Review Summary: The debut album from a very impressive Bay Area thrash metal band that should've taken the world by storm.
The world--including the music industry--is a cruel, cruel place. Sometimes, brilliant musicians and composers don't get the recognition that they deserve. One such group of musicians and composers is Heathen. Heathen are one of my personal favorite bands of all time. Even if I thought their new album was kind of disappointing, they released two absolute stone cold classics in a row. The first of these classics, their 1987 debut Breaking the Silence, introduces their greatest strength; they can write aggressive music to thrash to, but they still possess a keen eye for melody.
This is quite apparent in the album's blistering opener, Death by Hanging. Listening to this song, you could take one of two routes. Will you headbang to the irresistibly speedy and aggressive main riff and pounding drums, shouting along to the song's triumphant and memorable chorus? ("
DEATH! BY HANGIIIIING!
DEATH! FROM THE GALLOOOOWS!") Or will you listen more intently and observe David Godfrey (Later known as David White)'s fantastic vocal performance, paying attention to the magnificent guitar playing from the formidable duo of Doug Piercy and Lee Atlus?
Yes, every individual member of the band gives a great performance. Mike Jazstremski's bass playing isn't really audible (Maybe that's why he left before Heathen released their next LP), but I'm sure he did a great job if he could keep up with axemen Piercy and Atlus. Together, they churn out one fantastic riff after another. Seriously, their riffage here is golden. They also deliver fantastic leads in every song. Carl Sacco--who would also be gone before Victims of Deception--gives a pretty good performance here, frantically smashing away at thrashers like Save the Skull and pounding hard in tracks like Open the Grave. David Godfrey (who would change his name to David White for whatever reason) is magnificent behind the vocals. His higher, aggressive yet melodic style gels really well with Heathen's melodic and technical thrash metal style, excellently getting the job done. The muddy production doesn't do the best job of tying these things together; the drums have that muffled, dated "cheap '80s metal" sound to them, and Godfrey/White's vocals seem a bit quiet in the mix at times. Piercy and Atlus are definitely clear here, but Jazstremsky is almost inaudible. But when the music and performances are this good, it's hard to get hung up on issues like that.
Back to the music itself. As said before, Death by Hanging is a great little opener, setting the listener up for what's in store. Goblin's Blade is even better. Opening with a very impressive riff with pounding, heavy percussion, the main verse riff that comes immediately afterward is an example of Heathen's ability to meld speed and virtuosity with capacity for memorability and catchiness. The fantasy-inspired lyrics are pretty cool, too. Following Goblin's Blade is the seven minute epic Open the Grave. One of the heaviest songs on the whole album, this beast of a track opens with razor-sharp soloing and starts out with a slower tempo and crushing riffs. The section after about three minutes features an ultra-heavy riff so effective that it'll no doubt have everyone interested in metal headbanging away. A softer, atmospheric section soon follows, showing the group's range and variety. But don't relax yet, because immediately afterwards comes the speediest and most aggressive section yet on the album yet, eventually returning to the frenzied shredding that began the song.
Pray For Death comes next, blazing right away with a slicing, speedy riff. This one marks yet another fantastic track in a row. Lyrics like "For us to exist, we must live as one/Divide the wealth and feed everyone!" must have come as a shock during the Cold War era. They'd later go on to paraphrase Karl Marx in the title to the fantastic track Opiate of the Masses off of their next album. The social commentary bent to this song goes on to criticize defense spending ("The government builds machines that kill/And they use our money against our will") and organized religion ("If the pope would sell his robes of silk/He could buy the hungry milk/Leaving no reason...to
PRAY! FOR DEATH!"). Political and social stuff aside, Pray For Death is a fun little thrasher. Set Me Free is a cover of a song by '70s rock band Sweet. I'm not familiar with the original, but it's a fun little cover, I suppose. Pretty crappy choice for a lead single, though. The title track opens with a multi-layered, triumphant riff, before speeding up. Most of this song is pretty fast, but the chorus sections for more of a crushingly heavy feel, underneath super memorable vocal lines from David Godfrey/White, of course. "We're breaking the silence/So hear what I saaay! Just listen in silence/It's the only waaaaaay!" Said heavy riffs and catchy chorus end up closing out the song. The absolutely brilliant pre-chorus, which is basically the guitars complimenting Godfrey/White, is one of the best parts of the whole album.
World's End, another epic in the vein of Open the Grave, starts out rather soft and atmospheric, soon revs up with yet another marvelous riff. World's End is probably the album's "weakest" track, yet even it is a pretty good listen. Countering the more melodic World's End is the "proper" closing track, Saving the Skull, which is the final track on the original vinyl. This song is probably the most traditionally "thrash" song on the album, with the riffs probably featuring the most total aggression and speed here. The lyrics seem deliciously evil at first, but in fact have a happy ending; the song is about saving a town by taking vengeance on a grisly serial murderer who cooks his victims. This one ends with a chaotic whirlwind of instruments the same way that Death by Hanging begins. The final non-demo track on the CD version is an earlier version of Heathen's Song on Victims of Deception, simply titled Heathen. Though the two songs basically have the same lyrics and feature many of the same riffs (and I kind of like the Victims version better because of the vastly superior production), both versions are worth listening to.
Breaking the Silence is a marvelous melodic thrash album. The impressive musicianship and impeccable songwriting skills of Heathen are held back a bit by murky, dated production, and there's a little inconsistency here; World's End and Breaking the Silence don't quite match the sheer brilliance of Goblin's Blade and Pray For Death. Nonetheless, the album as a whole is an outstanding listen from front to back. This superb slice of '80s thrash gets a 4.5/5.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS/BEST OF:
Death By Hanging
Goblin's Blade
Open the Grave
Pray For Death
