Devastation is a founding member of the inner-city Chicago Death Metal scene. The band was formed in January of 1986 by Drummer Pat Buckley and Guitarist Erv Brautigam. But it's roots ran deeper, as Pat and Erv started playing together in 1984, in the band Solemn. After 2 years, they wanted to take their unique style of thrash Metal to the next level, & left Solemn to form a new, more groundbreaking band. This band would come to be known as Devastation. The Chicago metal scene at the time was heavily influenced by the NWOBHM movement, and consisted of bands like Paradoxx, Mayhem, War Cry, Assault, Witchslayer, Genocide, Hammeron, Thrust, & Zoetrope to name a few. These were some of the best metal bands in the USA at the time, and still are in our opinion. But we felt the need to be more brutal, but to also have complex guitar and bass performances. Erv was heavily influenced by Malmsteen, as well as other progressive guitar players. In February at a local concert (Trouble), Erv was introduced to Troy Dixler by Shaun Glass (ex-bassist for Terminal Death/Sindrome/Broken Hope/Soil), now guitarist for Dirge. He was given an audition and accepted to the band. At the end of the same month, we found, after auditioning several bassists, Frank Ciampi*. He was truly original, one of the best players we'd ever heard. This line-up continued on through the recording of our first demo, " A Creation of Ripping Death", and stayed stable until October 12th, which was the last show with Troy. Due to musical differences, we decided to part ways. Not long after, Troy started Sindrome, and we decided to seek an alternate frontman. We found one in long time friend and band photographer, Duane Rasmussen. Duane had been in a previous band, Inkursion, with Pat and Erv the year before, so we knew his vocal style.
The band was mainly influenced by Classic Metal, Thrash Metal, and Hardcore Punk. Bands like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, UFO, Saxon, Venom, Possessed, Slayer, Motorhead, Voi Vod, Dark Angel, Celtic Frost, Bathory, Cro-Mags, Agnostic Front, Gang Green, Misfits/Samhain, DRI, Discharge, GBH, Broken Bones, Ramones, etc...

Source : www.myspace.com/devastationchicago