‘Cracked Brain’ is the only Schmierless Destruction album still considered part of the band’s official discography for a reason: it’s simply really good. The album was written and recorded in a time of turmoil, as evidenced by only three of the five performers being pictured on the artwork – and that does not even include singer André Grieder, who basically recorded his vocals as a favor to a bunch of friends. Destruction also reportedly wasted quite a bit of far too expensive studio time in the process. Considering these circumstances, ‘Cracked Brain’ should not be as good as it is.

Schmier left the band during the creation of ‘Cracked Brain’ partly out of frustration with the band’s increasingly technical compositions. But while ‘Cracked Brain’ is still fairly complex thrash metal, it does feel a tad more streamlined than its predecessor ‘Release From Agony’. The twisted riffs are still fired at the listener in bulk and with surgical precision, Harry Wilkens’ eighties guitar hero-inspired leads still set it apart from Destruction albums he doesn’t play on, but the choruses are generally more open and memorable than anything on its predecessor. ‘Cracked Brain’ is not quite as good, but it is slightly more consistent.

Now, there is one track that stands out like a sore thumb. As far as covers go, Destruction’s version of ‘My Sharona’ is done reasonably well, but it clashes so hard with the rest of the album in terms of atmosphere that it completely takes you out of it. It was probably added to pad the playing time out a little, as the entire album would have been under 36 minutes without it. Fortunately, everything else ranges from good to excellent. The title track and ‘Rippin’ You Off Blind’ have been re-recorded with Schmier and it’s easy to see why, as those tracks – along with ‘Frustrated’ – are the snappiest tracks on here, though ‘Rippin’ You Off Blind’ does contain some off-kilter rhythmic touches.

However, the more intricate material is where ‘Cracked Brain’ really gets interesting. ‘Time Must End’ turns the tempo back just a notch to create a vibe of unpredictable darkness, whereas the structure of ‘No Need To Justify’ feels a bit like that of ‘Reject Emotions’, only with a better developed quieter part in the beginning of the song. ‘Die A Day Before You’re Born’ is a whirlwind of riffs that would not have sounded out of place on any post-reunion Destruction album, only stuck together in a way the band never would these days. Closer ‘When Your Mind Was Free’ sounds uncertain about how it wants to end, but there is a lot of cool broken chord stuff going on in the minutes leading up to its finale.

Do not skip on ‘Cracked Brain’ because Schmier isn’t on it. André Grieder does a reasonably good job filling in for him, although he is capable of better than this and probably did not take a lot of liberties with what he was told to do, possibly due to time constraints. Other than that and the completely unnecessary cover, ‘Cracked Brain’ is an excellent mildly technical thrash album that everyone looking for a continuation of the ‘Release From Agony’ sound should give a shot. It’s unfortunate that Destruction did not continue that sound either with or without their popular frontman, but at least the Germans gave us two fine albums in that style.

Recommended tracks: ‘Cracked Brain’, ‘Time Must End’, ‘Die A Day Before You’re Born’