Katon w de pena biography of christopher

American thrash metal band

This article is about the band Hirax. For the HIRAX telescope, see Hydrogen Intensity and Real-time Analysis eXperiment.

Original members of metallica

For the animal, see Hyrax.

Hirax (often stylized as HIRAX) is an American thrash metal band from Cypress, California. Starting in 1984^[1] under the leadership of vocalist Katon W. De Pena (the band's only original member left in the current line-up), the band played in Los Angeles and San Francisco with several of their thrash metal peers such as Metallica, Exodus, and Slayer.

The band was an early example of thrash metal, speed metal and crossover thrash,^[2][3] yet inspired by cross-genre influences including blues vocalist Sam Cooke, who De Pena once cited as "the greatest vocalist [De Pena] has ever heard."^[4]

History

After releasing some demos, Hirax signed with Metal Blade and debuted with their first full-length, Raging Violence, in 1985.^[1] The band was compose