RockBox - Heathen - Discography

Heathen - Discography

Breaking the Silence line-up:

Lee Altus: guitar
David Godfrey: vocals
Mike "Yaz" Jastremski: bass
Doug Piercy: guitar
Carl Sacco: drums

Victims of Deception line-up:

Dave White - Vocals
Lee Altus - Guitar
Doug Piercy - Guitar
Marc Biedermann - Bass
Darren Minter - Drums

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Heathen were formed in 1984 by guitarist Lee Altus and drummer Carl Sacco. Even without a bassist, this lineup played a single gig, on April 21st, 1985. Then, Jim Sanguinetti left to form Mordred and was replaced by Doug Pierce on guitars. Sam Kress, who was a better songwriter than vocalist, was kicked out in late 1985 and David Godfrey of Blind Illusion was asked to join. Bassist Eric Wong was added in early 1986, and the "new" Heathen's first gig was on February 6th.

They recorded the "Pray for Death" demo in April, 1986, and then Eric Wong was replaced by Mike "Yaz" Jastremski from Griffin (US) in mid-1986. This lineup recorded the first album. Carl Sacco was replaced by Darren Minter on drums before the beginning of the US tour in 1988, sometime in January.

After the US tour, all Hell let loose, and David Godfrey left, to be replaced by none other than Paul Baloff! They recorded a demo in October, 1988, and then Yaz left and the band broke up, before being reformed with Manny Bravo on bass and none other than David Wayne (Metal Church) on vocals. Wayne was in for only a few days before David Godfrey (now known as David White) returned. A demo was recorded in March 1989, and an album, "Fear of the Unknown", was planned for 1990 release. It was partly recorded, but then scrapped due to monetary problems. Most of the songs made it onto the 1991 Victims of Deception album, with the notable exception of "Nothing You Can See".

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That album was recorded in 1991, with Blind Illusion bassist Marc Biedermann helping out but not being officially a member of the band. Randy Laire joined for the following tour. Randy was killed in a car accident in June, 1991, and Ira Black was quickly summoned to replace him for a planned tribute EP of cover songs, which was never released, as Doug Piercy left and Ira Black. After a brief interval with Jason Vie Brooks on bass and Thaen Rasmussen on guitar, Heathen broke up in 1992. (According to Dave White, this era of the band was "forgettable".)

Doug Piercy, Lee Altus and Darren Minter all moved to Germany. Doug began a career racing cars, while the other two joined the band Die Krupps.

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Heathen reformed for one show, Thrash of the Titans, on August 11th, 2001, with the lineup of David White (no longer Godfrey), Lee Altus, Ira Black, Mike "Yaz" Jastremski, and Darren Minter. The reunion stuck, and the tribute EP was re-recorded and released as a full-length with several demos from the Victims of Deception sessions. The band is now playing around the Bay Area and planning to release a new album.

The David White/Godfrey story: David was born a White after his biological father, but used his stepfather's surname, Godfrey, in school for issues of convenience. Upon reaching adulthood, he began using the White name, but his bandmates convinced him to use Godfrey on the Breaking the Silence album so nobody thought Heathen had switched singers. On Victims of Deception he was listed as David Godfrey-White, and has since officially become David White in professional and personal life.

Terry Lauderdale filled in the vacancy left by Ira Black for Heathen as a favour on tour from 2005 to 2007.

This one includes the re-release version of both their studio albums: Breaking The Silence (160 kbps), released in 1987 and Victims Of Deception (vbr), released in 1991.

The first one contains four songs taken from their 1986 demo Pray for Death, while the second one contains two bonus tracks.

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Breaking The Silence review:

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Quite good melodic thrash! - 85%

Written by Human666 on August 31st, 2007

And it's very catchy at the same time! Don't get me wrong, this album is still heavy but it's also pretty melodic with it's riffing and especially with the high tone vocals of 'David Godfrey' (former 'Blind Illusion'. However, I can't say that this is a unique or different album, the vocals are one dimensional and not emotional at all, but the vocal range isn't monotonous and the melodies are quite simple yet catchy. The riffing is very precise and flows greatly with the vocals, there aren't any moments at breakneck tempo however, the riffs are quite fast but don't expect for outstanding technical tremolo picked riffage. We don't have any complex puzzles here, it's a simple thrash album which is very catchy and straightforward and also pretty well constructed.

'Death By Hanging' explodes in with some nice leading guitar shredding and then it settles down with the main riff. This song flows pretty well and the chorus is very powerful and leading to another well executed soloing. I think that this track has the most solos here, it's not the best track however, but it's a proper opener and kickass at the same time!

Then we have 'Goblin's Blade' which opens with topnotched dual guitar harmonized melodic riff which leading to the first verse. This is a quite impressive song, the riffing is very tight and there is a bit archaic feeling with it, the vocals flowing amazingly with the riffs and the guitar soloing is great.

Overall, I would recommend this album to anyone who likes his thrash with a good melodic sense and with tons of catchiness. I don't find anything bad with this album, it's not a brilliant thrash mastepiece but it's one of these easy listenable albums that you can dig for a lot of time and never get bored of. Worth listening!

Victims Of Deception review:

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Two in a row for Heathen! - 90%

Written by UltraBoris on August 3rd, 2002

Two of the greatest thrash albums of all time - and this one can't possibly be mistaken for speed metal (not that that is a bad thing!) This is the album Metallica should have put out after And Justice for All. Or, instead of. In fact, instead of everything after Ride the Lightning. The guitar tone sounds almost exactly like Ride the Lightning, but Doug Piercy and Lee Altus can actually fucking shred.

The best part of this album is probably "Opiate of the Masses" with that awesome chorus - "power is the fix!" David Godfrey (aka David White)'s vocals are in top form, and the riffs are constantly catchy and bludgeoning at the same time, just like thrash is supposed to be. Other highlights include the opener "Hypnotised" with that Jimmy Swaggart or whomever intro, and also "Timeless Cell of Prophecy" and the 9 minute long "Heathen's Song". Yes, they change that song about once a year, and it's different on all the demos and all the albums and most of the bootlegs, and they make it completely different from the riff-o-rama from Breaking the Silence while keeping it completely and utterly awesome.

Any weak points? Prisoners of Fate is the obligatory ballad, and thus doesn't go along at 336 beats per minute, but is overall not bad. The album actually manages to keep my attention for 64 minutes, so that's definitely a winner.

Thrash

Bay Area Thrash Metal

Others

190.07 MB

24 files

14/02/2009

Seed(s): 0, Leecher(s): 3 = 3 Peer(s)

20/01/2026 07:45:32