Thrasher

T

he now defunct 'Combat' label formed Thrasher when they wanted an all-star session featuring heavy metal musicians. Under today's definitions we'd call the resulting style speed metal, but at its core it is basic high speed thrash metal as their name advertizes.

To accomplish this project, the label grabbed ex-Rods drummer-turned-producer Carl Cannedy, who worked with Andy McDonald to write the songs. A group of musicians came and went from the studio from all ages and stages in their careers, including vocalists Rhett Forrester (of Riot), Dickie Peterson (of Blue Cheer), James Rivera, Leslie Dunn, Jackie Kenyon and Maryann Scandiffio (of Black Lace), guitarists Dan Spitz (of Anthrax), Jack Starr (of Virgin Steele) and Kim Simmonds (of Savoy Brown), bassists Kenny Aaronson(of Derringer/of HSAS), Billy Sheehan (of Talas), Mars Cowling (of Pat Travers Band) and Gary Bordonaro (of Rods). The debut album, Burning at the Speed of Light (1985), was a thrash sounding and slickly produced basic heavy metal album that remained a one-off, with Cannedy becoming a highly sought after producer; later working with the likes of Exciter, Hellstar, Possessed, Attilar and Jack Starr.