Virus (English metal band)

virus
General information
origin	London , England
Genre (s)	Thrash metal
founding	1986, 2008
resolution	1990
Website	www.virusthrash.co.uk
Current occupation
Electric guitar	Stuart Layne
Electric guitar, now also vocals	Coke Finlay
Drums	Darren "Rusty" Rust
Electric bass	Paul James
former members
Electric guitar	Scott Lauzon
Drums	Tez Kaylor
Vocals, electric guitar	Henry Heston
Electric bass	John Hess
Electric bass	Mark Baronowski
Electric guitar	Sid Sholly
singing	Benny Herb
Electric bass	Isa Brunacker
initially electric bass, later electric guitar	Matt Cooper
Drums	Dave Sherwood
Electric guitar	Pavel Matuszkiew
Electric guitar	Sam Brandon
Electric bass	Steve Taylor
Electric bass	Max Edwards

Virus is an English thrash metal band from London that was formed in 1986, split up in 1990 and reunited in 2008.

history

The band was formed in 1986 by guitarist and singer Henry Heston and drummer Tez Kaylor. In the same year John D. Hess joined the line-up as bass player. In the same year the band could be heard for the first time on the sampler Fast Forward to Hell with the songs Malignant Massacre and TNT . A year later, Coke Finlay joined the cast as guitarist. In the same year the first album Pray for War followed on Metalworks Records . A year later, the second album Force Recon followed on the same label. The band made their first appearance together with Suicidal Tendencies and Chelsea in London . Until their breakup in 1990 the group was together with groups like Megadeth , Death Angel , Nuclear Assault , Lääz Rockit , Cro-Mags , Kreator , Celtic Frost , Voivod , Sabbat , Acid Reign , Overkill , Lawnmower Deth , Deathwish , Napalm Death , Sacrilege BC and Carcass occurred. A US tour with Death was also planned, but it had to be canceled. In 1989 there was also another album called Lunacy . The attempt by Kaylor and Heston to re-found the band in the USA in 1990 failed.

In 2008, Coke Finlay re-formed the band for one gig. Since the other members did not want to participate in the re-establishment, Finlay put together a new line-up. In addition to Finlay, the band now consisted of drummer Dave Sherwood, bassist Matt Cooper and guitarist Sam Brandon. Cooper later switched to electric guitar, after which Steve Taylor joined the band as bassist. Taylor in turn was replaced a short time later by Max Edwards. In 2008 the band also held other gigs with Lawnmower Deth, Gama Bomb , Savage Messiah and Discharge . In 2009 the EP Raped by Mutants followed . In early 2010 Dave Sherwood and Matt Cooper left the band, whereupon bassist Paul James and drummer Darren "Rusty" Rust joined the band. A little later that year, Scott Lauzon joined the line-up as guitarist. In 2011 and 2012 appearances in Europe followed , including appearances in Spain , Norway and Bulgaria . In addition, the band performed at the Hammerfest 2012 and the Bulldog Bash 2012 and played two concerts together with DRI After that, Lauzon left the band again. The band currently consists of guitarist Stuart Layne, guitarist and singer Coke Finlay, drummer Darren Rust and bassist Paul James. In 2013 the next EP A New Stain of an Old Disease followed.

style

Oliver Klemm from Metal Hammer took the debut Pray for War negatively. The production is gruesome and the drums are “stupid, hammering tin drums that are more next to than in time ” while you hear “crooked, puked vocals that even Sepultura - Max does the honors”. Uwe Schnädelbach from Metal Hammer was hardly more positive about the follow-up album Force Recon . In his review of the album, he stated again that the predecessor "was definitely one of the worst releases of 1987". With Force Recon , however, the group “increased tremendously”, but “when Henry Heston's vocals, who also plays the guitar, start and the group begins to bludgeon, the listener becomes sick”. According to Wolfram Küper from Rock Hard, "[Virus] were at the forefront of the British Thrash Metal wave in the eighties". On A New Stain of an Old Disease the band offers uncompromising Thrash Metal, whereby "Gama Bomb and Onslaught are the figureheads of British Thrash Metal". On the EP, the band also covered the Proclaimers song I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) .

Martin Popoff wrote in his book The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties that the band on Pray for War plays Thrash Metal comparable to Slayer's music , although the songs have a punk influence . Force Recon compared Popoff the band in songs like No Return with Voivod .

Discography

• 1987: Pray for War (album, Metalworks Records )
• 1988: Force Recon (album, Metalworks Records)
• 1989: Lunacy (album, Metalworks Records)
• 1993: Warmonger the Compilation (Compilation, Mia Records )
• 2008: Virus (compilation, self-publication)
• 2009: Raped by Mutants (EP, self-published)
• 2013: A New Strain of an Old Disease (EP, Killer Metal Records )

Web links

• Official website
• Virus on Killer Metal Records

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Various - Fast Forward To Hell. Discogs , accessed December 29, 2013 . 
2. ^ Virus (18) - Pray For War. Discogs, accessed December 29, 2013 . 
3. ^ Virus (18) - Force Recon. Discogs, accessed December 29, 2013 . 
4. ↑ Garry Sharpe-Young : AZ of Thrash Metal . Cherry Red Books, London 2002, ISBN 1-901447-09-X , pp. 426 .
5. ↑ BIO. May 2, 2013. (No longer available online.) Virusthrash.co.uk, archived from the original on December 31, 2013 ; Retrieved December 29, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ ^{a b} Wolfram Küper: Virus . A New Stain of an Old Disease. In: Rock Hard . No. 320 , January 2014, p. 108 .
7. ↑ Oliver Klemm: Virus . Pray for War. In: Metal Hammer . December 1987, p. 47 .
8. ^ Uwe Schnädelbach: Virus . Force Recon. In: Metal Hammer . June 1988, p. 56 .
9. ↑ Martin Popoff : The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties . Collectors Guide Ltd, Burlington, Ontario, Canada 2005, ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5 , pp. 400 .