Slaughter

Biography/History

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Slaughter (1984-1989, 1994-1995): a Thrash Metal band from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

lthough not death metal themselves Slaughter gets that classification for its influence on that genre years later.

Slaughter was a cult Canadian pre-death metal band featuring Dave Hewson (vocals/guitar), Terry Sadler (vocals/bass) and Ron Sumners (drums) that attracted a small but strong following through their short career. Within a year later, Brian Lourie took drums (1987-1989, 1994-1995; R.I.P. 2008) and Bobby Sadzak (guitars; 1987-1989, 1994-1995) moved in. Most interestingly death metal genre founder Chuck Schuldiner (founder of Death) briefly played guitars for the band during 1986; he would die in 2001.

Formed in 1984, the band went the usual demo tape route at a time when underground tape trading was rampant and served to heighten band awareness, eventually recording their Strappado album in 1986, a simplistic album but one nonetheless that would later influence the death metal scene a few year's later. Before the follow-up Paranormal could be released for 1990, however, the band broke up during the recording phase. Strappado would later be re-released along with some demo material, but Paranormal was never released.

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guitarist Dave Hewson went on with a new line-up under the name Strappado (the name taken from their debut album and a change made both to indicate a new direction and to avoid conflicts with the US based glam band Slaughter that was now on the rise), but they never progressed beyond a few relatively unknown recordings.

Later, Hewson and Bobby Sadzak (one of the new Strappado members) formed Inner Thought, a going concern for a few years before it too folded in 1996. Slaughter (or the remains there-of) would have one last blast of fame with their last recording being a song for a Celtic Frost tribute in 1994. The album Fuck of Death (2004) was released posthumously.

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