EPIDEMIC - Decameron

Artist:  Epidemic
Album: Decameron
Year:  1992
Genre:  Thrash Metal

San Francisco will forever be monikered the thrash capital of the world.  Anyone would have great difficulty denying this.  Los Angeles had its share of extreme metalheads battling for turf against the Hollywood glam scene.  Although located in the same state, the two cities had their definitive styles.  The bands in San Francisco had a thrash formula that was lightly influenced by punk and hardcore.  Audiences in Los Angeles were vehemently bludgeoned by the most extreme thrash on the planet from bands like Slayer, Dark Angel, Holy Terror, Détente, Viking and Abattoir.  San Francisco bands wanted stage dives and circle pits.  L.A. bands wanted a body count.  At that time, thrashers from the City of Angels had more in common with their European counterparts than their brethren 6 hours to the north.  Which brings me to my longwinded point, San Francisco beasts Epidemic resembled the sounds coming out of Los Angeles, not their hometown.  It wasn’t about “good friendly violent fun” with Epidemic.  It was just about violence.

By the time Epidemic’s debut LP, The Truth Of What Will Be, emerged in 1989, the paradigm for thrash metal was firmly established.  Many, including myself, might even say by the time the 90s hit, the quality in the genre had started to deteriorate and numerous headbangers moved on to new and more intense grounds such as grindcore and death metal, while massive hordes of metal fans went to groove along with Pantera (yuk).  Like much of the Metal Blade catalog in ’89, Epidemic could have easily been another rehash band of what came before them and released music that was languorous and played out.  Nope.  Not a fucking chance with these guys.  Their debut reflected those prior influences and created an impressive outing of feral, bone-breaking thrash.  Yet, even that doesn’t hold up to the sonic malevolence of the sophomore release, Decameron.  Some words to describe Decameron…merciless, unrelenting, savage, repentless (see what I did there?  good god)  This isn’t an album that needs fine details to describe it.  When it’s heavy, they go and play heavier.  When it’s fast, they go and play faster.  There are no “mosh” parts and nothing to make you smile.  The aggression is off the charts and can feel the band turning their instruments into wreckage.  Some describe Epidemic as a death metal band, but that’s just because of their bellicose approach to songwriting and the overall barbarity they display.  This record would make 90% of the death metal bands out there cower in a corner.  Decameron is a master class in how to do an extreme metal record right.  The musical climate of 1992 just wasn’t an optimal time for a record of this nature, so it sadly remains an underground gem still to be discovered by rabid thrash metal fans everywhere.

Listen to "Hate" here.