My 100 Favorite Metal Bands Pt. 89: Slaughter

For a band with only one official full-length album released, Slaughter sure shows up on this blog an awful lot. Well, I guess that is what happens when your band proved to be a major influence on the creation of death metal. Slaughter was a brutal thrash metal band from Canada who was once described as Black Sabbath playing punk rock. I think their Hellhammer/Celtic Frost influences are very clear personally. At any rate, it is unfortunate that the band only released one album, because it was a great one.

FAVORITE ALBUM: STRAPPADO

One and Done Pt. 2: Slaughter: Strappado

This is probably going to be the last time I discuss this album for quite awhile. I feel like I do something with it a lot. What can I say, though? This is just a great album.

Slaughter is a Canadian band that had a major influence on death metal. Combining thrash metal and punk even more than the two styles already were, and experimenting with harsher vocal styles resulted in the band's trademark sound.

Slaughter only released this one album though and broke up in the late 1990's. They did release a ton of demos and some compilations, but Slaughter only released one album. After they broke up, some members went on to form the Bay Area thrash band Strappado, named after Slaughter's only album and later the industrial death metal band Inner Thought.

Unfortunately, we only have one full-length from Slaughter.

1980's Canadian Thrash Metal

I have not done a look at an overall scene for awhile. Over the last few months, I have been exploring the Canadian thrash metal scene of the 1980's. This has to be one of the most underrated thrash metal scenes. There was some damn good stuff coming out of Canada in the 1980's. This may not be a "scene" in the traditional sense, but rather a number of bands from one country playing a similar style of metal.

These are just a few of the more well-known bands, obviously there are others, but these bands are the ones I have been listening to the most. I considered putting Anvil in here, but decided they were more of a power/traditional metal band, despite some clear influences on the thrash metal genre in Canada.

EXCITER
Favorite Album: Heavy Metal Maniac
Ottawa, Ontario's Exciter is similar to Anvil in that they are not technically a thrash metal band, but they are a little closer, being a speed metal band. However, they are widely considered one of the first speed metal band and a major influence on thrash metal. This album is the band's debut after changing their name from hell Razor, released in 1983. It is melodic and fast, but still has some very clear thrash metal riffs. The band is still active.

SACRIFICE
Favorite Album: Forward to Termination
Quite possibly one of the most underrated thrash metal bands from the 1980's, Sacrifice formed in Toronto, Ontario. Every bit as lethal as Exodus, Testament, Overkill, and others, Sacrifice never quite got the attention they deserved. Featuring brutally fast, razor-sharp riffs, Sacrifice was an incredible band. This is the band's second album and is the album where the band really came into their own. Sacrifice recently reunited after breaking up for several years and released a new album.

SLAUGHTER
Favorite Album: Strappado
Also from Toronto, I have done several posts on this band. Slaughter is one of the major influences on death metal, performing a style of thrash metal similar to Hellhammer and often described as Black Sabbath playing punk rock. Their heavy, down-tuned riffs and extreme vocal styles were utilized by early progenitors of the sound. Chuck Schuldiner was even briefly a member of Slaughter. This is the band's only official album.

ANNIHILATOR
Favorite Album: Alice in Hell
Ottawa's Annihilator is often called the Canadian Van Halen. The band's only permanent member is guitarist Jeff Waters who writes all of the band's music. Waters is an extremely gifted musician, able to write incredibly catchy and infectious music. The band's downfall has been the inability to find a suitable vocalist for a long period of time. This is the band's debut album and the band is still active.

RAZOR
Favorite Album: Violent Restitution
Another extremely underrated thrash metal band is Razor, which formed in Guelph, Ontario in 1984. Sacrifice is at least mentioned frequently, Razor hardly gets any mention at all. The band has been extremely consistent in putting forth some excellent thrash metal albums. This is the band's seventh album, released in 1988. The band was also incredibly prolific in their early years, forming in 1984. The band reformed in 2005 with plans to record another album.

VOIVOD
Favorite Album: Nothingface
We finish things up with the most well-known Canadian thrash metal band, Jonquiere, Quebec's Voivod. One of the strangest bands to play thrash metal, and one of the earliest to begin adding progressive elements to their sound, Voivod was massively influential. The band crafted their own sound and a strong science fiction lyrical bent. This is the band's fifth album and is their masterpiece, it still has some elements of their thrash metal style, but is much more progressive. The band recently issued their final album, choosing not to carry forward after the death of principal songwriter and guitarist Denis "Piggy" D'Amour.

Reader Requested Post: NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!!!

This is a request from Mrs. Metallattorney, who is obviously my fiancee and likes to create havoc sometimes on this blog. Love you honey:)

Well, I'm sure it was a joke, but here's Witchery's "Inquisition" anyway. Hah.

Burning red of charcoal the roasting place of rest
Flames are slowly stirring in this hideous nest
Red hot sparkling pokers lay waiting in the heat
Blackened grid of iron stained with darkened meat

[Pre-Chorus:]
There's a place here for you
We'd like to question you too
Welcome in feel at home settle down you'll have to...

[Chorus:]
Speak your mind tell the truth don't you lie
The church has the power and a heretic we shall find
No matter what you think who you are and what you do
For we will get the answers that we want out of you!

Hooded are the masters of this holy trial
Pleaded to by many but mercy recievers denial
Silent, skillful and handy their tread they do respect
Amongst the questioned thousands the guilty they'll detect.

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of knowledge about the Spanish Inquisition, and I'm not completely sure of the historical accuracy of Monty Python, or Witchery for that matter. Still, what an interesting topic. I like it when Catholics claim that Islam is a violent religion, turning their backs and pretending the Spanish Inquisition never happened. The major purpose of this was to maintain orthodoxy over several conquered areas and ensure that the people of other religions that were forced to accept Catholicism under pain of death were continuing to follow. It was created to suppress heresy, but also had a hand in other offenses such as bigamy, witchcraft, blasphemy, and sodomy.

The Inquisitor General was designated by the Spanish monarchy and was tasked with organizing the Inquisition. When the Inquisition arrived in a city, they would read an edict following a Sunday mass setting forth the categories of offenses and ask for people to tell them any suspects. There wasn't much in the way of due process as the defendants would not be able to confront their accusers and the Inquisition did not do much to ensure the allegations were factual. The accused would be detained while awaiting trial, which could last two years or so. Their property was seized and sold to pay for the procedures. The defendant was put on trial and interrogated, which often entailed torture, such as the rack and strappado (hanging them by the wrists which were held behind their back and hanging weights from their ankles). Very seldomly were people acquitted.

We also have a song by Slaughter called "Strappado":

Prepare yourself for torture
Prepare yourself to scream
This is no bloody story, ain't no fucking dream
Arms are tied behind your back
Hands tight in a rope
Suddenly your hoisted up,
Shoulder blades get broke

Strappado

Put on a pair of Spanish boots
Time to soak your feet
Plunge them into boiling oil
Fried alive in your seat
Dangle up on sky hooks
Strappado drives you mad
Arms rip off, you slam to the ground
Pain’s the latest fad

Strappado

Strappado

Clearly, a violent time period.

Slaughter (The Good Canadian Band, Not the Shitty American Band)

Slaughter was mentioned in the worldwide thrash metal post earlier on. I truly believe this band to be the best band to come out of Canada. Slaughter was immensely influential on the burgeoning death metal scene in the mid 1980's and are often considered along with Death and Morbid Angel to be early pioneers in the style. Slaughter's own influences come from the usual suspects, bands like Black Sabbath, Celtic Frost, and hardcore bands of the time. Indeed, Slaughter's early music could be described as Black Sabbath playing punk music. Slaughter frequently utilized two vocalists, a higher pitched vocalist who shouted and a lower-pitched pre-death metal style vocalist.

The band's sound evolved significantly since their earliest recordings. I received the Tortured Souls box set for Christmas 2007 which features many of their recordings other than their only full length album. It includes early demos and live recordings that are extremely rare and hard to find. The early demos display a band that has not found its sound yet. The songs are fairly short, immature-sounding, and very much on the punk side of things. Nevertheless, there are occasional moments that show the potential the band had of becoming a creative force in metal. The early demos are mostly fascinating to listen to, to hear a band in its earliest stages making its first recordings. If this was all that it was though, it would not have been worth checking out. Demos can be interesting, but seldomly are as good as the full length albums. It is clear that the band was attempting some Celtic Frost/Hellhammer-style guitar tone but was not fully successful. The vocals are much more in a sneering punk style than their later vocals.

As the band's proficiency at their instruments increased, so too did the quality of their music. The riffs were not as simple, the instruments were layered more, guitar solos were present, and the vocals began to sound better. The band also began incorporating elements from more extreme styles of metal, such as thrash metal into its music. The songs they previously recorded were often re-recorded with an improved sound quality and possibly additional instrumentation and lyrics. The band was beginning to sound like it would on its first full length album. Also included on this box set are some recorded rehearsals which display the band's odd sense of humor and some live shows from around the time period of their only full length to be released, Strappado. These additional recordings further show the band evolving.

STRAPPADO

The songs on the first full length album were, for the most part, works in progress from the band's demo days. The songs on the album were fully fleshed out featuring the guitar tone the band had been striving for all this time. The songs were typically short, fast, and aggressive. The band had finally created its masterpiece. Strappado is well-regarded in the metal scene as an early death/thrash metal album, and rightfully so. Unfortunately, the band would never record another full length album.

Unreleased Material After Strappado

The best part about the boxed set was the inclusion of the band's final album, which was never actually released. The band had changed its name to Strappado after their first album to avoid confusion with the American hair band Slaughter, but they still released a few songs on demos as Slaughter. The unreleased album was to be called Fatal Judgment and featured re-recorded versions of songs from the band's final demos, but it was never released after Strappado broke up. The album featured more of a shift in genres to thrash metal exclusively and lyrically dealt with more science fiction themes, including a song about the eponymous Alien from the movie series. The band still had potential to be a force in the metal scene, unfortunately at that point grunge had taken over and there was not much of a metal scene left. The band called it quits, reuniting once to perform a song on a Celtic Frost tribute album, but were basically done. Oh, what might have been.