Forgotten Gems: Abattoir - Vicious Attack

Combat Records
1985



For this week's particular Forgotten Gem segment Metal Mark and I decided to tag team the classic album "Vicious Attack" by Abattoir. As with Top Of The Heap and Hair Metal Hell we have broken things down into our two separate parts.


Andy says-
Given the fact that "Vicious Attack" was originally a demo recording it can be forgiven for being a bit raw production wise. The story is that Combat Records loved the pure raw energy of the demo and decided to release it as is. Chances are though that Combat Records either didn't have the money to allow Abattoir to re-record "Vicious Attack" or they were too cheap. Regardless this 1985 album is pure speed/thrash gold. Almost punk like in it's approach it has a Motorhead on a Metallica bender feel to it. That is probably a fitting description as the band choose to cover "Ace Of Spades" for the album. Don't let the raw thrash title fool you though as the band plays tight heavy metal. While the album originally listed Mark Caro and Danny Olivero as guitarists the real credit should go to Agent Steel's Juan Garcia. Vocals were handled by Steve Gaines (Bloodlust, Pagan War Machine and Bitch among others) and are rough while still giving it a thrash metal feel. Overall the album is raw and gritty with a punk streak a mile long. It is also a classic of the genre and a must have for thrash metal manics.

Metal Mark says-
I enjoyed their 1982 demo and really this album is similar. However my first exposure to this band was hearing their cover of "Ace of spades" on Hit Parader's cassette only compilation "The Wild Bunch". I liked it, but couldn't judge the band very well on just a cover song. It was almost another two years after that before I heard this album. This is kind of early speed metal in that it's fast but doesn't hit on the level that thrash soon would. Still it's well put together with plenty of speed and heaviness. Plus perhaps most importantly it still holds up well today. I listen to it a few times every year. They never quite made it though probably mostly due to there being so many speed/thrash bands pouring out at the same time. You just knew some good bands would fall through the cracks and Abattoir were one of those. Their second album "The only safe place" the next year saw 3/5 of the band change (!). The sound was similar to the debut to some extent as there is still plenty of speed metal, but there is also Judas Priest kind of classic metal feel to many songs as well. It's another solid album, but the band broke up not too long after that. Like many 80's metal bands they did reform in recent years. Both albums are worth checking out.

First Day Flashback

Abattoir-The only safe place
1986



Abattoir formed in LA back in 1978 and released their debut "Vicious Attack" on Combat records in 1985. They went several line-up changes including members John Cyriis and Juan Garcia leaving to form Agent Steel. Their sophomore release was "The only safe place" and even though it came out just a year after their debut 3/5 of the band's line-up had changed. "The only safe place" is a decent example of early thrash although it also borders on early American Style power meta as well considering it's not far from say Metal Church as far as the pace goes. I bought this on vinyl back in 1986 and always took to it well enough. It's not a landmark album at all and it's easy to see why it got lost in the same year as "Reign in blood" and "Master of puppets". Yet it's still a slab of solid metal with a duel guitar attack and powerful enough vocals. The production has that slight fuzz that I think actually helps this style of music carry a bit of thicker presence of sorts. The first seven tracks are all good, but then the last three is where the band explodes and just burst out with some of their best material. The band folded a few months after this release, however they reformed in the late 1990's and played on a few tribute albums. There is still a version of the band who are hoping to get everything together and finish a comeback album that has been talked about for several years.



http://www.myspace.com/abattoirla