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Metal Monday is back, and I want to make up for neglecting it lately.  This entire post stems from the fact that I’m selling an extra copy of the first Vio-lence lp “Eternal Nightmare”. Don’t be mad  I’m mentioning my own ebay auction here, I’ve been posting yours for 8 months! So, for some reason that I can’t figure out, Eternal Nightmare is now routinely selling for over $50. Who’s to say whether my copy will or not, but nevertheless, it’s a regular occurance. To me this reeks of ignorance on the part of the new crop of thrash-rockers taking the underground by storm, no doubt having been converted into metal maniacs by bands like Municiple Waste, Toxic Holocaust, and Merciless Death (uhhh, the new one not the old one), and maybe not totally aware of the many thrash classics that beat Vio-lence at their own game.

Vio-lence grew out of the fertile bay area scene in the mid-80’s, there’s a rehearsal demo from ‘86, but I believe their first real release is a promo recording that came free with some metal rag at the time for subscribers in ‘88. This had a couple of songs which were later recorded for their first proper lp Eternal Nightmare on Mechanic records which was a distributed imprint of MCA. So yes, in essence Vio-lence was on a major label. I can only imagine the look of horror on the faces of the A&R dept when they heard the finished recording for this album. I’m sure these geniuses thought they were going to get another Master of Puppets, or at least Peace Sells But Who’s Buying. Oh boy were they wrong. Now I can sort of  understand why you would want to bank on Vio-lence. There are definitely heavy riffs, and the songs work a variety of tempos that keep it from becoming the soundtrack to a narcoleptic episode. In addition the actual playing and exectution from the guitars is tight and some would even say technical. The drumming… well it’s lazy but so is Lars Ulrich. By far the most offensive aspect of Eternal Nightmare is the vocals of one Sean Killian, which I think are best described as yelping. Oh, how they yelp! They’re sort of falsetto, frequently off-time, and sometimes completely non-sensical, but ALWAYS yelping. They’re actually worse than the afformentioned ‘88 promo tape on Eternal Nightmare, which is something that I would say is unusual.Yet still, the love for Vio-lence persists to this day.

People wear shirts, bands do covers, and their guitarist Rob Flynn continues to look like a total buffoon in Machine Head. Rather than berating the folks who have turned this pile of stink into an in demand record (after all I’m selling it to make money), I’ve listed below 5 records that mine the same tech-thrash territory as Vio-lence, but with FAR better results, and of course, much better vocals.

1. Dark Angel - Leave Scars — There are 2 things I know. a) This has one of the 10 worst album covers ever. b) This is one of the greatest thrash albums ever recorded. Peep my previous write-up. Lost Classic status.
2. Forced Entry - Uncertain Future — Basically if you improved all the things that suck about Vio-lence you’d get this lp. Percise as hell, much harder vocals, some progressive mosh parts, and a killer drummer who is ready to go DEEP in the pocket. Sleeper hit.
3. Holy Terror - Mind Wars — I’ve made a post about Terror and Submission on here in the past, and that’s a great album. A really inventive combination of neo-classical Mercyful Fate style elements and heavy mid-period Kreator style thrash. Mind Wars ups the ante a lot. It’s a lot thrashier, but also more progressive. All the songs are extremely dense, and the vocals are top notch. The dude can sing or scream and sound convincing doing either one. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that this phase of Holy Terror featured one of the guitarists from Agent Steele (the classic power metal band). Really does sound like a war in your mind.
4. Death Row - Raging Steel — Okay this is my only German pick, which maybe isn’t fair but feel free to argue. This is definitely their finest hour. Like a cleaned up early Kreator with lots of lyrics about fantasy and battle. Some campy but good neo-classical interludes, and awesomely retarded sleeve art. Lots of crunch and good production. Much better than their first lp, a little goofy, but a lot of fun. Btw anyone got the first lp w/ banned sleeve for trade?
5. Forbidden - Forbidden Evil — I have a special place in my heart for Forbidden. I picked the lp up on a whim once and played it a lot for a few months. This is the band Paul Bostaph (who later replaced Dave Lombardo in Slayer for about 10 years) got his start. For that reason the drumming is sickly detailed, and the guitars aren’t far behind. This one mixes a bit of Helloween power thrash with a lot of Exodus and Hell Awaits era Slayer. Rob Flynn of Violence actually did a little time in this band too. WELCOME TO THE CHURCH OF LIES.