Reactivated Thrash Pioneers MACE Giving Away New Song For Free

February 20, 2012

After a brief, 23-year vacation from the thrash scene, acclaimed '80s Northwest thrashers MACE have decided to lace up the combat boots for battle one more time. These guys shared the stage with the biggest thrash bands of the mid-'80s, including SLAYER, ANTHRAX, DEATH ANGEL, METAL CHURCH, CIRCLE JERKS, THE ACCUSED and many more.

Earlier this month, the band quietly leaked the info that they were getting back together and from the Northwest, they fired a shot that could heard around the world. Bands, promoters and even record labels, some as far away as Germany started talking about MACE.

There is a huge amount of excitement in the MACE camp and these guys are locked in with laser focus and ready to melt some faces, just like they did over two decades ago. For added excitement, Tommy Niemeyer from THE ACCUSED made the new MACE logo.

Everyone knows MACE guitarist Dave Hillis went on to work on some of the biggest albums in rock history as a producer (PEARL JAM's "Ten", ALICE IN CHAINS' "Dirt"),but MACE was always in the back of his mind. Hillis says, "I always wanted to remix the old songs, and when I opened my own studio I had to do it, and it was so much fun that we thought we would try a new song and that was so much fun that we said, 'Why not teach these young kids how it was done back in the day?'"

Hillis knew that when the time was right, he was going to revisit the thrash scene that he and his band helped form and solidify back in the '80s. In fact, DEATH ANGEL was recently on VH1's "Metal Evolution" and lead singer Mark Osegueda was wearing a MACE T-shirt. MACE is also said to be the first metal band to ever make punk fanzine Maximum Rock And Roll's playlist.

A huge part of the thrash scene back in the '80s was the underground tape-trading movement which helped spread the word like wildfire. Hillis states, "We got all our shows on tour and fanzine reviews and interviews that way, giving it away on the Internet today is just an extension of that."

MACE is using the 21st-century version of tape-trading and is giving away "Haarp Strings 2012" to their fans for free and they are encouraging them to give it away to anyone they want, no strings attached. Check it out at this location. It is also available for streaming below.

(Thanks: Glen Casebeer / American Rock Scene)

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