VIO-LENCE — Eternal Nightmare (review)

VIO-LENCE — Eternal Nightmare album cover

Album · 1988 · Thrash Metal

4/5 · 2020-02-16
UMUR

"Eternal Nightmare" is the debut full-length studio album by US, San Francisco based thrash metal act Vio-Lence. The album was released through Mechanic Records in 1988. Vio-Lence were formed in 1985 under the Death Penalty monicker, but changed their name to Vio-Lence the same year. The first years saw some lineup changes, before the lineup finally settled when guitarist Robb Flynn joined(who came from Forbidden Evil, which he helped found). Flynn replaced founding member Troy Fua. The remaining members of the lineup are Dean Dell (bass), Phil Demmel (guitars), Sean Killian (vocals), and Perry Strickland (drums).

Stylistically the music on "Eternal Nightmare" is a fast-paced and aggressive type of US thrash metal. Artists like Slayer and Dark Angel come to mind, but Vio-Lence are ultimately quite different because of the rather distinct sounding vocal style of Sean Killian. He is the definition of a "Love him or hate him" type vocalist. While he delivers the usual raw staccato type thrash metal vocals too, his dominant vocal style is a semi-clean singing with some odd drawn out and out of tune notes. It´s not melodic by any means and most of the time it sounds like he is stumbling over the words, because he has to sing a lot of lyric lines over a short time. So yeah I understand those who can´t stand his vocals (they are indeed pretty odd), but personally I find them both original and quite charming too. They are what make Vio-Lence something special on the 80s US thrash metal scene.

The instrumental part of the music is very well played too. The rhythm section perform their parts with conviction and great power, and the two guitarists deliver one aggressive thrashy riff after another and play some intense fast guitar solos too. A prime example of mid- to late 80s US thrash metal. The sound production is raw and unpolished, which suits the material perfectly. It could however have packed just a bit more punch, but overall it´s a great sound for the material.

The material on the 7 track, 35:19 minutes long album are well written and effective (the band recorded an 8th track titled "Torture Tactics" for the album, but the label refused to release the album if that track was included, because of it´s offensive lyrical content, so it is not included on the tracklist). The tracks are relatively complex without losing any power or being sophisticated beyond featuring more sections than your regular vers/chorus structured songs. A couple of tracks into the album the overall style becomes a bit one-dimensional, but that´s not uncommon for similar contemporary artists, so it´s not a huge issue, but a bit more variation between tracks could have elevated "Eternal Nightmare" to a higher level.

Upon conclusion "Eternal Nightmare" is a quality release and a promising debut album by Vio-Lence. The musicianship is strong, the sound production relatively well sounding, and the material is aggressive and effective. Because of Killian´s vocal style, the album even features a slightly original sound for the style and a 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.