Panic - Epidemic

Special 30th anniversary reissue with digital download code for the 3-song demo that got the band signed to Metal Blade. PANIC’s ‘Epidemic’ was originally released by Metal Blade Records and is now being reissued by M-Theory Audio for its 30th anniversary with this limited run of 300 Outbreak Green 12” LP’s. Produced by the H-Team (Gary Holt and Rick Hunolt) of EXODUS, ‘Epidemic’ was a breakout album for a band that had been formed 6 years previous and had taken the Pacific Northwest by storm. Originally formed in Seattle, WA in the mid-‘80s PANIC who started out playing NWOBHM covers started writing originals that were heavier and groovier than their influences and defining their own sound and growing an audience over the course of four years gigging around and gaining radio play inspired by the major label signings of bands from the area like Queensryche, Metal Church and Sanctuary. The band’s big break came in 1990 with a showcase at the Northwest Area Music Convention where EXODUS (and later SLAYER) guitarist Gary Holt was in attendance. Gary took the band under his wing that night and the stage was set for PANIC to record their breakout thrash masterpiece ‘Epidemic’! Their video for “Blackfeather Shake” received MTV Headbangers Ball airplay. The band spent time on the road touring in support of Coroner, Nuclear Assault, Pantera, Testament and Reverend. Re-live the past with one of the finer thrash records of the early ‘90s, before Seattle become recognized for grunge and the promising next generation of heavy bands from there – Panic, Bitter End and Forced Entry -- all faded in relative obscurity.