BAY AREA THRASH

[Ernest Thesiger]

Epidemic were very generic and boring, that is true

I wouldn't go that far. The Truth of What Will Be is a good Slayerish album.

[The Sentinel]

I bet Ulysses Siren has been already mentioned. "The Reich" is one hell of a song.

[big mouth]

and had nothing to do with Militia or Laughing Dead

Come on..... do you recall how many bands popped up suddenly during the late '80s in the Bay? I surely do and in the end there was nothing interesting coming from those bands.... the abondunce of bands was an element which definitively helped to make this once great scene a desert.
I can listen to MILMITIA anyday and all they simply suck in terms of songwriting... great musicianship but that's not what I'm looking for.... I'm looking for great Metal riffs. And the same could be same about SHATTERED IMAGE, KAOS, L. DEAD etc etc

Another factor was the fact that most of the so called Metallers there did nothing but jumped on the next trend musicwise.

[DaN]

Epidemic were very generic and boring, that is true

I wouldn't go that far. The Truth of What Will Be is a good Slayerish album.

I quite liked EPIDEMIC in their demos days. As opposed to most other quasi-thrash/Anthrallica-wannabe bands of the day they at least had a healthy dose of fuckoffness in them (MORBID SAINT fans take note!)
By the time they released their debut album I had got tired of that scene tho'

[Stormspell]

I was referring more to the "Exit Paradise" album which was quite lukewarm and ways behind similar thrash-o-death acts like Morbid Saint or Revenant.

By personal taste is all subjective of course. I just didnt agree the abundance of bands in the late 80s was the sole reason for the demise of the scene.

[big mouth]

I just didnt agree the abundance of bands in the late 80s was the sole reason for the demise of the scene.

That is correct, not the sole reason but one of 'em.

[DeathMetalWeenie]

Bay Area thrash is a favorite heavy metal genre/ sub-genre for me.

I am glad to see if covered so extensively by Kick Ass Monthly, Metal Forces, and later Snakepit Magazine.

favorites.
Metallica-Kill em All, Ride the Lightning, Creeping Death/ Jump in the Fire CD

Exodus- Bonded By Blood, Pleasures of the Flesh, A Lesson in Violence LIVE CD, Bonded By Baloff (A Lesson In Violence LIVE remastered with bonus tracks), The Ultimate Revenge VHS tape.

Death Angel- The Ultra Violence, Act 111

Violence- Eternal Nightmare

Blind Illusion- The Sane Asylum

Forbidden- Forbidden Evil

Testament- The Legacy

Laaz Rockit- Know Your Enemy

Heathen- Breaking the Silence.

Metal Church- Metal Church on Ground Zero records, even though they were a Seattle based band when the debut was released in 1984

I always liked bands that were heavier than Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, and all those Megaforce and Combat bay area thrash albums were a god-send to me. Along with all those speed and Power metal records released in 81-84

[Avenger]

Metal Church isn't Thrash, buddy,

[DeathMetalWeenie]

Metal Church was not thrash, but they got sweep up in that movement, instead of the movement which featured Vicious Rumors and Savatage.

Every thrash fan had Metal Church's debut, because of how it fell perfectly between the Megaforce albums "Melissa", ""Kill em All" and "Ride the Lightning" before Elektra pick up "Ride the Lighting" for a November '84 re-release.

I mentioned it as a Bay area thrash release, because of Metal Church being based in San Fransico for there original incarnation.

[ION BRITTON]

I don't classify them as 'thrash' but the point is what does Kick Ass Monthly say about Metal Church's thrashiness.

[DeathMetalWeenie]

Oh Kick Ass monthly actually gave the Metal Church debut a poor grade of 7 out of 10. Because he thought it was not metallic enough for his personal taste. Which I found funny because I was listening to Metal Church's debut when I was reading his review.

I thought it was thrashy enough and had noting to do with the pop/ metal trend that was happening in Los Angeles. David Wayne was a World-Class vocalist. The band was non-cliche, and reminded me alot of my favorite bands at that time, Mercyful Fate and Metallica.

I am not just a thrash fan...I am also of the opinion speed for the sake of speed does not equate to heaviness. I like stuff like VINTAGE Jag Panzer and Trouble. Different bands sound GOOD at different speeds. One should experiment with speed and heaviness, and find out what sounds natural to them. When Speed metal happened, then power metal, then thrash metal. I did not consider these new sub-genres. I just thought the then current generation was correcting the songwriting mistakes of the heavy metal artist from the 1970's.

When I first heard Metallica in July 1983...I did not think oh a cool trend. I just thought they were playing heavy metal at its correct speed with the correct amount of aggression and the correct amount of heaviness, and I did like the CRUNCH sound of the guitars.

I knew at the time Metallica would not only lay to waste there predecessors, but will lay to waste 90% of there successors (pretenders/ contenders). I considered Metal Church in the upper echelon league of heavy metal, along with Satan's "Court in the Act", Mercyful Fate's "Melissa" and "Don't Break the Oath" and Metallica's "Kill em All" and "Ride the Lightning"

Not every magazine can get every review right...I read Kick Ass monthly because I had the same taste in heavy metal.... Motorhead/ Tank/ Raven/ Anvil/ Metallica/ Exciter/ Anthrax/ Slayer. He mostly looked for the bands with originality, while everyone else was just collecting and over collecting every release in the genre. If you looking for the top 10% of the most original artist, then 90% of the artist cannot make the cut !!!!!

[The Knell]

Epidemic were very generic and boring, that is true

I wouldn't go that far. The Truth of What Will Be is a good Slayerish album.

i have this as the 89 demo tape....i think it's rather boring at times!