Saint Vitus | Artist

Saint Vitus is an American doom metal band formed 1979 in Los Angeles by Dave Chandler (guitar), Mark Adams (bass), Armando Acosta (drums) and Scott Reagers (vocal). Scott Weinrich and Christian Linderson were vocalists for a period when Reagers temporarily left the band. Saint Vitus, who were originally named Tyrant, renamed themselves after a Black Sabbath song and took their inspiration from bands like Sabbath, Judas Priest, Blue Cheer, Blue Oyster Cult and Alice Cooper. They are one of the first doom metal bands, alongside Pentagram, Witchfinder General, Trouble and Pagan Altar. The band's early sound combined the dark and psychedelic style of bands like Black Sabbath and Blue Cheer with the aggressive heavy metal and hardcore sound of Judas Priest and Black Flag, another favorite band of Chandler. In the beginning, their style was considered "out-of-date" compared to the hardcore punk, glam and speed metal genres, which were popular at the time. Saint Vitus were involved in the punk rock/speed metal scene, and during a live performance with Overkill, Saint Vitus was discovered by Black Flag. Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn signed them to his label, SST Records, because, according to Chandler, they were "completely opposite of what popular was in metal". Saint Vitus toured with Black Flag during the early 1980s. Their first five studio albums: Saint Vitus (1984), Hallow's Victim (1985), Born Too Late (1986), Mournful Cries (1988) and V (1990) are all outstanding, as is the 1995 release Die Healing. The album Born Too Late is often cited as a fan favourite, eliciting glowing reviews such as the following from RYM "This album came out at a time when very few metal bands played slower than 180 bpm, thrash was king and the speed wars were just getting started. Saint Vitus not only played extremely slow, they played slow and minimal. There are no wasted notes on Born Too Late, just monolithic slabs of cemetery dirt guitars, bass and drums topped with Wino's excellent classic metal vocals - not too biker rock, not too metalhead - just enough of both. The songs are punctuated by Dave Chandler's mushroom cloud wah wah solos - far more fuzz freakout than twiddle wizard." Founding member and bassist Mark Adams died from complications of Parkinson's disease on May 23, 2023, at the age of 64 and was replaced by Pat Bruders formerly of bands Crowbar, Goatwhore, and Down.

Artist Website: saintvitusband.com

Featured Albums: Saint Vitus

Related Artists: Tyrant, The Obsessed