The original
name of the band Vengeance Rising: the first Christian thrash band, possibly the first EVER band to use grind/death
metal vocals (someone please try to refute this). Started in 1986 or thereabouts.
The band released two recordings under it's original lineup, then
4/5 of the band left to form
Die Happy, while the lead vocalist went on to recruit new lineups for 2 more releases, at best 75% as good as the first two.
After the 4th release, the vocalist Roger Martinez went loco, likely had a nervous breakdown, and proceeded to eventually claim to embrace atheism/satanism, which was really just an exercise in "how many of my former close friends can I shock and upset?". All subsequent writings come off sounding like a deranged, discombobulated, confused person, who nevertheless hates all Christians, especially his former bandmates. A
sad, confused ending to a hell of a
guy and an otherwise
hardcore SOB (and I mean SOB in a good way!).