The Truth of What Will Be

From a purely historical perspective, it can get a bit dicey trying to discern where thrash metal ended and death metal began, at least when dealing with the more primordial forms of both that came raging into the American scene and elsewhere by the mid-1980s. It could be argued that both were pioneered simultaneously to some respect within the primeval sludge of certain more extreme adherents to the NWOBHM and various contemporary affiliates, though often times the earliest examples of either style would often blur the lines between the two. Though by the late 80s there seemed to be a clearer dividing line between the respective thrash and death metal scenes, there were still plenty of bands that refused to overtly stylize their sound into one or the other, thus giving birth to the death/thrash hybrid style that was arguably in existence since Possessed's Death Metal demo, yet wasn't full defined until a bit later. While the individual examples of this style that first emerged could largely be defined as death metal outfits with remnant thrash metal mannerisms (such as Solstice and Revenant), certain bands were clearly more clearly lodged within a thrash metal paradigm and were simply stumbling into a death metal aesthetic through an exaggerated level of aggression and dissonance incorporated into their songwriting.

Though perhaps the most auspicious examples of this trend didn't emerge until the twilight of the thrash metal scene's commercial presence in albums such as Demolition Hammer's Epidemic Of Violence and Sodom's Tapping The Vein, there was a fair share of this approach going on throughout the late 1980s, with San Francisco outfit Epidemic's often overlooked debut The Truth Of What Will Be being among the ranks of the criminally underrated. In essence, this album presents arguably the most nuanced and unique representation of an early death/thrash style, consisting of an instrumental performance that could be likened to Slayer's Reign In Blood on cocaine, yet also fairly reminiscent of the crossover elements and comical asides more readily associated with Nuclear Assault and Stormtroopers Of Death, not to mention a raunchy as hell distorted bass sound that brings a slight Carnivore element into the equation. Further augmenting this ambiguous mixture is Carl Fulli's harsh yet comparatively tempered shouts, which are maybe a tad nastier than Tom Araya or Jeff Becerra, but don't quite reach the level of extremity found in Morbid Saint's 1988 masterwork Spectrum Of Death or Attomica's 1987 eponymous debut. Yet with all of the overt death metal trappings, this California-based blip on the death/thrash radar is more suited to a thrash metal template, particularly when compared with the seminal late 80s offering that came out of the nascent Florida death scene.

The ebb and flow of unmitigated chaos and frenzied riffing madness that permeates the airwaves from one song to the next culminates in a highly diverse experience, despite eschewing any degree of atmospheric nuance in favor of a full blown impact-based bludgeoning sound. Things begin on a reasonably moderated note with an obligatory mid-paced introductory groove on "AMX", somewhat reminiscent of the simplicity heard on "March Of The S.O.D.", and the raging madness that ensues when the vocals chime in can be best described as a neck-destroying fit of semi-Slayer worship, occasionally peppered with brief guitar solo bursts that are similar in demeanor to the King/Hanneman sound, yet exaggerated almost to the point of preempting the Hoffman brothers. This mixture of chaos and more measured mid-paced crunching is what largely typifies the longer songs heard on here, such as "In Fear We Kill" and "Three Witches", taking on a formula somewhat comparable to the longer offerings on Reign In Blood but without the dreary atmospheric aesthetic. On the other hand, the sub-2 minute offerings that make up a little more than half of these songs are a fair bit more abrupt, with standouts like "Thigh Rubbage" and "Finer Things In Life" going in more of a comical direction lyrically, the former sounding almost like a bastard son of Nuclear Assault's "Hang The Pope" and S.O.D.'s "Pre-Menstrual Princess Blues" done in a Slayer-like manner.

All things being equal, this album's lack of exposure can probably be best explained as a result of weak distribution and promotion via the somewhat ironically named British thrash label Metalcore, though at the time this was likely less the case since much of thrash metal did dabble in the early exploits of the 80s hardcore scene, which was naturally a fair bit different from the infamous one that developed in New York during the 90s. The next two albums would see this issue remedied with a healthy degree of support via Metal Blade Records, though one would be remiss to say that this album had no role in helping Epidemic procure such a coveted label affiliation. It is a bit more geared towards a thrash metal fanatic's definition of metal than a death metal one, while their often lauded sophomore outing Decameron took things far more in the latter direction. This album ultimately proves to be the more unique of their offerings, and has a bit more of a rugged, working class charm to it that puts it in similar territory to the rawer and often less lauded early offerings heard out of the darker fringes of the Teutonic and Brazilian scenes, in fact, the production of this album bears a fairly similar vibe to Kreator's Endless Pain when discounting the massive distorted bass presence and occasional comic asides. Not all epidemics end up killing off great numbers instantaneously, though from a standpoint of sheer aggression, this California-born bug could wipe out a city in short order.

The more one listens to thrash, the harder it becomes to discover something new, something exciting and powerful. One will find uninspired performances and mediocrity stemming usually from blatant copying of previous successful thrash outputs. Of course, there are occasionally bands that have remained somewhat hidden, but possess so much force and attitude that they at last trigger all those familiar emotions.

Epidemic if not hidden, is certainly an overlooked thrash band and it seems to me that its debut record, “The Truth of What Will Be” has gone somewhat unnoticed. The band undeniably developed its own brand of thrash metal and this is reflected on this debut. For such a short record, it manages to encapsulate and it is defined musically by a variety of intra- but also extra- metal influences, without of course ever leaving the domain of thrash metal. Epidemic infuses into their compositions several traits that characterise this variety of genres producing a sound that I can only summarily describe as crusty thrash with a serious grindcorish influence.

The debut features some simple yet incredible thrash passages such as the amazing intro of "In Fear We Kill" which leads to some great and fast tremolo picking 55s into the track. However, the way Epidemic arranges most of the tracks is so unconventional that it has more in common with grindcore than thrash metal bands. Epidemic literally splices into these short tracks explosive passages of instrumental battery which is reminiscent to the structure of a crossover/grindcore microsong. The band carried on this style to "Decameron" which is essentially an extension of the debut record. My review of "Decameron" explores further Epidemic's unconventional structuring of tracks and seemingly disordered performance.

Moreover, it is not just the arrangement of the tracks, but also the overall musical ideas on the record and direct incorporation of specific traits that suggest a grindcorish influence. The wonderful mid – paced griminess from 2m52s – 3m45s on “Hands of Ruby” actually reminded me of the section beginning at 39s from “Human Garbage” and the intro of “Scum” from Napalm Death’s debut album. The track even has a short but very noticeable blast beat from 2m21s - 2m24s. But the most overt grinder on the record has to be "Thigh Rubbage" which straddles somewhere in between crossover thrash and grindcore. Too chaotic to be similar to a Nuclear Assault or S.O.D grinder but not chaotic enough to be straight up grindcore it is, nonetheless, a pure explosion of energy with sudden tempo changes and a heavy usage of blast beats. The vocal performance on "Thigh Rubbage" and "Finer Things in Life" is also indicative of the record's direction as it harks back to the incomprehensible screaming of bands like Sore Throat (a.k.a Saw Throat) and Extreme Noise Terror. I must note Carl Fulli's quite interesting vocals since they do not seem to really fit in any traditional style of thrash vocals. Of course, it is evident that there is a death metal influence to his vocals which becomes much clearer on the next album where the vocals feature more growling.

The production is raw and organic resulting in a very gritty sound marked by Mark Bodine's distorted as fuck bass which boldly at times takes central role on the record (simply listen 32s into "AMX” and from 2m30s - 3m00 on "Hands of Ruby"). The production allows the music to have a greater sensory impact and it is integral to the chaotic nature of the record. It almost sounds like “The Truth of What Will Be” is a recording of a live show because all the aggressiveness and spontaneity of the band's performance can be clearly heard which I readily attribute to the record's unrefined production. I really have to restrain myself from going into a rant about how thrash bands nowadays systematically suck out the energy from their instruments and suffocate their performance by choosing to overproduce their records. What these bands fail to realise is that the identity of their work is somewhat diminished once the peculiarities of their performance are concealed by bloated record productions. In any case, the bottom line here is that Epidemic's debut is not your average sounding thrash record. It is a dirty and noisy record which unashamedly embraces the imperfections of a pure sound and frames incredible thrash riffage within the crustiness of an unrefined production.

Epidemic's debut is a very unique record in the history of the thrash genre and I would further claim, that it is not simply another obscure piece of great thrash but a very important metal record that highlights the close relationship between thrash metal and other punk based genres. Without any reservation or hesitation I recommend this record to every thrash fan, but also any dedicated extreme metal and punk listener. Thus, I hope that thrash fans will be surprised, as I was, with the refreshing intensity and aggressiveness of Epidemic’s debut while extreme metal and punk listeners will expand their musical interests.

US's thrash powerhouse Epidemic, started off their career with a full on thrash onslaught that tore the boundaries of speed, something Slayer made famous for, which is obviously the influence to be found here on The Truth of What Will Be. Their 1989 debut is a solid slab of thrash with very little death metal influence, other than the slightly harsher vocals and song structure. Their progression with the following sophomore album, Decameron, is almost a full on death/thrash album, and then their 1994 release was a mish mash of awkward death metal that still flowed in the thrash territory. But here, is where we see Epidemic at their best, their rawest and their most powerful.

A very short release, 9 songs barely making 23 minutes beating Reign in Blood's time, Epidemic's debut is chunky and fast thrash metal much in the vein of Slayer. Hell, even vocalist Carl Fulli SOUNDS like Tom Araya... and it's obviously Guy Higbey is a huge Kerry King fan, with those trademark chaotic solos that sound more like a hyena being stuffed in a fan. Fulli can also go the psychopathic route where it simply sounds like he's just yelling random words into the microphone which I find both hilarious and awesome, see Finer Things in Life; it almost reminds me of when Steve Carrell was getting his chest waxed in the 40 Year Old Virgin.. "AAHAAHAHAH KELLY CLARKSON!" The laughing at the end is truely something I'd expect someone from a mental institution to do as well. The musicianship here is what I would expect from a thrash band; the guitars are a bit sloppy at times, but riffing otherwise is solid; did I mention this was fast?! There are slower mid-tempo breaks at times like in Three Witches which is what of the longer songs that would easily fit well on Slayer's South of Heaven. The bassist makes his presence known with loads of thundering basslines like the prominent In Fear We Kill.

The songs change between under 2 minute all out, guns blaring, thrash assaults; raping your heads like a panda skullfucking Erik Rutan as he rapes good death metal productions. Reminiscent of work found on Fastkill where it's just insanely fast thrash that is almost too hard to distinguish; Epidemic have made a niche for such, which I fucking love. The longer songs (the ones actually passing the 3 minute mark) are the more coherent, more structured songs that actually have pacing that shifts to mid-tempo, with ominious bass and leads that haunt your mind (I'm looking at you Silent Torture. My version is the combined song of the last 3 songs where it happens about 3 minutes in.

Epidemic are somewhat overlooked in the grand scheme it seems, pushed back in the overlying heap of Slayer records and lamer death metal outfits that worked their way into the mainstream. But it seems even Epidemic fell of the path later on in their career, but here on the debut The Truth of What Will Be, is where you can find Epidemic at their most insane, their best and most importantly, their thrashiest! I can't find much to complain with this, it's great Slayer worship that actually sticks out, if you can handle insane thrash with a demented vocalist then Epidemic's debut is for you.