New album, “Toxic Mercenaries”, out now!
Texas thrash metal cult legends Gammacide are bringing their long-awaited comeback album to vinyl. Following the September 11 CD release of Toxic Mercenaries, the band’s first full-length collection of new material in more than 35 years will receive its highly anticipated vinyl release on October 30, 2026, through NoLifeTilMetal Records.
Toxic Mercenaries delivers eight brand-new tracks that prove Gammacide’s trademark attack has lost none of its bite. Blistering riffs, chaotic lead work, bulldozing drums, and Varnam Ponville’s unmistakable vocals tear through songs including “Overload,” “Sinkhole,” “Predator Or Prey” and “Soldier of Fear.”
The album follows Gammacide’s triumphant return to the stage in 2025, when the band reunited to perform at Hell’s Heroes Festival in Houston, Texas. The response was overwhelming, leading to an East Coast tour, shows in Mexico, and ultimately, the decision to enter the studio in January 2026 and create the first new Gammacide music since the band’s breakup in 1992.
Formed in 1986 by guitarist Rick Perry and bassist Eric Roy, Gammacide quickly established themselves as one of the most vicious young bands emerging from the Texas metal scene. Their 1987 five-song demo became a prized release throughout the international tape-trading and fanzine underground.
With guitarist Scott Shelby joining the lineup in 1988, Gammacide developed the dual-guitar assault that would define their sound. The band recorded Victims of Science at Sound Logic Studios in Dallas in 1989, with the album released by Wild Rags Records in early 1990.
More than three decades later, Victims of Science remains a cult favorite among underground thrash devotees.
Now, Toxic Mercenaries carries that legacy forward without attempting to recreate the past. The new material sounds like Gammacide, because it is Gammacide: fast, hostile, chaotic, and unapologetically rooted in the Texas thrash tradition.
The album’s artwork and layout were created by Scott Waters, whose extensive metal design credits include Mortification, Lizzy Borden, Hades, Patriarchs in Black, and Anger As Art.
Toxic Mercenaries was produced by Gammacide vocalist Varnam Ponville alongside David Treadway of DDTstudio Productions.
Gammacide’s story could have ended in 1992. Instead, more than three decades later, the band has returned with an album that sounds less like a nostalgic reunion and more like unfinished business.
