Metal Blade har sikret seg de amerikanske kult-thrasherne.

Bilde, fotograf: DM Jones

«Whiplash is an original thrash metal band, and Tony Portaro delivers over 30 years of power thrashing death.»

Whiplash@Facebook

Tony Portaro om kontrakten: «My main influences were the West Coast thrash bands that Brian Slagel brought into the limelight in the early 80’s. Without them attracting my attention in the first place, I never would have written Power and Pain. And the fact that Metal Blade is still promoting old school thrash and believing in me, gives me the inspiration to continue creating my East Coast style of metal.»

Bandet har spilt inn materiale til en nytt album, og her skal man ha det oldschool: «…in order to get a more old-school sound, Portaro opted to record to 2″ tape. Also, with the advice of renowned mastering engineer, Maor Appelbaum (Faith No More, Halford, Armored Saint, Sepultura, Candlemass, Anvil, Goatwhore) he chose to have the mix done by Phil Anderson, a long-time collaborator of Maor. Phil mixes on an analog board which should further benefit the project and push it in the direction Portaro is looking to reach.»

Lineupen består av, i tillegg til Tony på gitar og vokal, av bassist Dank Delong, som kom inn i bandet i 2010, og ny trommis Ron Lipnicki. Ron er kjent fra Overkill og Hades.