Search - Hirax :: Not Dead Yet

Damn good bay area thrash/crossover

Haywood Jablowme | 06/15/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you're any kind of fan of good thrash/crossover you should buy this right now. This is 2 albums in one, and you can really hear the difference between the first and second. The first is Rageing Violence, it came out in 1985, a year when thrash was really coming into its own. Rageing Violence is a standard thrash album, but don't think that means its mediocre, it is really heavy, and very tight in musicianship. If you like thrash in the Anthrax/Metallica/Nasty Savage/Overkill/Exodus/Testament vein, you will enjoy this. The second album on this CD is Hate,Fear,And Power, it came out in 1986, a year when metal was trying to do new things. Grindcore,Death Metal, and Crossover were starting to heat up all over the place. Hate,Fear,And Power is a great Crossover album, this album is the Eric Brecht album as far as I'm concerned. With him on drums, Hirax really made themselves stand out. He can do it all from thick double bass to machine gun blastbeats, and he does it throughout this album. If you've heard D.R.I.'s Dirty Rotton LP, you know how good he is. If you like crossover stuff like D.R.I.,Nuclear Assault,Cro-Mags,Carnivore,Ludichrist,C.O.C.,S.O.D.,Suicidal Tendencies,Excel,and Crumbsuckers this will fit into your collection nicely."

Two rarely mentioned classic Crossover/Thrash masterpieces

Zander Haberstaft | Miami, Florida | 02/17/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Los Angeles area Hirax remains one of those wonders in the metal world, "Why aren't they mentioned in the same revered tone as Exodus, Slayer, Overkill, Possessed, Nuclear Assault, and Megadeth?" Their style was a little less accessible than the previous mentioned bands, but their contributions are just important. Crossover bands always had the problem of satisfying both the punk rock contingency and the metal contingency. Each Crossover band had their own way of mixing the hardcore punk and thrash metal sound together. C.O.C did it one way, Suicidal Tendencies did it another and the two sounded nothing alike. No two Crossover bands sounded alike. This "Not Dead Yet" CD (of 1987) combines the 1985 "Raging Violence" LP and the 1986 "Hate, Fear, and Power" mini-LP. (One of the rarest Restless/Metal Blade CDs by the way...luckily reissued to you by the band.) The sound they take on these two albums is nothing like their debut demo where they sounded like a typical N.W.O.B.H.M. band very much in the Iron Maiden style. To top it all off, master producer/engineer Bill Metoyer gives Hirax a better recorded sound than most Thrash bands at this time.



---Raging Violence---



Good full length album with a couple long songs but most making it under the 3 minute mark. John Tabares goes between double bass marathons and manic frenzied punk/hardcore travel sessions around the drum set. Faster than mid-tempo with a certain sense of sloppiness that the Crossover community would approve of. The guitars are the most metallic instrument of all, but occasionally go between that and the power chord attack for the chorus. No shortage of solos here. Audible but unremarkable bass guitar throughout. Lyrics are more of the socio-political -which you would expect of a Crossover band. Katon De Pena's voice is a super clean mid-range vocal delivery. Often remarked as the most remarkable thing about Hirax in the early years.



---Hate, Fear, and Power---



Hirax even admits "that by this time they had been through a lot". Tabares was replaced with former D.R.I. drummer Eric Brecht (who does a phenomenal job on the drums...as you would already know from listening to D.R.I.) The band's sound is essentially the same but you can tell they didn't want to go down the "Satanic Thrash metal band #566" road that Metal Blade wanted them to go down. The title track doesn't even make it to 30 seconds. Reminds a lot of D.R.I. and what Grindcore bands co-opted from Crossover bands. Lots of double bass, fair amount of straight ahead blast beats but not overbearing. Brecht's drumming sounds tighter than Tabares. The production boosts the bass a little more which rounds out the sound a little better. Guitars remain as strong as in the previous release with slightly wilder solos.



After having a fallout with Metal Blade Katon left Hirax in 1988. Even original Exodus frontman Paul Baloff sang for Hirax for a while the band tried different lineups. By 1989, Hirax was no more...that is until 2000. Essential albums."