Reverend

Few bands can survive the departing of a vocalist. This was the crossroads that Heretic found themselves at in 1988. The Los Angeles-based metallers had just had their dynamic front man, Mike Howe, leave the group for greener pastures, becoming the singer for Metal Church. It was an opportunity that no one in Heretic faulted him for jumping on, but it left them with the daunting task of replacing someone so unique. Several auditions were held, but no one seemed fit for the job of replacing Howe. Exhausted and disappointed, Heretic threw in the towel.

Well, kind of.

One of Heretic’s label reps had suggested they give recently ousted Metal Church vocalist, David Wayne, a call.  Though not immediately on their list of replacements for Howe, the band could not ignore the kind of press hype a “singer swap” would bring to the band. A few phone calls later, Wayne auditioned by demoing vocals on the newer, much heavier direction guitarist Brian Korban and bassist Dennis O’Hara had been writing for Heretic. The results were undeniable.

REVEREND was born.

A debut EP surfaced in 1989, but it wasn’t until REVEREND delivered two classic thrash tinged heavy metal albums that people took serious notice. 1990’s World Won’t Miss You and 1991’s Play God brought the group critical acclaim, and helped grow their fan base throughout the globe.

Despite traditional heavy metal falling out of favor in their hometown of Los Angeles, REVEREND never compromised their musical vision to try and fit in like many of their counterparts awkwardly did. Album tracks like “Another Form of Greed” and “Butcher of Baghdad” found REVEREND mining from their classic metal roots and infusing the material with a modern thrash bite. It was a perfect marriage of both the song craft of early ‘80s metal with the muscular guitar tones of the day.

World Won’t Miss You and Play God, both long out of print, are now getting the Deluxe Edition treatment from Divebomb Records. The new discs both include brand new mastering, bonus tracks and new essays culled from a conversation between former REVEREND guitarist Brian Korban and music journalist Carlos Ramirez of noecho.net.

Fire…brimstone…and good old fashioned rock-n-roll…that’s the gospel according to REVEREND!