There’s a word that Hirax singer Katon W. De Pena uses a lot: integrity. “People aren’t stupid, they listen. They recognise integrity,” he says at one point during our conversation. “We were stubborn. Maybe that counted against us, but integrity was important,” he says at another. Then there’s the two word credo that define both Hirax and Katon himself: “Integrity matters.”
Integrity has carried Hirax a long way. The Los Angeles band might not be hugely well-known outside thrash circles, but they can legitimately lay claim to being one of the scene’s founding fathers. They were there at the very start of it all, mixing it up with Metallica and Slayer. They never came close to becoming as big as either of those bands, but the two albums they released during their original run – 1985’s Raging Violence and the following year’s Hate, Fear And Power – are cult classics beloved of collectors and connoisseurs.
