R.A.V.A.G.E.
Hell Hath No Mercy

After Cynic, HIM, and Novembre, the search continues for the series "how we were before becoming famous": today we focus the magnifying glass on another one of the most important and influential bands in the techno-death scene, I am talking about Atheist, who became famous for giving birth to masterpieces such as "Elements," "Piece Of Time," and "Unquestionable Presence," as well as for having in its ranks musicians like Steve Flynn, the group's singer, and Tony Choy (also a bassist with Cynic and Pestilence).

Despite the great presence in Atheist's albums of influences mostly from genres like fusion and progressive rock, in the era before adopting the name (the moniker was adopted in 1988), the American group known as R.A.V.A.G.E. roamed the American underground offering a thrash metal with death hues, which really had nothing to do with the music they would later offer as time went on.
The last demo from the R.A.V.A.G.E. era is "Hell Hath No Mercy," dated 1987, a record composed of three short tracks, decidedly more raw and wild compared to the imminent atheist future, which, although from a compositional and execution perspective present some small flaws (the execution cleanliness is not yet excellent, especially for the solos, and anyway the compositions often seem a bit over the top and too tied to the clichés of the genre), from a more "scenic" point of view, they manage to have a truly devastating impact: the guitars weave in and out of riffs and solos fired at unbearable speeds, the rhythm section seems possessed, with a bass, now intent on keeping up with the ultra-fast drums to build absolutely impregnable rhythmic carpets, now all caught up in crafting solos of great taste, even though Choy is not yet in the lineup.

The only track where one starts to glimpse a desire to offer something that deviates from the "classic" American thrash death seems to be the concluding "On The Slay," rich in tempo changes, hyper-fast solos, and a slightly less extreme vocal setup; the other two episodes, namely "Hell Hath No Mercy" and "Beyond," instead present much more simplified structures, with distorted sounds in which the influence of Slayer's thrash is evident, further emphasizing the aggressive aspect, consequently making the tracks more in-your-face and with a more "chaotic" approach compared to what the band has accustomed us to.

This is what you will find within this demo, sure, despite there being a chasm between Atheist and R.A.V.A.G.E., even in this work elements of good quality can be spotted, which although still need to be adequately developed, they surely plant the seeds for what will be the story...