Baphomet

Their name inspired by the famous Venom song, Germany's Baphomet formed as early as 1986, but their maturation period was a slow one, so that their potent mixture of death and thrash pretty much missed the boat of the first wave of Teutonic thrash metal in the mid-80's. Featuring vocalist Thomas Hertler, guitarist Gernot Kerrer, bassist Hansi Bieber and drummer Manuel Reichert, the band's belated first effort No Answers only arrived in 1991, and though quickly followed by 1992's more confident Latest Jesus, a German tour backing up Cannibal Corpse turned out to be all they had to show for their efforts. Hertler had already quit by the time 1994's swansong Trust saw the light of day, so the remaining band members decided to retire the Baphomet name and morphed into a new project called Banished.