Eternal Nightmare

Among the thrash of the San Francisco Bay Area, this sits on the side that went all the way over to speed and aggression. It was recorded between February and April 1988 at Music Grinder in Los Angeles and Alpha & Omega in San Francisco, and MCA's Mechanic sublabel released it in 1988. There are only seven songs, but each is long and carries a great many riffs. The title track, "Serial Killer", "Calling in the Coroner" and "Kill on Command" pile riffs up and drive them through in a way that does not sound like Testament or Exodus from the same city. Sean Killian's voice is its own thing too, closer to hurling the words than to following a melody. Machine Head would later come out of this band, and the record keeps being cited in that Bay Area line. The running order here is the original's as printed.