Biohazard and Pro-Pain

Storming out of Brooklyn in 1987, Biohazard first made a name for themselves in the thriving New York City hardcore punk scene, playing shows with the likes of Cro-Mags and Agnostic Front. However, the band were always far more open minded and experimental than their NYHC peers. From the very beginning they were taking their blend of thrash metal and hardcore punk and adding influences from hip-hop to it, which got them noticed by Maze Records in 1990. The band signed a deal with them and released their self-titled debut album the same year, and although it still managed to sell a respectable 40’000 copies, it wasn’t promoted as well as it could have been, and the band were soon looking for another label to take them on.

The band arguably hit the jackpot in 1992 when they signed to Roadrunner Records, making them label mates with the likes of Sepultura and Type O Negative. They capitalised with their breakthrough record “Urban Discipline”, a record which sold over a million copies and gave MTV’s heavy metal show Headbanger’s Ball the most played video in their 17 year history in the form of the single “Punishment”. In 1993 the band moved off Roadrunner and signed to Warner Bros., releasing “State Of The World Address” the year after. This record equalled its predecessor’s commercial success, making them the hottest heavy metal band in the world for a period of time.

Ever since then the band have remained stalwarts on the American metal scene, even though they split for two years, reuniting in 2008. While they’ve never quite for the recognition they deserve for being a prototype Nu-Metal band before Korn took it over ground a couple of years after they debuted, they’ve still got legions of devoted followers. This isn’t even to mention how they can still blow the roof of any venue they play as a live act, and to this day, Biohazard come highly recommended.

The roots of Death Angel can be traced to California and a quartet of cousins, Rob Cavestany, Dennis Pepa , Gus Pepa and Andy Galeon who formed the original line up yet they were known by many other pseudonyms including Dark Fury and Cavestany before eventually deciding on Death Angel. Their first album 'The Ultra-Violence' was released in 1987 after experimenting with different variations of traditional metal. The album was released through Enigma Records, it failed to chart yet it was hailed as a cult success by the band's early fan base.

The band followed this with two albums, 'Frolic Through The Park' in 1989 which remains the only appearance on the US Billboard charts whilst 1990's 'Part III' scored the band moderate chart success across Europe. In late 1990 drummer Andy Galeon was critically injured when their tour bus crashed and this was seen as the catalyst that ended with the band's demise. Their record label encouraged them to replace Galeon with another drummer due him needing a year to recover yet when the band refused they were then dropped. Various members decided to pursue life outside music and by 1991 Death Angel was no more.

However in 2001 the band reunited for a benefit show, although Gus Pepa was unable to attend due to no longer being in the States so Death Angel continued with collaborator and friend Ted Aguilar. They released their first album in 14 years which was titled 'The Art Of Dying' in 2004. The 2010 release 'Relentless Retribution' peaked at #10 on the US Heatseekers charts as well as appearing on numerous European charts.

If you were a musically inclined kid, then chances are that you heard of punk rock and metal as genres before you heard the actual music. You might have even seen photos of the band members before hearing the music, now we’re in the internet age. If you were anything like me, you probably had an idea of what they would sound like based on what you read about them. Or maybe what you saw in those photos of Johnny Rotten sneering at the camera with a safety pin in his nose or the Ramones leaning against a brick wall looking like the really scary kids at school.

Now that we’re older, we’ve probably found that the music that we thought those old school punks would play, terrifying bursts of metallic noise, is pretty much precisely the kind of music the D.R.I play. We’re also more inclined to think that D.R.I are a pretty awesome band because of it. Especially now that we can appreciate the fact that they’re one of a very rare breed, a band who were part of early 80’s thrash metal boom and made a long lasting career out of it, without becoming pop stars or creaking shadows of their former selves.

The band began by rising from the ashes of another band that most of the members played in called The Suburbanites, in fact the original line up of D.R.I was basically The Suburbanites but with Cassidy playing guitar instead of Cassidy’s roommate. The band formed in May 1982, and started practising together almost immediately, in the basement of Kurt’s parents’ house. Unfortunately, they were none too thrilled at the prospect of a noisy thrash/punk band bawling away on their property, but in an almost saintly show of parental patience and understanding, they let them keep practising.

Their patience still wore thin from time to time however, and on one occasion where that happened, the band were branded “dirty rotten scoundrels” by a pair of angry Brecht parents. Nothing if not resourceful, the band abbreviated that insult into D.R.I and took it as their name. Two months after they started practising together they played their first show at Joe Star’s OMNI nightclub in Houston, and started gigging locally, gaining a loyal following in short order. By November they’d recorded and released their “Dirty Rotten E.P”, a heroic display of economy that crammed 22 songs in at a total length of 18 minutes.

By this point their name had spread, and the 1000 copy initial print of the E.P sold out before the end of the year, and in 1983 it was re-released as their debut album the “Dirty Rotten L.P”. In the same year they relocated to San Francisco, living in their splitter van by day and eating at soup kitchens in between shows. Their first national exposure came when they joined the Rock Against Reagan tour supporting The Dead Kennedy’s, and since then they’ve been one of the true bastions of American underground rock. Never compromising in the face of suits telling them what to do and releasing six subsequent albums until their hiatus in 2006.

Their hiatus came for the worst possible reason, as Spike Cassidy was diagnosed with colon cancer, but after chemotherapy and surgery he made a full recovery and they’ve been touring non-stop ever since. They’re still a vitally important band to have around, arguably now more than ever, and they come highly recommended.