





Year : 1985 (Century Media Records Edition 1999)
Style : Power Metal , Speed Metal , Heavy Metal
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 99 mb
Bio:
Abattoir were an American Power/Speed metal band, founded in 1982. Juan Garcia, and Steve Gaines went on to be involved in other important metal bands Such as Evildead, and Tactics.Founded in 1982 Abattoir soon became one of the most remarkable early speed metal bands. Consisting of Mal Sanchez (b), Mark Caro (g), Rawl Preston (v), Juan Garcia (g) and Robert Wayne (d) they played their first gigs the same year. Typical line up changes happened the the early days which lead John Cyriis (John Syriis at the time) (v ; later Agent Steel) into the band. This line up produced a 2-song demo tape, but soon after releasing the song 'Screams From The Grave' on Metal Blade's Metal Massacre 4 sampler the band already fell apart for a short period of time.John and Juan went on to form Agent Steel while Mark and Mel reformed Abattoir in late 1984. The band got signed by Combat records in the United states and released their debut album Vicious Attack in 1985. At this time Steve Gaines (v; Bloodlust), Danny Oliverio (g) and drummer Danny Anaya filled the gaps in Abattoir's line up. Soon after the release of their debut Steve Gaines was replaced by Mike Towers (Heretic). Gaines tried to form his own project called Tactics and later on rejoined his first band Bloodlust. While Vicious Attack was an almost thrash metal oriented album his follow up The Only Safe Place, released in 1986, showed the band from a more melodic side best described as speed metal on the border to power metal.The Only Safe Place turned out to be the last album of the band. A little after the release of this album Mel Sanchez got together with his former bandmate Juan Garcia, who left Agent Steel in 1987, to form Evildead. After Mel was gone Abattoir went through several line up changes but never found a constant line up and finally split up in the late 80's.Abattoir were the opening band for Megadeth's first shows: February 15th and 18th, 1984."Here's the bad news. It is not known exactly when, but sometime in the month of July 2003, D-Dog Studios erased the entire "Evil Incarnate" recording. What's worse, it was never backed up anywhere. What is left from the disaster is the Ashes of the CD that was showcased at the 2003 Listening Party. To ensure the integrity of our vision for "Evil Incarnate", this CD has been re-titled "From the Ashes" and will possibly be available to our fans.""There are no plans to re-record "Evil Incarnate" at this time...Abattoir has since parted ways with Kevin Mac Shane. Steve Gaines is busy recording and touring with new bands Pagan War Machine and Dreams of Damnation. Mel Sanchez and I are on damage control duty with this unfortunate turn of events. We'll keep you posted on our progress."Abattoir recorded also song "School Daze" in 2001 on W.A.S.P.'s tribute album called "Show No Mercy".
Album:
Second full-length album.Its interesting how much the transition from their debut album to this one reminds me of Savage Grace's move from "Master of Disguise" to "After the Fall from Grace". The emphasis on speed and innovation is still definitely there, but at the same time it does feel like a very different side of the band. Maybe its the new vocalist who led these changes, maybe not? With drastic improvements also came some changes, some for the best and some that weren't so great.The production is superior to their debut by tenfold. My problem with the debut's production was also its inconsistency, quality seemed to bounce around from track to track. That's hardly the case here. Another major improvement is the length of this album. Its nearly twice as long as their debut, which is obviously nice.The one change I really don't enjoy so much is the replacement of previous vocalist Steve Gaines with Mike Towers. Mike Towers manages to sound quite a bit like Chastain's original female vocalist Leather Leone (interestingly enough, this album sounds quite a bit like Chastain). He could also probably be slightly compared to Ralf Scheepers. The vocals aren't bad at all, and the chorus's here are as catchy as ever, but Towers lacks the aggression and originality Gaines had. Another thing as previous reviewers have pointed out, the 'vicious attack' and raw power they had is a bit lost here. It does feel a bit held back from time to time, and sadly some of the songs on here aren't too memorable.Overall though this album is a very good. The intro track has that generic wind blowing in the background, but it also brings in some great guitarwork and sets you up for one of the best tracks on here, Bring on the Damned. Just like their first track on their debut (the track Screams of the Grave), this song comes at you like a stampede and explodes with its extremely catchy chorus. The fourth track sounds a bit too much like Chastain though, and possibly a bit too happy, not to mention the synth's here are a bit silly. The tracks after this don't really stand out too much either. I'd say it really picks back up with Temptations of the Flesh, coming off a little faster and tougher than the previous tracks. This quality seems to continue for the rest of the album, and the final track Night of the Knife definitely stands out as one of the best. Starts off with some great shredding and gallops away like something you could have heard on their debut.In the end this is another great album from the obscure Abattoir, and sadly it would be their last full length album. Its different compared to their debut, but at the same time this is still something you'd only find underground. If you really like Savage Grace's "After the Fall From Grace", Chastain, and other obscure 80's speed/power metal bands you'll probably enjoy this one. Overall I may prefer their debut over this, but I'm giving them the same rating because of the drastic improvements with the production and for the length of this album being twice as long as its former. Definitely worth hearing for the fans.
Line Up:
Mike Towers - Vocals - See also: ex-Alex Masi, ex-Heretic, ex-Abattoir, ex-Vermin, ex-Ashes II Ashes, ex-Court Marshall, ex-Heirophant
Mark 'The Shark' Caro - Guitars (1982-1987, 1998-2005, 2008-?, 2018-2019) - See also: Shark, ex-Evildead
Danny Oliverio - Guitars
Mel Sanchez - Bass - See also: ex-Evildead
Danny Amaya - Drums (R.I.P. 2017)
Production:
Recorded At – Westlake Recorders
Recorded At – Fiddler Studio
Mixed At – Westlake Recorders
Coordinator [Project Coordinator] – Joe Leonard
Design – Deborah Lauren, Laura Freeman
Design Concept [Cover Concept] – Mel Sanchez
Engineer [Assisted] – Bill (Yenky) Jenkins*
Executive-Producer – Barry Kobrin, Steve Sinclair
Liner Notes – Nicki Neil
Photography By – Lee Keisner, Matthew Poe, Rick Mikels, Tiffany Pryor
Producer [Assisted], Engineer [Assisted], Management – Rico Aiello
Producer, Engineer – Chuck Rosa
Tracklist:
01. Intro: Beyond the Altar 01:28 instrumental
02. Bring On the Damned 04:12
03. The Only Safe Place 05:06
04. Nothing Sacred 05:20
05. Hammer of the Gods 04:27
06. Back to Hell 03:10
07. Temptations of the Flesh 05:28
08. Under My Skin 03:56
09. S.B.D. (Feel the Fire) 03:28
10. Night of the Knife 05:26


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