Banished

Emerging from the remnants of Baphomet, the death metal outfit Banished, based in Buffalo, New York, USA, put out their lone album, The Dead Shall Inherit, in 1991 through Deaf Records. A German ensemble’s prior claim to the original name forced the adoption of Banished as a means of steering clear of litigation. Even so, the first recordings issued under the revised identity ran into difficulties of their own. Reviewers registered particular surprise at the sleeve illustration for the 1993 album, executed by Tim Vigil from Faust Comic Books; unconsciously mirroring a remark from the parody rockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, guitarist Tom Frost defended the artwork by declaring, ‘It’s not like a sexist thing in the sense that it’s real. The picture has all women in it, even the demon in the middle is a woman, with a huge strap-on horn...’