Viking (band)

Viking was an American thrash metal band, from Los Angeles, California formed in the late '80s.

Biography

The band was formed in Los Angeles in the spring of 1986, as "Tracer" and released a demo entitled "Sudden Death" with another vocalist. They temporarily broke up because they couldn't find a full-time singer, but restarted after Brett Eriksen began jamming with them, and Ron Eriksen began singing. They held the same personnel until the band broke up in 1990. The band signed a record contract with Metal Blade Records after completing their second live appearance and then went on to record two albums and open up for bands like Megadeth, Forbidden and Sacred Reich as well as headlining many other shows.

In 1988, they released their debut album called "Do Or Die". Although the brutality of the songs was appreciated by thrash metal fans, the frenetic tempos and bad production were not well received by the critics.

Following "Do Or Die", they moved to a new level of songwriting and musicianship. Adding half-time mosh bridges and more technical riffs, the songs for "Man Of Straw" demonstrated a marked improvement over the previous offering. But some days just before they started to record, Ron Eriksen became a born-again Christian and changed many of the lyrics to avoid blasphemies. Before embarking on a tour with Texas-based Helstar, Ron felt that his new faith could not endure the tour, and he left the band, which immediately broke up upon his departure.

Ron and drummer Matt Jordan soon after moved to Oregon, Brett Eriksen joined Dark Angel and bassist James Lareau pursued a career in art.

The brother angle of Ron and Brett was a marketing gimmick. Ron Eriksen's real name is Ron Daniel.

They started out as Tracer and released a demo under that name with Spider on vocals. They temporarily broke up because they couldn't find a full-time singer, but restarted after Brett Eriksen began jamming with them, and Ron Daniel began singing.

Before completing the second album, Ron became a Born-Again Christian, and thus Ron rewrote some of the lyrics on Man of Straw to be more Christian-friendly. Matt Jordan also converted to Christianity when the album was completed. Interestingly, Ron Daniel has said that Matt's conversion had nothing to do with his own. The band broke up because Daniel and Jordan did not want to tour, due to their new faith. After the band broke up Ron Daniel became a minister.

Former members

*Matt Jordan 1986-1990 Drums
*James Lareau 1986-1990 Bass
*Brett Eriksen 1986-1990
*Ron Eriksen 1986-1990 Guitars, vocals

Discography

* (1986) Compilation - Metal Massacre VIII Metal Blade Records
* (1987) Viking - Do Or Die Metal Blade Records
* (1988) Compilation - The Best of Metal Blade, Volume 3 Metal Blade Records
* (1989) Viking - Man Of Straw Metal Blade Records
* (1990) Compilation - Metallic Overdrive Metal Blade Records
* (2006) Viking - Man of Straw Reissue Lost and Found Records

ee also

* Dark Angel
* Thrash metal

External links

*http://rondaniel.com/viking/
*http://www.voicesfromthedarkside.de/interviews/viking.htm
*http://vibrationsofdoom.com/test/Viking.html