helterskelter.ca

STORMTROOPERS OF DEATH (S.O.D.)
1985 - Speak English Or Die.
1999 - Bigger Than The Devil.
more STORMTROOPERS OF DEATH (S.O.D.).
way more Helter Skelter.

August 30, 1985 - 2025: 40 years of: Speak English Or Die.

This is not a drill.

Lewd and lovely, rough and retarded, fearless and fuckable: anti-PC before PC was even a thing ...because fuck everybody. By 1985, speedmetal was running at full RPM, rabid monsters like SLAYER, RAZOR and KREATOR were the ultimate shit in the speed-department ...yet they have seen nothing yet.

ANTHRAX's Scott Ian and Charlie Benante had some free time after the recording-sessions for Spreading The Disease LP. A few songs demoed, a call to buddy Danny Lilker and motherfucker loud mouth in chief Billy Milano and voila: the STORMTROOPERS OF DEATH platoon moshes into town.

A brutal truth.

The mosh, the riff, the military step ..."March Of The S.O.D." is a fat mutherfockin' stomper. One of metal's simplest and strongest riff. And now, salute as your immediate superior is here: "Sargent D & The S.O.D." pushes, destroys and thrashes everything. Two back-to-back tracks: 3:50sec of raunchiness that forever encompassed S.O.D. as the ultimate thrashcore renegades. Fear them !

The rhythmic "United Forces" rejoices and crushes in a downstroke of fury, hail Scott's right wrist. More speed and more hate and more speedhate: "Chromatic Death" is the thrashiest 0:44sec champion of all-time. Got yer bowl 'n Cherrios ready little boy ? ...d'ya got some "Milk" ? The ugliest morning-wood ever, blue-print for what's-to-become grindcore, while both circle-pit generators "Milano Mosh" and "Fist Banging Mania" are sure to leave you with some loose teeth. S.O.D. also gives a quick P.S.A.: no matter your race, your color, your ethnicity, your religion ...ya betta "Speak English Or Die".

Semper Fi, Mosh Or Die !

Lightning in an bottle in the thrash-field, no other album possesses the blunt-power Speak English Or Die LP has. Hardcore mixed with thrashmetal equals crossover: the ultimate mix for instant brutality NYHC-style, the quintessential be all, end all of thrashcore. The S.O.D. experience is a must-hear chaotic attraction.

Ian and Benante returning full-time duty in ANTHRAX, Lilker explored thrashcore with NUCLEAR ASSAULT, while Milano kept the hate commin' with his new band, the simply entitled: METHOD OF DESTRUCTION aka M.O.D. Reunited for a one night only world-tour, 1992's Live At Budokan CD still shows grit and adolescent energy. Recorded at The Ritz in NYC, the title pokes fun for their imaginative global success.

STORMTROOPERS OF DEATH would come back to tape and associated tours, with 1999's Bigger Than The Devil CD ...in a very different now highly diluted metal-market.

*
Speak English Or Die = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJVIAkKse9o&list=OLAK5uy_naqwSDXkcXtmq8jy7aPQneBmpAMSRfGL8
Radio interview in 1985
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgevx9ZTvpM
Live in NYC in 1985
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpoEOa0g2FY
Live At The Budokan = full VHS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJoE6SxQ9mE
Live At The Budokan = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XgQX0i85gI&list=OLAK5uy_nxc5TE5oQROhg_Vq8rO-1ML8kUvTyj4TM

May 17, 1999 - 2024: 25 years of: Bigger Than The Devil.

The Sargent is back !

1985's vile crossover Speak English Or Die cult-classick LP came and went. Yet now required listening, nobody ever though a follow-up could even be remotely possible, especially during the turbulent mid 90s. After 1997's one-off reunion-gig for the annual Milwaukee Metal Fest and following ANTHRAX's Volume 8 touring-cycle, the very unlikely happened: new music from the STORMTROOPERS OF DEATH.

Build-up, power and might oozes on cue, as this band is truly "Bigger Than The Devil". Lovely hardcore rears it's ugly head on "The Crackhead Song", "Shenanigans" and "Black War", all tracks with that revered NYHC-flair. Grinding back to the top with the 0:25sec burst of "Charlie Don't Cheat", 0:37sec "Skool Bus" and even two new ballads to eulogize the recently deceased, namely Michael H. and Phil H.

More bad-taste at the expense of MERCYFUL FATE's frontmen on "King At The King / Evil Is In" and even poking fun at the elusive ~~Swedish~~ / Swiss CELTIC FROST, with "Celtic Frosted Flakes". The CD-closer "Aren't You Hungry ?" is a cool imitation of past-life mosh-mania while "Kill The Assholes" might be the most simple line that sums-up the late 90s.

Following the world-tour, the STORMTROOPERS separated: Milano went back to M.O.D., Ian & Benante went back to ANTHRAX and Lilker went back to his many, many, many violent projects. Much later, the band would release one final recording: 2007's Rise Of The Infidels MCD.

*
Bigger Than The Devil = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-bntdvxuro&list=PL906mN2jnd6rWSTisREBj8yQBbDUpKbid
Interview in 1999
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSJeJLLWCoE
Live in Chicago in 1999
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOQcsNONLsM
K_ll Yourself: The Movie = full VHS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFbkDUZXFvo

more STORMTROOPERS OF DEATH (S.O.D.):

#ANTHRAX
&

#M.O.D.
&

#NUCLEAR ASSAULT
&

#BRUTAL TRUTH
&

#Spécial M.V.P.