatest thrash metal bands of all time.