Heathen (band)
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Heathen is a North American band originating from California, founded in 1984 by guitarist Lee Altus and drummer Carl Sacco. They play a blend of speed metal and thrash metal. They have released two critically acclaimed albums, Breaking the Silence and Victims of Deception.
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[edit] History
Heathen was formed in 1984 by two friends Lee Altus, a guitarist of Russian descent and Carl Sacco, drummer. The initial line-up consisted of Altus, Sacco, guitarist Jim Sanguinetti and vocalist Sam Kress. Then, Kress was replaced by David White and Sanguinetti was replaced by Doug Piercy. This line-up played only one gig in April 1985, without a bass player! Soon after, Eric Wong was recruited as Heathen's first bassist. In 1987, they released Breaking the Silence via Combat Records. It was critically very well received and sold over 100 000 copies worldwide, with some MTV airplay for the song "Set Me Free", Sweet cover. Carl Sacco was replaced Darren Minter.
Their second full-length album was released in 1991 through Roadrunner Records. Like its predecessor, Victims of Deception was also critically acclaimed. Then came some various line-up changes, attempts of recording, until the band came to a status of a hiatus in 1992.
In 2001, Heathen regrouped into the classic line-up in order to play in the Thrash of the Titans concert to help Chuck Billy and Chuck Schuldiner raise funds for Billy's throat cancer treatment and Schuldiner's brain cancer treatment. The concert was a huge success. Then in 2004, the band released a full-length album, the title of which is Recovered, which consists of re-recorded old material and cover songs. A new demo was released in August 2005, which contains three new songs. A new album is currently being planned.
In 2005, the band recruited guitar virtuoso Terry Lauderdale. HEATHEN played to packed houses and festivals across England, Scotland, Germany, France, Holland and Belgium leaving the UK and European metal fans in stunned disbelief as the Bay Area thrash veterans "shredded up" Heathen's most popular speed metal songs... some fans drove miles to see the "once-in-a-lifetime"Heathen appearance!
[edit] Current line-up
- Lee Altus: guitars (he is playing with Exodus too.)
- David White: vocals
- Terry Lauderdale: guitars
- Jon Torres: bass guitar (he used to play in Bay Area thrash bands Ulysses Sirens and Laaz Rockit.)
- Darren Minter: drums
[edit] Discography
- Pray For Death demo (self-produced, 1986)
- Set Me Free EP (Combat Records, 1987)
- Breaking the Silence (Combat Records, 1987)
- Victims of Deception (Roadrunner Records, 1991)
- Recovered (Relentless Records, 2004)
- Demo 2005 (Demo, 2005)
