In 1990, Lethal released their debut album, Programmed. At that point, I never heard this band on the radio, saw them on MTV, or knew anyone who had heard them (all of this is still true to this day). The only mention I ever came across was a short review in some magazine such as Guitar World or RIP comparing Lethal to Iron Maiden. That was all I needed to read. When I read the comparison to Iron Maiden, I expected Lethal to sound identical to Iron Maiden. For months, I kept an eye out for Lethal in the heavy metal section of a mall I frequented about an hour away. Finally, Programmed showed up in the cassette section. I bought it, popped it in the tape deck at home, listened to the first couple of songs, and, wow, I was bummed. When I discovered Programmed was not Seventh Son of a Seventh Son Part II, I was severely disappointed. I had fresh ears, was still learning how to listen to music, and didn’t understand the idea of influences or that something could be like something else but not be a clone. I don’t recall ever listening to Lethal again.
About a year ago, my wife and I were cruising around listening to some satellite radio station. Lethal come on and I told her about how thirty years ago I discovered Lethal and how disappointed I was with them. I so adamant about how bad they were, she wanted to listen to them. Some track off Programmed started playing. I kept waiting for the song to start sucking and about halfway through, I thought, “This doesn’t sound too bad.” After the song was over, my wife said, “I kept waiting for the song to start sucking and about halfway through, I thought, ‘“This doesn’t sound too bad.’” Had my memory totally failed me? We started listening to Programmed from the beginning, and I realized Lethal sounded like a completely different band to me thirty years later. How did I get this so wrong? Lethal, I apologize!
I like all of these tracks, so I can’t pick a standout. The entire album is good—not just solid—from start to finish. Most of the songs are fast with fierce riffs, grooves, and great solos. Lead singer Tom Mallicoat knows how to carry a tune and consistently hits and holds very high notes. However, the band never overplays. Programmed is melodic, progressive, and heavy with tempo shifts and a sense of dynamics. The strongest influence I hear is early Queensrÿche with moments of Maiden. Think early Geoff Tate with Maiden tempos and guitar work. Fates Warning also comes to mind and maybe Michael Kiske here and there.
Lethal released their next and final full-length album Poison Seed in 1996. Reviews of Poison Seed are not as positive as Programmed, but you should decide for yourself. If I’ve learned anything from Lethal, it’s that I have to hear an album for myself and if I don’t like it, then I should let it rest and give it another chance later. I feel like I cheated myself out of years of enjoying Programmed, but at least I finally found it again. It’s too bad we didn’t get to hear more from Lethal and see where they went next (with two demos, an EP, Programmed, and Poison Seed, that’s the whole catalog to date).
I’ve periodically revisited bands and albums from the past that I haven’t heard in a long time. Sometimes my opinion changes and sometimes it doesn’t, but I don’t think I’ve ever reconsidered a band as strongly as I reconsidered Lethal. I totally, TOTALLY, misheard this band. Beliefs, people, places, relationships, ideas, behaviors, patterns—it’s a good idea to periodically review what we think we know.
TRACKLIST
1. Fire in Your Skin
2. Programmed
3. Plan of Peace
4. Another Day
5. Arrival
6. What They’ve Done
7. Obscure the Sky
8. Immune
9. Pray for Me
10. Killing Machine