Blood Feast

One of countless speed metal bands to emerge from the thrash-friendly state of New Jersey during the 1980s, Bayonne's Blood Feast were formed as Blood Lust in 1985, and actually submitted a few songs from their "Suicidal Mission" demo to New Renaissance Records' Thrash Metal Attack and Speed Metal Hell, Vol. 3 compilations before changing their name. The same label then offered them a contract, and both the full-length Kill for Pleasure and the Face Fate EP — featuring vocalist Gary Markovitch, guitarists Mike Basden and Adam Tranquilli, bassist Lou Starita, and drummer Kevin Kuzma — emerged in 1987. Press releases of the time often compared Blood Feast to Slayer, but their rougher style of thrashing, bordering on death metal, more closely resembled German bands like Kreator and Destruction, or Los Angeles' Dark Angel, and their legendary live performances (which invariably culminated in a blazing cover of Celtic Frost's "Into the Crypt of Rays") soon attracted a considerable underground metal following. The departure of Tranquilli reduced them to a quartet, and, following some unexpected delays, 1990 finally saw the release of their critically lauded sophomore album, Chopping Block Blues, through Restless Records. But interest in the band had waned quite a bit and much momentum had been lost, so they soon decided to break up. Nearly ten years later, Blood Feast reformed for a one-off performance at the 1999 March Metal Meltdown Festival in nearby Asbury Park, New Jersey, and 2002 saw the release of a collection of demos and live versions entitled Remnants: The Last Remains.