Long ago, in a distant land known as Los Angeles, the mighty thrash act known as Viking burst into the underground with their debut album Do or Die. It was a barbaric assault of raw and uncompromising thrash that threw me into a concrete wall when I first encountered it, then a young acolyte of thrash in constant search of new killer shit. These warriors were comparable to the likes of Assassin on The Upcoming Terror and Deathrow on Riders of Doom, led by the razor-bladed guitar work of James and Brett Erikson (no relation, as it turns out) and followed by the menacing bass work of James, which rumbled and pounded like the charge of horses, and the mighty war drums of Matt, whose intensity and power were like that of catapults into the walls of the keeps they assaulted and ransacked. Alas, even great warriors have their weaknesses, and the weakness of Viking on their first charge was that the production was too weak to bear their cries of bloodlust and war, which dampened the impact that such ferocity would otherwise have. Still, for a first raid upon the land, Do or Die proved to be a strong one that would be built upon to unleash the awe-inspiring assault known as Man of Straw, but as someone who was there both times when first Viking savaged the world, it is with reverence and joy that I recall even the lesser of their two barrages upon eardrums across the underground during its golden age. Should you dare to find a record or two of Viking, you will surely understand why.