Performing a punishing hybrid of hardcore punk and speed metal, Bl'ast! were a band dedicated to exploring the outer limits of the hard and the heavy. Hailing from Santa Cruz, California, Bl'ast! were a product of the same West Coast underground rock scene that produced Black Flag, a band who were one of their strongest influences and would later mentor Bl'ast! Their guitar figures were jagged, unforgiving punk riffs reinforced with downtuned and amped up heaviness, while the whiplash rhythm section of howling vocals amplified the rage of their songs. The definitive document from the group's original run was their first album cut for Black Flag's SST label, 1987's It's in My Blood; in the 2010s, they would bring out reworked material from the same period on the album Blood!, which was mixed by one of their better-known fans, Dave Grohl. Bl'ast! evolved from a Santa Cruz punk band called M.A.D. (Mutually Assured Destruction), whose biggest moment was appearing on the 1982 Maximum Rock N Roll collection Not So Quiet on the Western Front, contributing the song "Holocaust." M.A.D. featured lead singer Clifford Dinsmore, guitarist Steve Stevenson, bassist Dave Cooper, and drummer Bill Torgerson. In 1983, the band shifted their creative direction with the addition of a second guitarist, Mike Neider, and to reflect their heavier attack, they changed their name to Bl'ast! The band gigged regularly in their hometown and the surrounding area, earning a following for the ferocity of their music. In 1985, Bl'ast! began work on their first album, scrapping their first set of sessions before re-recording the material for 1986's The Power of Expression. Released on the Wishingwell Records label, the album and subsequent live work attracted the attention of SST Records, founded by Greg Ginn of Black Flag. Bl'ast! were strongly influenced by Black Flag, and now Ginn and SST embraced the band, signing them to SST for their second album, 1987's It's in My Blood, which was recorded by a four-man edition of the group after the departure of guitarist Steve Stevenson. SST would also reissue The Power of Expression, giving the album a wider hearing, and Black Flag took Bl'ast! on the road as their opening act. In 1989, Bl'ast! emerged with their third album, Take the Manic Ride, a speedier but equally hard-hitting effort from the band. However, following the touring cycle for the LP, bassist Dave Cooper left the lineup, and singer Clifford Dinsmore was soon to follow. In time, Mike Neider and Bill Torgerson would rework Bl'ast! into Blackout with the addition of bassist Dave Dinsmore, releasing a single in 1994. With the addition of guitarist Brant Bjork, Blackout became LAB, releasing their debut single in 1997. LAB would release a limited-edition CD single in 1998, after Bjork moved on and shortly before the band broke up. In 2001, Bl'ast! reunited for a West Coast tour before returning to retirement. In 2012, Neider contacted experimental metal label Southern Lord Records when he found some aging Bl'ast! master tapes in an abandoned storage locker. The tapes revealed a lost recording session from the mid-'80s featuring work from the short-lived tenure of guitarist William DuVall, who would go on to play guitar for Neon Christ and later sing for the 2010's incarnation of Alice in Chains. Bl'ast! superfan Dave Grohl was called in to mix the forgotten tapes, and the lost session was released in 2013 as Blood, the first album from the band in decades. Following the positive response to Blood, Clifford Dinsmore and Mike Neider assembled a new edition of Bl'ast!, with Nick Oliveri (ex-Queens of the Stone Age) on bass and Hoss Wright (of the Exies and Mondo Generator) on drums, playing a pair of shows with Neurosis in 2013 and touring the United States and Europe in 2014 with drummer Joey Castillo replacing Wright. A second reworked Bl'ast! reissue also emerged in 2014; The Expression of Power featured material from The Power of Expression along with plenty of unreleased alternate takes. 2015 saw the release of the first single from the revamped edition of Bl'ast!, "For Those Who Graced the Fire" b/w "The Pulse." Other commitments prevented Nick Oliveri and Joey Castillo from participating in the sessions, so a guest rhythm section was brought in comprising Dave Grohl on drums and former Black Flag member Chuck Dukowski on bass. Oliveri and Castillo were on hand for the next Bl'ast! recording project, a track titled "Cut Your Teeth" that appeared on a split single with Eyehategod. Following the release of the split, Bl'ast! began blocking out plans for a full-length album. ~ Mark Deming