Black Fast was an American

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, ...

band from

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. The band's original members were Aaron Akin on vocals and rhythm guitar, Ryan Thompson on bass, Trevor Johanson on lead guitar, and Ross Burnett on drums. They have released one EP, ''Black Fast EP'', and one independently released and produced album, ''Starving Out The Light''. They signed with

eOne Music MNRK Music Group (pronounced "monarch"), formerly known as Koch Records and Entertainment One (eOne) Music/Records, is an American independent record label and music management company based in New York City. It was formed in 1987 as a music div ...

in 2014 and released their second studio album, ''Terms of Surrender'', the following year. In 2018, the band released their third studio album, ''Spectre of Ruin''.

History

Guitarists Aaron Akin and Trevor Johanson first met at a gas station in Edwardsville, Illinois. Shortly after, Akin's friend, Ross Burnett, and Johanson's college classmate, Ryan Thompson, started playing together, and the band was formed in 2010. Both Johanson and Thompson graduated with music degrees in jazz guitar from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville. In April 2011, they released their extended play ''Black Fast EP 2011''. Two years later, their second release and their first full-length, 7-track album, ''Starving Out The Light'', was independently released to

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

Google Play Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store, Play Store, or sometimes the Android Store (and was formerly Android Market), is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certifie ...

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

, and

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

on August 16, 2013. The artwork on the album was done by Coby Ellison. The music was mixed and produced by Justin L. Fisher from SmithLee Productions and was mastered by Rob Schlette. It was announced in November 2014 that Black Fast had signed with the independent label

. Black Fast announced that its debut studio album with eOne Music produced by

Erik Rutan Erik Rutan (born June 10, 1971) is an American heavy metal musician and record producer. He is the guitarist and lead vocalist of death metal band Hate Eternal, as well as the lead guitarist for Cannibal Corpse. Rutan has also played with Mor ...

would be released in the summer of 2015. That album, ''Terms of Surrender'', was released on August 7, 2015. On July 13, 2018, Black Fast released its second studio album with eOne Music, Spectre of Ruin. It was also produced by Erik Rutan.

The Breakup

Black Fast was ready to hit the road in the fall of 2018 to promote Spectre of Ruin, when they discovered their booking agent had quit without notice. It took them some time to acquire another agent, and the one they hired was unable to book them into the kind of venues they were used to playing or with the name bands they were previously sharing the bill with. This caused considerable frustration. In addition, drummer Ross Burnett was expecting a child, and since bassist Ryan Thompson did not tour with the group, Aaron Akin and Trevor Johanson had serious misgivings after touring with two replacements, so they stopped pursuing tour dates, feeling they had lost the momentum gained from the release of Spectre of Ruin. As a result, over the next several months, Black Fast faded away and unofficially dissolved.

Live performances

On June 28, 2014, Black Fast performed with the bands

Shadows Fall Shadows Fall is an American metalcore band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1996. Although Shadows Fall has experienced several line-up changes, for most of its recording career, Shadows Fall has been composed of guitarists Jon Donais and ...

Dead by Wednesday Dead by Wednesday (DBW) is an American heavy metal band from New Haven, Connecticut, formed in 2006.Hallow Point, and Gray's Divide. Their live performance received a positive review from the website ''

National Rock Review National Rock Review (NRR) is an American website dedicated to rock music news, as well as interviews, concert photography, album and music DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital op ...

''. Black Fast announced via their Facebook page that they would be performing in the ''Winter Warriors Tour'' starting on November 30, 2014, alongside

Battlecross Battlecross was an American extreme metal band from Canton, Michigan. The band has described their sound as "Blue Collar Thrash Metal". To date, they have released four albums through their label, Metal Blade Records. History The band was ...

War of Ages War of Ages (sometimes abbreviated WoA; formerly known as Point Zero) is an American Christian metal band formed in Erie, Pennsylvania, in 2002. The group consists of vocalist Leroy Hamp, lead guitarist Steve Brown, rhythm guitarist Jack Danie ...

, and

Wretched Wretched may refer to: *Wretched (punk band) *Wretched (doom metal band) *Wretched (death metal band) * ''The Wretched'' (film), a 2020 supernatural horror film by the Pierce Brothers *"The Wretched", a song by The Word Alive from their album, '' D ...

. Their live performance was once again reviewed positively. Since 2015, Black Fast has toured with such bands as Rivers of Nihil, Hatchet, Lord Dying,

Black Crown Initiate Black Crown Initiate is an American extreme metal band from Reading, Pennsylvania, United States, currently signed to Century Media. The band formed in 2012 and self-released their first EP '' Song of the Crippled Bull'', which was met with posi ...

, Havok,

Revocation Revocation is the act of wikt:recall, recall or annulment. It is the cancelling of an act, the recalling of a grant or privilege, or the making void (law), void of some deed previously existing. A temporary revocation of a grant or privilege is c ...

Goatwhore Goatwhore is an American extreme metal band formed in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1997. Biography Goatwhore was formed by guitarist/backing vocalist Sammy “Pierre” Duet, who was previously the lead guitarist for Louisiana sludge metal band ...

Hate Eternal Hate Eternal is a Florida death metal band from St. Petersburg, Florida. The band currently consists of founding guitarist/vocalist Erik Rutan and bassist J. J. Hrubovcak. To date, Hate Eternal has released seven studio albums: '' Conquerin ...

, and Vektor. In 2016, they toured extensively throughout the U.S. and Canada having booked seven month-long tours and numerous one and two-nighters in between.

Reception

Their first full-length album, ''Starving Out The Light'', was well received according to the ratings submitted on

Metal Storm Metal Storm Limited was a research and development company based in Brisbane, Australia, that specialized in electronically initiated superposed load weapons technology and owned the proprietary rights to the electronic ballistics technology ...

, averaging an 8/10. Their second full-length album and first studio album ''Terms of Surrender'' received positive reviews from Metal Injection Chuck Marshall of the ''National Rock Review'' also praised the album saying: "The production and playing on Terms of Surrender are outstanding. The mix is balanced and breathes with the music. A key element of each tune is the razor precision playing of Aaron Akin and Trevor Johanson. From feverish rhythm playing in 'The Keep' to the exquisitely twisting runs in "Tongues of Silver," these guys make it sound easy to create catchy

headbanging Headbanging is the act of violently shaking one's head in rhythm with music. It is common in rock music, rock, Punk rock, punk, heavy metal music, heavy metal and dubstep, where headbanging is often used by musicians on stage. Headbanging is als ...

anthems." However,

MetalSucks MetalSucks is an American heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a Music genre, genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock ...

gave ''Terms of Surrender'' a more lukewarm review, stating: "...but frankly this breakneck locomotion seems to come at a price, with the music coming off slightly sterile and repetitive at times. That's not to say that there isn't pure fire for thrash-heads on Terms of Surrender; there most definitely is, and it sounds legit." The review gave the album 3 stars out of 5. On July 13, 2018, Black Fast released its final studio album, "Spectre of Ruin," which was met with many positive reviews including metalwani.com. In his review, Chuck Marshall said, "Technicians of deathly thrash, Black Fast return with a beautiful opus of menacing metal on their new album entitled 'Spectre of Ruin'. The metal onslaught is relentless." And Brave Words in their review stated, "Album opener "Cloak of Lies" sets the stage for Spectre of Ruin with a heaping helping of everything Black Fast represents, a locomotive of riffs barreling down the tracks with determined speed and aggression." Revolver magazine called Spectre of Ruin "...a runaway death-train powered by sharp, aggressive riffs, a no-holds-barred approach." While Distorted Sound Magazine was complimentary, it complained about the lack of contrast: "...the main issue with this record and that is that the musical backdrop is so similar from track to track to the point that if the vocals were taken out, the songs would be almost unidentifiable from one another." On December 19, 2018, Metal Injection's Aaron Price's Top 10 Albums of 2018 rated Black Fast's Spectre of Ruin the Number 3 album for 2018. Kerrang! Magazine ranked Black Fast #24 in their feature, The 50 Best American Metal Bands From the Last Decade (2010s). On July 12, 2022, Metalsucks.org published The 20 Best Thrash Albums Since the Turn of the Millennium, and ranked Black Fast's album, "Terms of Surrender," Number 10, stating, "Brutal but tasty, unorthodox but classic, the record continues to be the band's greatest triumph. You just can't deny a record this f*ckin' good."

Musical style

The band have been described by music journalists and critics as

and

blackened thrash metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...

. Key aspects of their sound come from their highly technical and complex song structures and black metal influences.

Discography

*''Black Fast EP'' (April 2011) *''Starving Out The Light'' (August 16, 2013) *''Terms of Surrender'' (August 7, 2015) *''Spectre of Ruin'' (July 13, 2018)

References

External links

Black Fast, St Louis Metal
{{Authority control American thrash metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2010 Heavy metal musical groups from Missouri Musical groups from St. Louis American musical quartets 2010 establishments in Missouri 2019 disestablishments in Missouri