Vio-lence: The Bay Area’s Most Violent Thrash Band

Vio-lence is a thrash metal band from the San Francisco Bay Area, formed in 1985. It made one record that the underground still treats as a classic, Eternal Nightmare (1988), and it gave Robb Flynn and Phil Demmel their start before both went on to Machine Head. The Vio-lence band never broke through commercially. Singer Sean Killian has kept it alive anyway, through a breakup, a liver transplant and a near-total lineup turnover.

Who Are Vio-lence?

The band started in 1985 as Death Penalty, then became Violence. Another band already had that name, so they split it with a hyphen. The founding lineup was guitarists Phil Demmel and Troy Fua, singer Jerry Birr, bassist Eddie Billy and drummer Perry Strickland. Wikipedia reports their first gig was a house party.

Two demos followed in 1986, and the lineup turned over fast. Sean Killian replaced Birr on vocals and Deen Dell took the bass. In 1987 Robb Flynn came over from Forbidden, then still called Forbidden Evil, to replace Fua. A later demo aimed at the majors brought an offer from Mechanic, MCA’s sister label.

They arrived late in the scene our Bay Area thrash guide covers, after Exodus and Testament had made their names. Killian’s voice set them apart. The Austin Chronicle later heard “flickers of Jello Biafra” in his higher, sharper delivery, a punk edge most Bay Area singers didn’t have.

Eternal Nightmare: The Record to Start With

Start here. Eternal Nightmare was recorded between February and April 1988 at the Music Grinder in Los Angeles and Alpha & Omega in San Francisco, with John Cuniberti producing. Mechanic released it in 1988. It runs seven songs in about 35 minutes, and two of them pass six minutes.

It reached No. 154 on the Billboard 200, the band’s only entry on that chart, and sold more than 30,000 copies. Wikipedia cites Revolver calling it “an essential release in the genre” and noting that some of its arrangements are “progressive.” “Serial Killer” is the short, direct one at 2:58. “Phobophobia” and “Kill on Command” show the longer, twisting side.

Mechanic promoted it with a limited 10-inch promo single that paired “Eternal Nightmare” with “Phobophobia” and came sealed in a “vomit pack,” a plastic sleeve of fake vomit. The band toured through 1988 and 1989 with Testament, Voivod and Death Angel.

Get a reissue with the live disc. The 2005 Megaforce reissue adds 12 songs recorded at Slim’s in San Francisco on December 14, 2001, the band’s second reunion show after Thrash of the Titans. Metal Blade’s 2022 reissue, also on Bandcamp, carries the same live set.

Oppressing the Masses and the Destroyed Pressing

Megaforce signed Vio-lence next, with Atlantic distributing. Oppressing the Masses was recorded in December 1989 with producer Alex Perialas and released on July 13, 1990, after several delays. The band made a video for “World in a World.”

Atlantic objected to the lyrics of “Torture Tactics,” and the first pressing of about 20,000 copies was destroyed. The album was reprinted without the song, which survived only as a Japanese bonus track. The band then toured for about a year with Overkill, Exodus and Prong.

Hear it second. “I Profit” opens at seven minutes, and “Officer Nice” is still in the live set more than three decades later. After Atlantic and Megaforce let the band go, Vio-lence released the Torture Tactics EP in 1991, three 1989 studio tracks plus one live song from 1988.

Robb Flynn, Phil Demmel and Machine Head

Most people find Vio-lence through Machine Head. Flynn had joined Forbidden Evil in his last year at American High School and wrote four songs on that band’s debut, including “Chalice of Blood,” before leaving for Vio-lence. He played on all three Vio-lence albums, including Nothing to Gain, recorded in 1990 but not released until after he left.

Flynn left Vio-lence in 1992. With Adam Duce, Logan Mader and Tony Costanza he built Machine Head, whose debut Burn My Eyes came out in 1994. He has been its singer and guitarist ever since.

Vio-lence released Nothing to Gain in 1993, an album recorded back in 1990. The band never toured it and played its last show on December 18, 1993, in San Francisco. Demmel, Dell, guitarist Ray Vegas and drummer Mark Hernandez carried on as Torque.

The two guitarists met again a decade later. Demmel began touring with Machine Head in 2002 and joined in 2003, shortly before it recorded Through the Ashes of Empires. He left in November 2018. Flynn has not rejoined Vio-lence. “We actually didn’t even approach Robb to do this,” Demmel told Decibel before the 2019 reunion.

Sean Killian’s Comeback and the Reunion

Vio-lence first regrouped in 2001 for Thrash of the Titans, with Vegas in Flynn’s place, and played on and off until 2003. A DVD, Blood and Dirt, came out through Megaforce on August 8, 2006.

In summer 2017 Killian was diagnosed with stage four liver cirrhosis. Friends staged a benefit, Killian on Command, at The Midway in San Francisco on January 20, 2018. He was too ill to sing. He was onstage while Flynn sang “World in a World” with four-fifths of the Eternal Nightmare lineup.

Killian had a liver transplant in March 2018. He told Mosh Mag it took six months before he could walk his dog a couple of miles. By then Demmel was out of Machine Head. Killian texted him suggesting a show, and the answer came back in capital letters.

“We couldn’t do Vio-lence without Sean, there’s no Vio-lence without Sean Killian.”

Demmel told Decibel that in February 2019, ahead of a one-off Eternal Nightmare show at the Oakland Metro on April 13. “The first show sold out in like six-and-a-half hours,” he said, and a second show was added for the next day. “Sean’s will to not give up and come back, it was awe-inspiring,” Strickland told Mosh Mag.

The one-off became a working band. Vio-lence signed with Metal Blade in March 2020 and covered the Dead Kennedys’ “California Über Alles” that August, its first new recording in more than 25 years. The five-song EP Let the World Burn followed on March 4, 2022, recorded with Juan Urteaga at Trident Studios and mixed by Tue Madsen.

Vio-lence Band Members, Then and Now

The reunion lineup did not hold. Vegas and Dell left in early 2020 and were replaced by former Overkill guitarist Bobby Gustafson and former Fear Factory bassist Christian Olde Wolbers. Gustafson was out by October 2022, and Strickland’s exit was announced in February 2023.

Demmel played his last Vio-lence show on February 11, 2024, saying “my time is at an end.” Olde Wolbers left in February 2025, and touring guitarist Ira Black’s departure was announced in September 2026.

• Sean Killian, lead vocals (1986–1994, 2001–2003, 2019–present)
• Nick Souza, drums, touring (2024–present)
• Jeff Salgado, bass and backing vocals, touring (2025–present)
• Claudeous Creamer, guitars, touring (2025–present)

The Eternal Nightmare lineup was Killian, Demmel, Flynn, Dell and Strickland. Of the founders, Demmel and Strickland both served three separate stints.

Vio-lence in Texas

The Texas tie goes back to 1990. Wikipedia lists Arlington’s Rigor Mortis among the bands Vio-lence toured with for about a year behind Oppressing the Masses, alongside Overkill, Exodus, Forbidden and Prong.

Austin’s Terror Fest, renamed Oblivion Access, booked Vio-lence for 2020 and kept the slot when the festival returned in May 2022. The band played Eternal Nightmare in full at a Saturday matinee at Empire Garage on East Seventh Street, starting at 4:07pm.

Raoul Hernandez of the Austin Chronicle reported a circle pit inside the first two minutes. He wrote that “the seminal shredders no one saw the first time around resurrected in spectacular fashion,” and that “never did the Eighties crackle so legitimately four decades on.”

Houston came next. On March 23, 2023, Vio-lence played downstairs at White Oak Music Hall on a pre-party bill with Destruction, the night before Hell’s Heroes opened there. Setlist.fm, via JamBase, logged ten songs, from “Eternal Nightmare” through the new “Flesh From Bone” to a closing “World in a World.”

Vio-lence and Rotting Corpse both started in 1985, half a continent apart. In 1988, while Eternal Nightmare was in stores, Rotting Corpse was cutting its third demo at Pantego Sound. The timeline has the North Texas side of those years.

Where to Hear Vio-lence Live

As of October 2026, Vio-lence has no Texas or U.S. dates announced. Its next shows are in Europe, supporting Death Angel on a tour playing Act III in full. Blabbermouth lists 12 dates, from Brno, Czech Republic, on December 1 to the Fabrik in Hamburg on December 13.

Berlin’s date is December 2 at the Kesselhaus in the Kulturbrauerei, with tickets from €53.65. Other stops include Z7 in Pratteln, Switzerland, on December 5 and the Eindhoven Metal Meeting on December 11.

For a Texas date, watch the White Oak calendar above, since Hell’s Heroes has booked the band before, and Death Angel’s tour page for any more shared runs. Our shows page lists Rotting Corpse dates, and the venues page covers the Texas rooms where thrash still gets played.

Sources

1. Decibel: Emily Bellino, Interview: Phil Demmel on Vio-lence Reunion, Robb Flynn and Possibility of More Shows (2019)
2. Blabbermouth: Vio-lence Drummer Says Sean Killian’s Return to Stage Was ‘Awe-Inspiring’ (2019)
3. Blabbermouth: Sean Killian Believes Robb Flynn Would Play With Vio-lence Again ‘If the Moment Was Right’ (2022)
4. Austin Chronicle: Raoul Hernandez, Vio-Lence Erupts at Matinee (2022)
5. Houston Press: Jesse Sendejas Jr., Demand for Metal Sends Hell’s Heroes Outdoors (2023)
6. JamBase: Triumph of Death, White Oak Music Hall Downstairs, March 23, 2023
7. Blabbermouth: Death Angel Announces December 2026 Act III European Tour (2026)
8. Berlin.de: Death Angel + Vio-Lence, Kesselhaus, December 2, 2026
9. Wikipedia: Vio-lence
10. Wikipedia: Eternal Nightmare (Vio-lence album)
11. Wikipedia: Oppressing the Masses
12. Wikipedia: Robb Flynn
13. Wikipedia: Phil Demmel
14. Wikipedia: Nothing to Gain
15. Blabbermouth: Vio-lence, Eternal Nightmare (reissue) review
16. MetalTalk: Vio-lence, Legendary Bay Area Thrashers Roll Back Time With Reissue of 1988 Masterpiece (2022)
17. Vio-lence on Bandcamp

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