Raid

Memphis, TN's Raid nearly single-handedly launched the wave of vegan straight-edge acts within hardcore. Alongside Vegan Reich from California and Statement from England, the group shaped the sonic and ideological direction of later outfits such as Earth Crisis, Framework, Abnegation, and Another Victim. Its sound matched the rigor of its politics through dive-bomb guitar squeaks, chunky riffing, and hoarsely barked vocals that deployed terms like "anthropocentric" with a precision later-era metal performers never approached. The band's initial recordings stayed rooted in traditional hardcore punk, whereas its final five tracks absorbed the metalcore style then emerging from Cleveland's Integrity. Raid arose from the remnants of the Christian straight-edge band One Way. Vocalist Steve Lovitt, guitarists Jason VanAuken and Chad Cathy, bassist Mark Whitlock, and drummer Steve Capehart served as advocates, first promoting vegan straight-edge and later the hardline movement. The members self-released a demo cassette in 1989 and followed with the 1990 7" single Words of War on Hardline Records. In 1991, recordings intended for a single called Under the Axe were combined with the 7" material and two demo tracks to form the Above the Law CD. The band dissolved soon afterward, and most members eventually drifted from the vegan straight-edge path. Victory Records reissued the collection in 1995 under the title Hands Off the Animals.