In the beginning Black Sabbath created metal. In the early 80’s bands such as Judas Priest Iron Maiden exploded onto the music scene and redefined metal as it was known. Combining pumping riffs, blazing solos and soaring vocals they, among many, many others set the stage for the greatest movement in metal history. THRASH METAL. The early to mid eighties saw countless bands thrash bands surface. Bands such as Overkill, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax, Exodus, Metallica and Testament lead the charge. These bands combined the dark lyrical content of their predecessors with the speed of bands such as the immortal Motorhead. All this lead to a style of music that contained more energy than a million no doz tablets and inspired the most brutal mosh pits in history. The 90’s saw a sharp decline in the metal scene. Old thrashers began trading their patched, denim vests for flannel shirts and homosexual grunge albums. But just when it looked like Nirvana and Pearl Jam were about to conquer the globe four men from Arlington Texas gave them both a massive kick in their collective ball sacks. PANTERA was born. After years of struggle Pantera finally broke into the metal mainstream with their 5th album, Cowboys From Hell. An instant classic, CFH was a combination of Thrash, power metal, and highly unique riffage and soloing. In my opinion all the bands that followed Pantera don’t deserve a mention here. Pantera pushed the all the boundaries and defined metal in the 90’s.
2003 saw the demise of Pantera and coincidently the birth of a band that was heavily influenced by the southern kings and thrash metal in particular. Blunt Object Trauma was born. Founded by Leigh Bartley (lead g-tar) Mick Steel (bass) Ben Oborn (g-tar) and Adam Kernaghan (d-rums) we formed out of a desire to play something a bit quicker than the down tuned bullshit that was popular at the time. At this point we were playing covers of Slayer, Pantera, Sepultura, Ozzy Osbourne, Sabbath, White Zombie, Megadeth, Metallicca and more Slayer. Although the line up was solid we were never able to find a committed singer that suited our thrashy style. Ben decided to leave the band in 04’ due to differing musical tastes and the hunt was on for a new guitarist.
Enter Sammy Miller and Karl Watterson. After a few months of searching for a new guitarist we’d almost given up until one fateful night. It was April 16th, 05’ Myself and Joshy (hammer of the Gods) where waiting in line to see Megadeth’s supposed last show in Australia. In front of us, sitting on the ground was a big dude (Karl) and a long haired dude (Sam) that we recognized from Albury. I already knew sam played guitar and when I told him the style we played he was instantly keen. It was destined to be.
Sam started jamming with BOT shortly after and started the songwriting process. His seemingly endless supply of riffs beefed up our setlist dramatically. It was at this point when I decided we’d never find a vocalist so I tried playing bass and singing also. I didn’t do either very well. Still, we started playing gigs at Sodens Hotel and started to make a name for ourselves. Finally the decision was made that I put down the bass and concentrate on vocals. Enter Karl ‘Silverback’ Watterson on bass. Karl fit in instantly and also contributed to song writing. Shortly after this I decided to leave BOT for reasons I still don’t understand. This meant Karl would become the vocalist and our name was changed to HEATHEN RITUAL. I rejoined Heathen after a brief absence. At the same time our founding drummer Kerno decided to leave also due to lack of interest. Not letting this stop us we continued with Josh Rech. A very talented local drummer we’d known for years. The next year or so saw Heathen travel around NSW, VIC and ACT playing thrash to anyone who would put us on a stage. This period also saw us win the Wodonga Battle of the bands in 06’.
This year has seen a couple of line up changes occur for Heathen. Our drummer, Recha chose to leave us after a heavy night on the piss and Sammy Miller relocated to Melbourne for work opportunities. We can’t thank you guys enough, seriously.
Enter Alex Barsby and H-Bomb Smith. Alex had already played a gig with Heathen when Rech had other commitments so he was an obvious choice for our new skinsman. Not to mention the fact he’s skilled beyond his years. With the exit of Sam in August the choice of who replace him on guitar was also obvious. H-Bomb, was a friend of many years and a guitarist for even longer. He’s also the truest brother of metal on the planet. Upon entering the heathen ranks H has busted his arse learning our tunes and writing many of his own. H brought a new level of commitment to the band and now this heavy metal machine is fired up and ready to damage some necks.
The near future will see us record or first full length album and video.
And of course we’ll continue to play live and fight the hardcore invasion.
Poorly written by Mick Steel - Heathen Ritual
Fighting for metal, metal that’s real.
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