Thrust

A

nother example of the many metal bands of the 1980s that attempted to play loud drum bashing Iron Maiden/Judas Priest influenced bad thrash metal; also known simply as "Late '80s Thrash", that would evolve into power metal is Thrust.

John Bonata (vocals; who had replaced original member Roger Terry), Ron Cooke (guitar), C.B. Sebastian (guitar), Price Sowers (bass) and Ross Cristao (drums) made the line-up for their first release Fist Held High (1984) on 'Metal Blade' (Solidarnosc Rock For Poland in 1982 was a split EP). The album featured the standard aforementioned thrash noises mixed with leather, spikes and creative explanations of S&M fantasies (as in Torture Chamber). Macho anthemic attempts such as Posers Will Die, Thrasher and the like also held weight. Legend has it they buggered off to Los Angeles and weren't heard from again.

Well, that's legend, the truth is everyone moved back to Chicago, except Cooke, who in 2001, restarted Thrust with a new line-up featuring Mark Stewart (vocals) then Chuck West (Chas) (vocals), Ron Cooke (guitar), Ray Gervais (bass) and Joe Rezendes (drums) a.k.a. Chas, Spike, Mike, Clay and Peter) to release Invitation To Insanity (2002) and Reincarnation in 2015.