Viking - Do Or Die (1988) (Japan Edition 2021)

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Viking - Do Or Die (1988) (Japan Edition 2021)

Príspevokod užívateľa Horex » 29 Máj 2023, 07:24

Viking - Do Or Die (1988) (Japan Edition 2021)

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Year : 1988 (Japan Edition 2021)
Style : Thrash Metal
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 79 mb


Bio:

Viking is an American thrash metal band, from Los Angeles, California, which had existed for four years, between 1986 and 1990. However, they reformed in 2011. To date, Viking has released three studio albums, Do or Die (1988) and Man of Straw (1989) and No Child Left Behind (2015).Viking was formed in Los Angeles in the spring of 1986 and held the same personnel until they broke up in 1990. The band signed a record contract with Metal Blade Records after their second live appearance and went on to record two full-length albums and open up for bands like Dark Angel, Megadeth, Forbidden, and Sacred Reich as well as headlining many other shows.In 1988, they released their debut album called Do or Die. Although the brutality of the songs was appreciated by thrash metal fans, the frenetic tempos and bad production were not well received by the critics.Following Do or Die, they moved to a new level of songwriting and musicianship. Adding half-time mosh bridges and more technical riffs, the songs for Man of Straw demonstrated a marked improvement over the previous offering.Shortly before they started to record Man of Straw, Ron Eriksen became a born-again Christian and changed some of the lyrics to avoid blasphemies. Before embarking on a tour with Texas-based Helstar in 1990, Ron felt that his new faith could not endure the tour, and he left the band, which immediately broke up upon his departure. Prior to their breakup, Viking demoed new material for their third album for a 1990 release, and one song, "Abortuary", was released as a bonus track on the 2006 reissue of Man of Straw.Ron and drummer Matt Jordan soon after moved to Oregon, Brett Eriksen joined Dark Angel full-time (he'd filled in on the Leave Scars tour) and bassist James Lareau pursued a career in sculpture.Before Viking, Ron (whose stage name Ronny Devious had been carried over from his days with The Hags), Matt,and James were in Tracer and released a 3-song demo entitled Sudden Death with vocalist Tony Spider (Tony Vargas from L.S.N / Vermin). Following a temporary split, Brett began jamming with the band, and Ron began singing.After the release of Man of Straw, Matt Jordan also converted to Christianity. (Interestingly, Ron Daniel has said that Matt's conversion had nothing to do with his own.) Some years after the band broke up, Ron became a Bible teacher.In early 2011, Ron Daniel (guitar, vocals) resurrected Viking after a 20-year hiatus.Ron recruited former Dark Angel members Gene Hoglan and Michael Gonzalez and Justin Zych (Vindicator, Valhalla, Argonaut) to record Viking's first release in over 20 years titled, No Child Left Behind.In 2013, Viking played its first shows in over 20 years with the addition of Cody Johns (Argonaut, Eighty Thousand Dead, Population Control) on drums. Headlining the Childhood Hero’s Festival in New York City and Ragnarokkr in Chicago, Viking has come back with a vengeance.No Child Left Behind was released on March 4, 2015.

Album:

Viking’s debut “Do Or Die” has always maintained a distinction of drawing mixed responses right since the time of its release.The two factors that form such varied opinions are the sheer energy and fury of this record, much to the liking of many thrash metal freaks whereas the haters find the production very slim giving this a rather dry feel instead. The latter also argue that this is pretty much a poor man’s Dark Angel. Personally when I have to rate any album, I don’t deny that I take a few view points of several other reviewers along with a healthy dose of mine to give the final verdict. For this release though, I still maintain that this is one of the most intense thrash albums ever recorded.With a breeding ground such as Los Angeles, home to many intense thrash units over the years and also its geographical closeness to the SF Bay area, its not hard to imagine what the sound on this would be like. Combining some riff structures of the SF scene with the ferocity of Dark Angel, the output is quite gritty and catchy. When I first heard this LP, I was rather surprised to find the downtuned guitars being used here. For the year 1988, this was rather novel considering the standard E approach used by many metal acts around the same time. In all honesty, I’ve never been a big fan of guitar downtuning and my support for it almost ceases to exist considering the fact that many groove metallers use it to create their music. But it actually works really well here though.Frontman Ron Daniels (before becoming a born again Christian) was a very talented individual indeed. His voice though not extremely unique combined some rather aggressive lines with clean vocals devoid of any gruff and snarls. His guitar playing is quite commendable and the addition of future Dark Angel axeman Brett Eriksen who would play on the LA caffeine machine’s highly acclaimed 246 riff strong “Time Does Not Heal” made them a very lethal six stringer duo capable of churning out speedy and intricate razor sharp riffs. The rest of the lineup keeps up with the thrash onslaught with ease but the production as hinted earlier takes a bit of a hammering. It’s not as flat sounding as Damien Thorne’s crème de la crème debut but rather muddy and very bass heavy. Fortunately the riffs are audible and headbanging worthy.Most of the tracks are viciously fast with some incredible thrash breaks. The opener “Warlord” has a killer chorus that flows smoothly along with the main riff while “Hellbound” has a catchy pinch harmonic that forms the opening of the track. My picks on this album would definitely be the insanity driven “Militia of Death” and the epic “Valhalla”, the latter probably being the best song on this album with some cool lyrics and powerful riffs. The second half of the album continues the thrash fest without compromise.While Viking were not really making any original breakthroughs in music, what they did succeed in doing was taking the intensity a few notches higher. Granted there were a few bands around the same time such as Cryptic Slaughter, Wehrmacht, Incubus, Protector or even the Canadian speedsters Aggression and Soothsayer that were creating some insanely fast stuff in the underground but their leanings were a lot towards crossover, hardcore or even death metal. That’s where Viking managed to stay very much in the thrash realm without compromising on the speed. For fans of Eternal Nightmare, Spectrum of Death and Darkness Descends, this is a must have.

Line-Up:

Ron Eriksen - Vocals, Guitars (1986-1990, 2011-present) See also: ex-Tracer, ex-Hags
Brett Eriksen - Guitars (lead) - See also: ex-Dark Angel
James Lareau - Bass - See also: ex-Tracer, ex-Lethal Gene
Matt Jordan - Drums - See also: ex-Barrier, ex-Lethal Gene, ex-Tracer

Tracklist:

01. Warlord 04:14
02. Hellbound 02:37
03. Militia of Death 02:39
04. Prelude / Scavenger 03:46
05. Valhalla 03:17
06. Burning from Within 03:35
07. Berserker 03:37
08. Killer Unleashed 04:00
09. Do or Die 04:25


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