HOLOCAUST - DANCE INTO THE VOID [CD]

Founded in 1978 by John Mortimer, according to their official website, “Holocaust was so named with the idea in mind that a Heavy Metal band should have an impact like that of a nuclear bomb exploding.” Holocaust might have been a small, albeit important and influential footnote in the annals of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) if it wasn’t for the patronage of one very famous group of fans when Metallica acknowledged their influence in 1987, when they released ‘The $5.98 E.P. - Garage Days Re-Revisited EP’. The EP included their faithful cover of Holocaust’s ‘The Small Hours’, and later featured it on the 1998 multi-platinum ‘Garage Inc.’ Originally forming in Scotland in 1977, and influenced by the heavy metal greats of the 1970s, while fuelled with a punky exuberance, the first line-up of the band featured founder member John Mortimer. Holocaust set out their stall to spread ‘Heavy Metal Mania’, the fitting title of their debut 45 in 1980, championed by Geoff Barton in the pages of Sounds and Kerrang!, they released their full length debut in 1981. Songs such as ‘Death Or Glory’, ‘The Small Hours’ and of course ‘Heavy Metal Mania’ have been covered by acts as diverse as the aforementioned Metallica, as well as Gamma Ray, Six Feet Under and Meat Puppets. The NWOBHM era represents the first phase of the band, as a gap of five years separated their 1984 album, ‘No Man’s Land’, and ‘The Sound Of Souls’ (CD1) in 1989, by which time vocalist and guitarist John Mortimer, joined by Steve Cowen on drums and Graham Hall on bass, had moved away from their NWOBHM roots, to adopt a more technical thrash sound, taking inspiration from some of the bands that they had once influenced, such as Voivod. ‘The Sounds Of Souls’ was followed in 1992 by ‘Hypnosis Of Birds’, re-issued in expanded form in 1996 as ‘Spirits Fly’ (CD2). Moving towards a more progressive sound. 1997’s ‘Covenant’ (CD3) balanced the more traditional metal sounds with newer thrash influences, while 2000’s more personal ‘The Courage To Be’ (CD4) was followed by a return to a more progressive thrash-orientated sound for ‘Primal’ (CD5) in 2003, featuring darker lyrical themes, and a line-up that now included guitarist John McCullim, bassist Bryan Bartley and drummer Ron Levine, joining original member John Mortimer.