First day flashback: Heathen-Breaking the silence

Heathen-Breaking the silence


Time for First Day Flashback where on the first day of each month I'll do a short write on an album from the 80's that I liked. By 1987 the Bay area speed metal scene had broken loose in a big way and labels were scrambling to grab bands in the hopes of landing the next Metallica or whoever. Heathen had formed in 1986, put together a six song demo the same year and the following year they had their debut out on Combat. I remember seeing the video for their cover of Sweet's "Set me free" on the Headbanger's Ball that summer. I bought "Breaking the silence" on cassette not long after that. Overall it's that tight riffed chugging sound reminiscent of other Bay area bands like Exodus. Although Heathen had maybe a little more build-up to some of their songs and a bit more flourish as well. Century Media put this out on CD back in 1999 and this version includes a ninth track called Heathen plus four demo versions of songs on the album. It's not quite as heavy or edgy as I remember it being some 21 years ago. It's still solid enough to enjoy and "Pray for death" and "Goblins blade" are still my favorite tracks. In 1987 if it was speed metal then I was interested, it was just the style I loved back then. A version of Heathen is still plugging away today.
www.myspace.com/heathenmetal