Vio-lence is part of the second wave of Bay Area Thrash. They formed in 1985 in San Fransisco and released a series of demos before coming out with their classic debut album, Eternal Nightmare, in 1988. They had some more studio material, including two full-lengths, before splitting up in 1993, but they never really recaptured the magic of Eternal Nightmare.
Vio-lence reformed in 2002 and released an EP, They Just Keep Killing, the following year, but dissolved again in 2005.
http://www.myspace.com/violencesf
Vio-lence was an absolutely awesome act and one of my greatest thrash favourites of all time (to come). They were one of a kind and I'll always rue their split-up cos I'd have loved to get a few more records out of them.
Yea, Eternal Nightmare is an out and out immortal thrash classic that has always given me the sweetest thrills. But I probably love the Oppressing the Masses album, just as much. The Torture Tactics EP was a neat disc, too. The Nothing to Gain release was a departure of sorts from their previous two bombshell discs, and sounded initially like a let-down. But later, I came around to liking it quite a lot for its own virtues rather than comparing it (unfavourably) to EN or OTM. Sean Killian was one helluva unique vocalist (though lots of fans disliked and dissed him). However, I belong among the legions of Killian's fans. His sound and style defined the band's voice and made them sound even cooler.
twins, I was massively lucky to land a special limited edition '03 EP They Just Keep Killing. It's a 3-song release and must have become a collector's item, really fast. And, I'm glad that I was able to grab their '06 DVD, a 2-disc, (one with a documentary on the band), plus 17 track superb release called Blood and Dirt.
Vio-lence was a once-in-a-lifetime sort of act----and certainly belong in the thrash titans' elite.
I always found Oppressing the Masses to be pretty mediocre and nowhere near the level of Eternal Nightmare. But that's just me, I guess.
I'll have to check out that DVD. It sounds really cool.
My ALL TIME Favorite Bay Area metal band. The only band I was into enough to join their Fan Club (I even still have my membership card). I am fortunate enough to have seen the band about 15 times in the span of about 5 years. These include the video shoot for World In A World @ The Stone S.F. in 1990, Their last show w Sean Nov of 1993, Thrash of the Titans Benefit (The show that lead to their official reunion) in 2001, Live @ Slims/Blood & Dirt show in 2001 & the last show in 2003.
They were probably the coolest bunch of guys out of all the popular local bands back then (along with Death Angel). Very approachable, very down to earth (Especially Sean & Deen).
The 1993 demo is also quite a classic. This was essentially Sean Killian singing Torque songs, recorded after the Nothing to Gain sessions. I think one of the only times they played this stuff live (locally at least) was when a local club was shutting down for good, & threw a big blow out gig. I was at this point pretty well immersed in Death Metal and I couldn't believe how intense these new songs came off. Sean was getting close to Death Metal like vocal intensity (But still sounding completely original). I still get chills thinking about how great they sounded that night.
In terms of their releases & my preferences, something about the Mechanic Records demo will always be my favorite thing they did. Perry Strikland is a complete maniac on that demo. And the whole thing is Vio-Lence with their live intensity intact overall. I do like Eternal quite a bit, especially Phobophobia, & TDS. I just wish the production was a little punchier, with just a bit thicker guitar tone. In light of that opinion Oppressing is great just for the production quality alone. I like that the song arrangements are a bit more frenzied then EN, and the riffing is just a little more technical. Torture Tactics is about as close to a perfect Vio-Lence song as you could get.
Nothing to Gain on the other hand, was the band striving for a little more widespread acceptance. With the exception of 12 Gauge Justice, (which was an older song in their live set for a number of years), most of that material was written close to the time of the recording. So it wasn't quite as "Road Tested" as other material, and I think really it was mostly pretty forgettable.
Still, it is criminal how underrated this band is. They had so much more potential then the industry gave them credit for.
^^ Rest assured mate, that (fuck the ridiculously low-brow, self-serving industry!), at least we FANS always gave Vio-lence, the phenomenal thrash powerhouse and legend, all the praise, love and worship it deserved, all along. I know I did. And still do. And wish they'd find a way to reform, and give us back some of the thrash glory so many of us yearn for, and Vio-lence are probably still capable of giving.
Yeah NK, I know there's fans like us out there. However I don't think other bands, managers, and labels gave them enough attention (At least not until 2002 when Halford would take them out on a lengthy tour). The way this stuff gets perpetuated is mainly through live performance. And Vio-Lence just never seemed to get that one major tour that turned a lot of heads. Had Exodus, Sepultura, or Slayer for instance taken them out on a trek overseas let's say. I think it might have been a different story (They never did ever get a chance to perform outside of North America). But the band were such a powerhouse in concert, I wonder if some of the bigger bands weren't actually afraid to bring them out.
You would think the fan support would have been enough. But there were mistakes made with their choice of management. And that too closed a lot of doors for them.
Still it was great that they were back together for a short couple of years. They were working on material at the time Demmel quit. I wish they would have at least tried to finish that up before leaving the scene. Blood & Dirt is a cool way to cap off their career though. Pretty awesome DVD. I love the opening animated Eternal Nightmare/Logo sequence prior to the menu loading. They did a really killer job on that.
Vio-Lence is fucking awesome. I only got into them fairly recently but I can see how great they are. It's a shame they didn't do more albums. I think if Machine Head does a new album and it isn't good, they should just go back to Vio-Lence and thrash it up.
Yeah, it really is a shame that a band as awesome as Vio-Lence basically disbanded in favor of the shitty Machine Head. I would love if they got back together, and I definitely think they could be one of those few thrash bands that actually make a successful comeback album.
Truth be told that I actually enjoy some of Machine Head's stuff. And I've seen them live and they never disappoint. Still, Extreme Aggression is one of the most intense thrash records that I have ever heard. The world needs more thrash like this.