After gaining the interest of a few smaller independent labels, due to the reviews of our ANNIHILATION COMPLETE DEMO in the Fall of 1987, we decided to take our own money and record the album before we were signed. We figured we might have a better chance of being picked up by a label if we had a finished product to shop around. (this money was later reimbursed by Axis Records when we signed with them just before the actual recording began) We recorded SUFFERING HOUR in March of 1988 for about $1,200. We did the entire album in 7 days in a small studio in Kansas City, MO. We recorded this album much differently than any of the others. All of the rhythm tracks were recorded live with the whole band playing together. We did all of these in a day or two, with a couple more for solos and vocals. Last, we mixed the whole thing in about two days. I should say our engineer did most of the mixing, as we were all in the studio for the first time and were too shy to do or say very much (except "more reverb please"). Needless to say the finished product was not exactly what we had hoped for, production-wise, but at that time we were thrilled just to have recorded an album. We ended up signing with Bernard Doe’s label ACTIVE RECORDS (AXIS at this time) for a two album contract. Bernard was known for his magazine METAL FORCES, which was one of the better metal magazines around. We had won "best demo" in the 1987 reader’s poll and he had included the songs "Annihilation Complete" and "Imprisoned" on the "SCREAM YOUR BRAINS OUT" compilation album. SUFFERING HOUR was a definite hodge- podge of old and new songs, and I think this is the thing that makes it a much more disjointed album than our later releases. Only four of the nine songs were written while we were together as a band, with the rest being either older songs from my As far as the material goes, previous high school band HEAVEN’S FLAME, (which featured Chad Smith on drums) or songs Kevin had written before I joined ANACRUSIS. "Imprisoned" was the first song that I wrote for the band, and I think musically and especially lyrically, it would set the tone for the direction we would take in the future. The songs "Butcher’s Block", "Fighting Evil", and "the Twisted Cross" were all from my previous band and "Annihilation Complete" and "Frigid Bitch" were two songs Kevin had written before I was in the band. I think this will help to explain the lack of continuity on this album. One of my favorites, still, is "Present Tense". I would have to call this the first ‘true’ ANACRUSIS song, as it was the first one that we all contributed to and wrote together. I think it was also the last song written for the album (Coming up with the best material at the last minute would become a reoccurring theme for us). Another thing I should mention is that we also recorded BLACK SABBATH’s "N.I.B". It was a hyper-active version that we used to play live, and we intended to include it on S.H. but we weren’t exactly sure how to go about getting permission to use it, so we left it off the final pressing. Just imagine the original a little faster, with too much reverb and me singing "my name is Ken Nar-di" in place of the "my name is Lucifer" line and that’s pretty much it.