Defenders Of The Faith, le forum Metal

Legendary drummer Gene "The Atomic Clock" Hoglan (DARK ANGEL, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, FEAR FACTORY, DETHKLOK) has laid down the drum tracks on the long-awaited comeback album from Los Angeles thrashers VIKING, entitled "No Child Left Behind". Songtitles set to appear on the CD include "9:02 On Flight 182", "An Ideal Opportunity", "Debt To Me", "Helen Behind The Door", "A Thousand Reasons I Hate You" and "Wretched Old Mildred".

Commented the band: "We were pretty bummed when [regular VIKING drummer] Matt Jordan's schedule suddenly rearranged to keep him from the studio dates we'd booked for the end of October. But he told us to put the fans first — he wants 'No Child Left Behind' to get into [the fans'] hands as soon as humanly possible. So, then we were stuck in the position of having to find someone in a short period of time, work out the tunes, and give the fans an album that would still be true to the spirit of the third full-length VIKING album.

"Who's been with us since the beginning? Who's been a fan, a help, and a huge support through our whole career? Maybe the guy who was our drum tech in the studio when we recorded drums for 'Man Of Straw'? Yeah, he's the same guy who's also written an album with the immortal Viking Brett Eriksen!

"Yep, you guessed it: From DARK ANGEL, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, DETHKLOK, FEAR FACTORY, and TESTAMENT... The Atomic Clock himself: Gene Hoglan!

"Matt Jordan is stoked about our choice, and you should be, too! And we're super-thankful to Gene for opening his ridiculously busy schedule!"

Video footage of Hoglan in the studio with VIKING can be seen below.

Founded in the spring of 1986 in Los Angeles, VIKING released two full-length albums on the Metal Blade label, 1987's "Do Or Die" and 1989's "Man Of Straw".

Long hailed as one of the most rare and hard to find speed/thrash metal albums by collectors, "Man Of Straw" was re-released in 2006 via Lost And Found Records. This fully licensed CD release was remastered and contained rare and never-before-heard bonus tracks.

VIKING - Do or Die LP

HRR 264, ltd 500, 100 x black vinyl + 400 x blood-red vinyl, 425gsm hevay cardboard cover, cardboard lyric insert

November 2012

Brett Eriksen - Lead Guitars
Ron Eriksen - Vocals, Lead Guitars
Matt Jordan - Drums
James Lareau - Bass

-Warlord
-Hellbound
-Militia of Death
-Prelude/Scavenger
-Valhalla
-Burning from Within
-Berserker
-Killer Unleashed
-Do or Die

Taking advantage of their Danish heritage and grabbing the Viking moniker, the story of the Eriksen brothers Ron (vocals, guitar) and Brett (guitar) is a unique one. Jamming in high school together with James Lareau on bass and Matt Jordan on drums they had generated a nucleus for the first incarnation of Viking.

Viking's first mark on the Metal scene was a self-made demo entitled “Do or die”, which included the three songs “Do or die”, “Hellbound” and “Prelude/Scavenger”. It captured the attention of Metal Blade Records in the US who released “Hellbound” on their “Metal Massacre VII” compilation. An album deal for the US (Metal Blade) and Europe (Roadrunner) followed in 1988.

The sleepy suburbs of Orange County were once renowned for many US Hardcore bands. It's the birthplace of legendary acts such as True Sound Of Liberty (TSOL), The Adolescents, Agent Orange and Social Distortion. A few years later Metallica and Slayer started their world-wide conquests in garages of the same area.

Viking's vicious Thrash Metal attacks such as “Warlord”, “Militia of Death” or “Killer unleashed” owe a lot to early Bay Area bands like Slayer, Metallica or Exodus. With their debut album “Do or die“ Viking immediately made a mark on the Southern Californian club scene of the late 1980's.

Ron Eriksen did not make any compromises: “Brett and I are basic red-haired speed maniacs. Either you win or you lose. Our kind of Metal music fully expresses our feelings!”

Long out of print, High Roller Records is proud to make “Do or die“ (with its great original cover artwork) available again to a broader public on glorious vinyl.

Matthias Mader

Nathagnôle a écrit :yeah, enfin un groupe qui a compris que ça ne servait à rien de faire du LAMB OF GOD de seconde zone pour avoir l'air cool après toutes ces années.

Viking have announced a release date for the long-awaited comeback, No Child Left Behind. The album features drummer Gene Hoglan (Dethklok, Dark Angel, Testament, Strapping Young Lad), bassist Michael Gonzalez (Viking, Dark Angel), guitarist Justin Zych (Viking, Zephaniah, Vindicator) and original Viking member Ron Daniel Eriksen on vocals and guitar.

Founded in the spring of 1986 in Los Angeles, Viking released two full-length albums on the Metal Blade label, 1987's Do Or Die and 1989's Man Of Straw.
Long hailed as one of the most rare and hard to find speed/thrash metal albums by collectors, Man Of Straw was re-released in 2006 via Lost And Found Records. This fully licensed CD release was remastered and contained rare and never-before-heard bonus tracks.

No Child Left Behind will be released on March 4th. The album artwork and tracklisting can be found below:



Tracklisting:

“9:02 On Flight 182”
“By The Brundlefly”
“Blood Eagle”
“Debt To Me”
“An Ideal Opportunity”
“Eaten By A Bear”
“Wretched Old Mildred”
“A Thousand Reasons I Hate You”
“Helen Behind The Door”
“Burning From Within”

"An Ideal Opportunity”: