Although originating in the Bay Area around 1982 alongside the speed metal movement, San Francisco originals Brocas Helm displayed only limited thrash tendencies in common with regional peers such as Exodus and Metallica. In contrast, the group aligned more closely with similarly overlooked contemporaries like Manilla Road and Warlord, as Bobbie Wright on guitars and vocals, Jim Schumacher on bass, and Jack Hays on drums followed a traditional metal direction modeled after Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Black Sabbath. This purist outlook earned them a deal with Germany’s Steamhammer label, which issued the medieval-themed debut Into Battle in 1984, though the album attracted minimal critical notice. Geographic separation prevented effective cooperation between the band and label, leaving the recordings destined for Black Death unreleased for nearly four years until they surfaced in 1989 on the group’s own Gargoyle imprint. By then, second guitarist Tom “T-Bone” Behney had joined, and Brocas Helm functioned as a strictly underground concern, releasing only demos such as 1994’s “Ghost Story” and 1997’s “Time of the Dark” before disbanding in the late 1990s. The split proved temporary, however, when promoters from Greece—where metal enjoys fervent support—offered live dates that spurred a reunion and the simultaneous single “Blood Machine.” Still more unexpectedly, the third album Defender of the Crown finally appeared in 2004.
