Want to make your politically correct metalhead friends’ heads explode this holiday season? Thanks to Megaforce and Stormtroopers of Death, you’ll be able to do just that, as S.O.D.’s debut album Speak English or Die is going to be reissued as a 30th anniversary edition. Initially released in 1985, S.O.D. consisted of Anthrax’s Scott Ian and Charlie Benante, Nuclear Assault’s Danny Lilker, and frontman Billy Milano. The album spawned from a cartoon character, Sargent D., that Ian drew while in the studio while recording Spreading the Disease. While crossover thrash existed before then, it was definitely one of the more popular albums that helped bring it into the mainstream.
With the exception of this reissue, the album would never come out today. With songs like “Fuck the Middle East,” “Pussy Whipped” and “Pre Meunstral Princess Blues,” if it sounded like a joke band, that’s because it was. The lyrics were designed to be offensive, and the band had nothing to apologize for, because in a pre-social media world, people weren’t offended as easily, nor were any of its members as popular as they are now. The album is also expected to contain demo recordings from Crab Society North, the ultra lo-fi predecessor to S.O.D. The band would go on to release two more albums and spawn Milano’s similar M.O.D. (or Methods of Destruction). Here’s the original track listing:
March of the S.O.D.
Sargent D and the S.O.D.
Kill Yourself
Milano Mosh
Speak English or Die
United Forces
Chromatic Death
Pi Alpha Nu
Anti-Procrastination
What’s That Noise
Freddy Krueger
Milk
Pre-Menstrual Princess Blues
Pussy Whipped
Fist Banging mania
No Turning Back
Fuck the Middle East
Douche Crew
Hey Gordy!
Ballad of Jimi Hendrix
Diamonds and Rust (extended version)
[via]
