Destruction is the third full-length album from this Swiss band. I never got a chance to review their last album, Call Me Under 666....I guess it just slipped through the cracks. Godiva's debut album showed promise as a straight-ahead Judas Priest, Accept flavored classic sounding heavy metal band and there have been a few changes since then. Gone is original vocalist Anthony De Angelis who has since been replaced by ex-Victory vocalist Fernando Garcia and as well, a second guitarist (Steve Papacharito) has been added to beef up the band's sound. This new album was produced by Beau Hill (Ratt, Warrant, Alice Cooper, Twisted Sister, Europe) and finally sees Godiva delivering the type of album that I have always suspected they were quite capable of doing.

With Marc Storace (Krokus) and Steve Perry (Journey) tones to Fernando Garcia's vocals, Godiva covers all the bases here with solid vocal melodies and a killer riff driven heavy metal sound that pumps out the metal anthems one by one with each and every track on this album. After a somewhat useless short intro with synth effects, chimes and drum machines, Godiva delivers a knockout punch with the first three tracks Crawl In The Night, Destruction (the title track) and Pedal To The Metal. Hammering double bass work drives the classic and "true" heavy metal of Crawl In The Night with detuned guitars creating chugging heaviness for the more aggressive tones of Destruction. Pedal To The Metal is a classic Saxon styled track with nods to fellow countrymen Krokus as well. If you're not hooked by these three songs, then you are certainly not a fan of classic heavy metal!! The album cruises on quite nicely with After The War being more of a melodic heavy metal song with a catchy chorus and offers a nice break in the action before the heavy artillery resurfaces in the form of Inside Hell. With a charging tempo, Marc Storace style screams and some tasteful harmony lead guitar work, this one's another killer. Vicious Blade sees a slight dip in quality before they come roaring back with Bloody Sky, a track that offers more dramatic Iron Maiden style heavy metal with a mix of tempos. The classic pull-off harmonies of Helloween's I Want Out are "borrowed" for the track Running From The Past with Hell's On Fire featuring Maiden-like harmony fills along with an Angel Dust heaviness over very "muscular" double bass work. United We Stand is Godiva's fist pumping answer to Judas Priest's United and like that track, it has a big rousing chorus section and although comes a little too close at times to Priest's United with some of the melodies to the chorues, is still a great track. Included as a bonus is the track Revelation. It mixes heavy riffs and keyboard loops and has a much more commercial edge than the rest of the album. It has some catchy moments but is a bit out of place on this album.

Easily their best effort to date, Destruction is the type of classic sounding fist-pumping, double bass fueled heavy metal album that you just can't seem to get enough of. Godiva has pulled out all the stops here and delivers a very solid album that more than makes up for it's lack of originality with very strong songs and a killer sound. If bands like Judas Priest, Accept, U.D.O., Saxon, Cage, Krokus and Dream Evil are regulars on your playlist, you can add in Destruction by Godiva without hesitation.......