BATTALION were a five man band from way back in the mid 1980’s or to more precise it was in the month of August of 1985 when the band came together, the first lineup did include vocalist GEERT WIECZOREK and guitarist GUY COMMEENE who remained in the band for what was a short career as a band. In this lineup also was FILIP VANDAMME on guitars, BART LAMSENS was on bass guitar and on drums was GEERT JACQUES. However after several performances together, they had supported bands such as XES, KILLER and SHOAN throughout 1986 and 1987, but that was when STEFAAN DECEUNINCK stepped in to take over drums from his predecessor. It was towards the end of 1987 was when the band were ready to record their first demo release titled EVIL LEGIONS,

Their one and only release was to be followed up by two replacements in the lineup, this meant both guitarist FILIP VANDAMME and bassist BART LAMSENSE were out of the running for two new members to step in, who were guitarist REINIER SCHENK and bassist STEFAAN VANHAUTE coming in to bring new blood to the band. After the new additions to the band, they shared the same stage with bands like CYCLONE, DESTRUCTION, ONSLAUGHT and ANGEL DUST at a festival towards the end of 1987 in their native country of Belgium as well as shows with HELLFIRE and DEATH SQUAD. They appeared also at the METALLYPSEE festival alongside two bands SODOM and TANKARD, after this GUY their guitarist left the band at the start of 1988, the other members also went their separate ways.

However the members crossed paths in newer bands one or two members went on to form, in later years in the 1990’s and 2000’s, it is unclear as to what happened to BATTALION, nevertheless they had a release as it was the only one, titled EVIL LEGIONS. We shall take a look at this demo release, it contains four tracks starting with “Deliverer” as lead guitar is straight in there with drums at a slow tempo to begin with, but this tempo then increases as drums fly into a frenzied attack as vocals come into the fore. An emphasis on certain lyrics is clear, but the track doesn’t stop there as we hear more riveting drum patterns as well as guitar riffs, that are not as audible as the intro of this track, but the guitar becomes more present in the mix later on for a short solo.

The drums seem to run on a movement from a post-punk or hardcore style but guitar is very much full of thrash metal so let’s not waste any time, we head into the next track which is “Highway Living”. A cymbal based intro with guitars also in there, as vocals come in this track is not as fast, but certainly hits the nail on the head with precision and clarity, the backing vocals as well adds such a nice touch to the track before a guitar sweeps us off our feet with small bursts of melodic riff playing. So we can go onto the next track which is “Nightmares” as this is the third track of four, guitar sliding all about with lots of thrash infused riffs. More backing vocals can also be heard after drums make a good contribution as the tempo increases once more.

Vocals have their say and backing vocals also are back in action, as short drum pattern cues the guitar to come in and show the listener what they are made of, drums do very well to support in the meantime. The pitch of lead guitar also rises and falls, before we come to another full band unison, as this track comes to an end, so the final track is “Coming Out”, as we hear galloping drums in motion as they become possessed for they are full of tension and dominate the playing field. There are even cries from backing vocals, so this adds to that thrash metal we are hearing already, even the drums uses some accents and colorization, the track and the album ends on a high note, as the track fades away in the distance bringing the album to a close.

I guess it this album really was just as good as any thrash style album should be and it certainly sounds like a real classic album, that would have gone down so well even in the late 1980’s when thrash metal was at its peak in the USA and throughout the UK even further out in Europe. The band themselves however didn’t last much longer after his release, the musicians all went their separate ways, so the band remain on hiatus, as the former members all went on to carve new pathways in the form of other projects or bands over the years. GUY went on to play in bands like HIDDEN RAGE, OPERATION GSD, ANESTHESY before co-founding ARTRACH.

BATTALION’S former vocalist PIET OVERSTINJNS did actually come to reuniting with GUY in 2005 as part of ARTRACH. REINER the guitarist went on to see himself appear with bands such DOUBLE D., MESHUGENERS, ANESTESY and FUTURE TENSE before he found to be part of technical death metal band FLESHMOULD in 2000 onwards. STEFAAN DECEUNINCK went on to play in NATIVE INSTINCT in the later years, it is unclear what happened to the other members, so perhaps you can listen to BATTALION as they were besides having such a short time together.