Heretic is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles. Beginning in 1984, the group's initial career saw two releases on

Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The US office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distrib ...

and touring alongside noted heavy metal groups. After their 1988 breakup, singer

Mike Howe Mike Howe (August 21, 1965 – July 26, 2021) was an American heavy metal singer who performed with Metal Church, Heretic, and Snair. Career Howe began his career as the singer for a Detroit band called Hellion (later renamed Snair after movin ...

joined

Metal Church Metal Church is an American heavy metal band. They originally formed in San Francisco, California in 1980 and then relocated to Aberdeen, Washington the following year and briefly using the name Shrapnel. Led by guitarist and songwriter Kurd ...

while other members founded

Reverend The Reverend is an style (manner of address), honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and Minister of religion, ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and c ...

. Guitarist Brian Korban and earlier vocalist Julian Mendez reformed Heretic in 2011. The band released their second full-length album the following year.

History

Initial career (1984–1988)

The group was founded in Los Angeles in late 1984 by guitarists Brian Korban and Rick Halpin, bassist Scott Patton, drummer Rick Merick, and vocalist Mike "Towers" Torres;Larkin, Colin (2006) "Heretic", in ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', OUP USA, , p. 260 Halpin and Patton were soon replaced by Bobby Marquez and Dennis O'Hara respectively. After their debut track on the '' Metal Massacre Vol. 7'' compilation on

, Torres was replaced by Julian Mendez. This lineup released the ''Torture Knows No Boundary'' EP on Metal Blade in 1986, and began performing alongside of numerous noted heavy metal bands in Los Angeles.

replaced Mendez later that year.Rivadavia, Eduardo
Heretic Biography
,

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

. Retrieved May 19, 2016 The ''Breaking Point'' album was issued on Metal Blade in 1988, shortly before Howe left the band to join

and Heretic disbanded.van Horn, Ray, Jr. (2014)
Heretic "From the Vault: Tortured and Broken"
, blabbermouth.net. Retrieved May 19, 2016 O'Hara and Korban formed

in 1989 with ex-Metal Church vocalist

David Wayne David Wayne (born Wayne James McMeekan, January 30, 1914 – February 9, 1995) was an American stage and screen actor with a career spanning over 50 years. Early life and career Wayne was born in Traverse City, Michigan, the son of Helen M ...

. The ''Don't Turn Your Back!! & Breaking Point'' compilation album of Heretic material followed on Metal Blade in 1991.

Reformation (2011–present)

In 2011, Korban, O'Hara and Mendez reformed Heretic with guitarist

Glenn Rogers Glenn Alan Rogers (born 12 April 1977) is an Australian-born former cricketer who played international cricket for Scotland. A slow left-arm orthodox bowler, his ODI debut was in Chittagong against Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), offici ...

Hirax The Hydrogen Intensity and Real-time Analysis eXperiment (HIRAX) is an interferometric array of 1024 6-meter (20 ft) diameter radio telescopes, operating at 400-800MHz, that will be deployed at the Square Kilometer Array site in the Karoo regi ...

, employing a string of drummers that included Federico Dupay, Jason Rosenfeld (an early member of

Anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium ''Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The sk ...

), and ultimately Ignazio Coppola. Daniel Cordova (ex-

Vengeance Rising Vengeance Rising was an American Christian metal, Christian thrash metal band from Los Angeles, California. Fronted by vocalist Roger Martinez, they originally formed as Vengeance in 1987, but changed their name in 1989 to avoid conflict with an ...

) filled in for O'Hara on the "2011 Metal Massacre" mini tour but was later replaced by Angelo Espino, also formerly of Reverend and Hirax. The band released their second album, ''A Time of Crisis'', the following year. In 2013, Metal Blade released a 3-CD box set containing the ''Breaking Point'' album, the ''Torture Knows No Boundary'' EP, bonus tracks, and a live DVD featuring shows from 1985 and 1986.Metal Blade to release HERETIC 3-disc-boxset
, metalblade.com, May 13, 2013. Retrieved May 19, 2016 In 2017, the band released their third studio album, ''A Game You Cannot Win''.

Members

;Current members *Brian Korban – guitar (1984–1988, 2011–present) *Julian Mendez – vocals (1986, 2011–present) *Stuart Fuji – guitar (2014–present), keyboards (session only 1988) *Angelo Espino – bass (2012–present) *Sean McCormick – drums (2018–present) ;Former members *Rick Merick – drums (1984–1988) *Mike Torres – vocals (1984–1986) *Rick Halpin – guitar (1984–1986) *Scott Patton – bass (1984–1986) *Dennis O'Hara – bass (1986–1988, 2011) *Bobby Marquez – guitar (1986–1988) *

– vocals (1986–1988) *

– guitar (2011–2016) *Federico Dupay – drums (2011) *Jason Rosenfeld – drums (2011) *Ignazio Coppola – drums (2012–2013) *Dave Chedrick – drums (2014–2015) *Daniel Cordova – bass (2011)

Discography

;Albums *''Breaking Point'' (1988),

Metal Blade Metal Blade Records is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The US office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distrib ...

Roadrunner The roadrunners (genus ''Geococcyx''), also known as chaparral birds or chaparral cocks, are two species of fast-running ground cuckoos with long tails and crests. They are found in the southwestern and south-central United States and Mexico, us ...

*''A Time of Crisis'' (2012), Metal on Metal *''A Game You Cannot Win'' (2017) ;Boxset *''From the Vault...Broken and Tortured'' (2013), Metal Blade - 3CD box set ;EP *''Torture Knows No Boundary'' (1986), Metal Blade/Roadrunner ;Compilation *''Don't Turn Your Back!! & Breaking Point'' (1991), Metal Blade ;Compilation appearances *'' Metal Massacre Vol. 7'' (1986) *''Compendium of Metal vol 5.'' (2012)

References

External links

*
Heretic
at

Metal Archives Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives (commonly known as Metal Archives per the URL or abbreviated as MA) is an online encyclopedia based upon musical artists who predominantly perform heavy metal music along with its various Heavy metal gen ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Heretic (Band) Musical groups established in 1984 Musical groups disestablished in 1988 Thrash metal musical groups from California 1984 establishments in California