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Every Word, 1986–1990

Lyrics

Transcribed from the band’s own demo lyric sheets, tape by tape. Pick a demo to see its track list, then a song to read the words. Walt Trachsler wrote most of it; Dave Gryder wrote a good chunk of the last demo, and Steve Murphy chipped in along the way.

Demo One, 1986 demo tape
1986

Demo One

The tape that got out. Mailed to fanzines on four continents and, by the band’s own account, never badly reviewed at home.

3 songs →
F*ck It, It’s Only Thrash, 1987 demo tape
1987

F*ck It, It’s Only Thrash

Cut by a three-piece that had been playing together about a month, after the founding lineup came apart that spring. Trachsler sings from here on.

4 songs →
1988 · Unreleased
1988

Walt’s Sinking Boat Tape

About four hours in the room, never mixed, never meant for release. The studio time was paid for with an old boat, which later sank.

2 songs →
Neck Breaking Fury, 1990 demo tape
1990

Neck Breaking Fury

The longest the band ever spent in a studio and the one several members rate highest. It was meant to be a record; the vinyl press never happened.

7 songs →
If You Know What You’re After

Every Song, A–Z

On the spelling: these are transcribed as the band typed them on the original insert sheets — misspellings, missing apostrophes and all. We’d rather print what was actually on the tape than tidy it up.

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From The Archive Desk

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Black and white photo of Nervosa's bassist screaming mid-song through stage haze, a bass guitar angled across the frame in front of Marshall and Ampeg cabinets

Venues · 14 min read

Dallas Metal Venues: Where to See Thrash and Heavy Metal Live in DFW Right Now

From a 1941 neighborhood theater in Haltom City to the ballrooms of Deep Ellum and the West End, the rooms that book heavy music and what each one has on its calendar this winter.

 Rex Brown, with long grey-blond hair and a white long-sleeved shirt, playing a natural-wood bass on a stadium stage while security staff in blue vests stand in front of the crowd

Texas Thrash · 9 min read

Rex Brown: Pantera’s Bassist, From an Arlington Lab Band to the Reunion

He joined the Abbott brothers as a teenager in 1982 and is still playing those songs to stadiums in 2026. Here is the career, the records, the basses and the book.

 Tom Araya, with long dark hair and a grey beard, singing into a microphone while playing a black bass under blue stage lights, with a Slayer skull backdrop, two white inverted crosses and a Yamaha drum kit behind him

Texas Thrash · 9 min read

Tom Araya in Texas: How Slayer’s Frontman Became “Completely Texan-ized”

He was born in Chile and raised in Los Angeles, and he has spent three decades in small-town East Texas. Here is the move, the ranch, the speedway and the bass.

Fuel The Tour

From The Merch Table

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Show flyers, throwbacks, and the next date — posted straight from the band, first.

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