S.O.D. — Speak English or Die: The Crossover Thrash Album That Started It All
Metal Nerdery Podcast — Episode 367 | Published September 3, 2026 | metalnerdery.com | @metalnerderypodcast
"It's Spreading the Disease — but less produced. That's what Speak English or Die is."
"One of the best openers EVER… the bass makes it… if you don't have that ugly bass, it's just not there."
"This is death metal before death metal was death metal."
"21 songs, 28 minutes…"
"It was a joke… and then it just blew up… just like this podcast."
"This album captures the fun and the youth that thrash used to be."
"Anytime you're feeling 988 down, just put this on and you won't feel that way anymore."
About This Episode
🔄 Episode Reboot: Metal Nerdery covered Speak English or Die once before — during COVID, before Russell joined, with Adam joining remotely on a screen. "We recommend highly that you do NOT go back and listen to it." This is the proper version. Consider the old one officially buried.
In early July 1985, ¾ of the Fistful of Metal-era Anthrax — Charlie Benante, Scott Ian, and Dan Lilker — joined Billy Milano in the studio to form the legendary crossover thrash band S.O.D. (aka STORMTROOPERS OF DEATH) and in less than one week, recorded and mixed one of the most notoriously hilarious thrash albums of all time: SPEAK ENGLISH OR DIE.
Never heard of S.O.D.? Think back to the glory days of Headbanger's Ball — all that vintage black and white film footage of trains slamming into each other head on, rodeos gone wrong, cars crashing, and failed BMX stunts. The bumper music that was the soundtrack to all of that visual chaos? That was Speak English or Die. Every single time. You already knew this album before you knew you knew it.
Band: S.O.D. — Stormtroopers of Death
Album: Speak English or Die
Recorded: July 2–5, 1985 — three days
Label: Megaforce Records
Lineup: Scott Ian (guitar) · Charlie Benante (drums) · Dan Lilker (bass) · Billy Milano (vocals)
Connection: Three-quarters of the Fistful of Metal-era Anthrax — recorded during downtime from the Spreading the Disease sessions
21Songs
28Minutes
3Days Recorded
1985Year Released
0Apologies Given
The Album — Song by Song
01
March of the S.O.D.
"One of the best openers EVER… the bass makes it…"
02
Sargent D and the S.O.D.
"This is '85, right? It doesn't sound like '85… it sounds like it could have come out last week."
03
Kill Yourself
See #RussellsReflections — Lilburn, GA arts & crafts festival edition 🤘
04
Milano Mosh
Can you do… the Milano Mosh?
05
Speak English or Die
"If you're in America, you must…" / "That's death metal before death metal was death metal."
06
United Forces
"Black, White, Yellow, and Red…" — Check out the Doomsicle version on Patreon!
07
Chromatic Death
"Every time it's the sound of Headbanger's Ball… it just takes me back."
08
Pi Alpha Nu
aka "Pie Avenue…" / "Wait a minute… where's McMahon?"
09
Anti-Procrastination Song
"This is my favorite song on the album."
10
What's That Noise?
"Hey Alex, WTF is that noise?"
11
Freddy Krueger
"It's almost a Slayer riff… it's like a happy Slayer riff." #FistfulOfSteel
12
Milk
"Some milk and a Pepsi, right? All I wanted was one Pepsi…" — "Milk was the first time I ever heard blast beats."
13
Pre-Menstrual Princess Blues
"I'm passing clots the size of basketballs…" — "Alright… this one… is REALLY funny."
14
Pussy Whipped
A clear definition of what it means to be "pussy whipped." / "(Pussy) is like Mexican food…"
15
Fist Banging Mania
"You've gotta bang fists, dude… it's not June."
16
No Turning Back
"The weird thing is it sounds like a 'serious' song." Global warming — way ahead of their time.
17
F*** the Middle East
"Done and done."
18
Douche Crew
"This is it… the scream." / "That sounds like Among The Living Anthrax right there."
19
Hey Gordy!
Mosh part equals breakdown — if you're new here.
20
Ballad of Jimi Hendrix
Exactly what it says on the tin.
21
Diamonds and Rust (Extended)
The Joan Baez cover that Rob Halford made famous — and S.O.D. made hilarious.
🔴 Highlighted tracks = discussed on episode · Mosh part = breakdown — if you're new here
Bonus Tracks
+IdentitySee also: Seasoning the Obese EP (2000)
+6 Songs in 9 Seconds"Oooh, we get extras…"
+Ram It UpInferno cover — "A little bit of Ram It Up and call it a night?"
#RussellsReflections — Lilburn, GA Edition
🎙 Russell's Reflections — Arts & Crafts Festival, Lilburn Georgia
A nostalgic, deeply troubling, and entirely hilarious account of a local band full of teenagers covering Kill Yourself by S.O.D. at a local small-town arts & crafts festival in Lilburn, Georgia. #LilburnDaze #PoonMobile #TheOzone — "This is getting weirdly darker by the minute… I'm getting more and more uncomfortable as I listen to this."
The Origin Story
How S.O.D. came to be: During the downtime between sessions for Anthrax's Spreading the Disease, Scott Ian, Charlie Benante, and Dan Lilker (who had left Anthrax but was still in the orbit) joined with Billy Milano — an Anthrax roadie at the time, not a known vocalist — and recorded the entire album in three days in July 1985. "It's Spreading the Disease but less produced. That's what Speak English or Die is."
Sargent D: "Like Captain America… but way better." / "The dude in Full Metal Jacket but with a cigar in his mouth… or a blunt… or bolth." Scott Ian started drawing the Sargent D character while finishing his guitar tracks on Spreading the Disease.
Dan Lilker's bass: "The bass makes it… if you don't have that ugly bass, it's just not there." "That sound on Speak English or Die should have been the sound on Fistful of Metal." "I feel like every bass should have that gnarly, distorted attitude to it." Lilker went on to form Nuclear Assault after leaving Anthrax — and his bass tone here is the foundation of the entire record.
The Headbanger's Ball connection: "Think Headbanger's Ball and the 2 trains colliding into each other…" Before most people ever heard the actual album, they heard it as the bumper music between segments on Headbanger's Ball — the crashes, the rodeo wipeouts, the BMX failures. That was all Speak English or Die. Every single time. "Every time, it's the sound of Headbanger's Ball — it just takes me back."
Milk — first blast beats: "Milk was the first time I ever heard blast beats." Charlie Benante playing blast beats in 1985 on a joke album. The joke was on everyone else — that's legitimately extreme drumming that still holds up 41 years later.
It was a joke: "It was a joke… and then it just blew up… just like this podcast." The album that was recorded in three days as a laugh between friends became one of the most influential crossover thrash records ever made, bridging the gap between punk and metal at a time when the two scenes actively despised each other. "This album captures the fun and the youth that thrash used to be."
Episode Timestamps
00:01"Pepper cream gravy… it's perfect (on a steak)." / "A little salt, a little pepper, a little garlic…" / "I love food… I think food is my new porn… the other day I had a weird craving for mashed potatoes and gravy… brown gravy." / "Let's do halfsies… in the interest of health…" / #onmicburp / "That was wet… that might have had a little gravy in there…" / "We didn't see any party gravy the other night at the show… that's a big difference from the old days…" / WARNING: #listenerdiscretionisadvised
03:45"You know what I'd like to do? I'd like to talk about cocaine enemas and blasting #ABBA in the middle of the night…" / Big thanks to American Dave for the soundbite of the year!!! / #inthemiddleofthenight / ***WELCOME BACK TO THE METAL NERDERY PODCAST IN THE BUNKERPOON CENTER FOR METAL EXCELLENCE!!!*** / "It's a Friday night… we're all dressed up appropriately for a metal Friday… it's like a combination of Headbanger's Ball and Friday Night Videos wrapped into one, but it's a podcast." / ***PATREON US*** at patreon.com/metalnerderypodcast / SOCIAL MEDIA: #metalnerderypodcast / EMAIL: metalnerdery@gmail.com / VOICEMAIL: 980-666-8182 / "Hey metal motherfuckers!" / #MartyFuckingMoose is headed to #Rocklahoma — be on the lookout at Camp Corruption! / Vader — "Fight Fire With Fire" (Necropolis – 2009) — "Did you guys know there's a Fight Fire With Fire by Kansas? Obviously, it's NOT the same one…"
14:30#TheDocket — METAL NERDERY PODCAST PRESENTS: STORMTROOPERS OF DEATH (S.O.D.) – SPEAK ENGLISH OR DIE / "To be fair, American Dave was referring to an older episode that we did (and we recommend highly that you do NOT go back and listen to it!)… it was during COVID, it was before Russ… Adam was remote and we were watching him on a screen… it was very surreal." / "The funniest thing about this record… other than everything…" / Recorded July 2–5, 1985 / "It's Spreading The Disease but less produced… that's what Speak English or Die is…" / "We were reading the lyrics, real time, as we were listening to the songs (on the prior S.O.D. episode)…" / "Sargent D: Like Captain America… but way better." / "21 songs, 28 minutes…" / "Before we start, I've gotta ask: how much relaxers do y'all think they did when S.O.D. made Speak English or Die?" / "That's where the fun is…"
23:41March of the S.O.D. — "One of the best openers EVER… the bass makes it… if you don't have that ugly bass, it's just not there…" / Sargent D and the S.O.D. — "This is '85, right? It don't sound like '85… it doesn't have the weird echo… this sounds like it could have come out last week…"
27:19#LilburnDaze #PoonMobile #TheOzone / "This is getting weirdly darker by the minute… I'm getting more and more uncomfortable as I listen to this…" / #RussellsReflections — a local band of teenagers covering Kill Yourself at a local arts & crafts festival in Lilburn, Georgia / Kill Yourself
31:20Kill Yourself / "Can you do… the Milano Mosh?" / "Think Headbanger's Ball and the 2 trains colliding into each other…" / "If you're in America, you must… SPEAK ENGLISH OR DIE" / "That's death metal before death metal was death metal…" / "Dan Lilker's bass only makes everything else sound heavier…" / #dogbarkingASMR / Check out the #Doomsicle version of United Forces on Patreon! / United Forces — "Black, White, Yellow, and Red…"
40:27Chromatic Death — "Every time, it's the sound of Headbanger's Ball… it just takes me back… even before I heard the album, I heard this first…" / Pi Alpha Nu — "This is a song about fraternities and sororities and such…" aka "Pie Avenue…" / "Wait a minute… where's McMahon?"
42:22"This is my favorite song on the album…" Anti-Procrastination Song / What's That Noise? "Hey Alex, WTF is that noise?" / "This album captures the fun and the youth that thrash used to be…" / "It was a joke… and then it just blew up… just like this podcast…" / Freddy Krueger #NightmareOnElmStreet / "It's almost a Slayer riff… it's like a happy Slayer riff…" / Milk — "Milk was the first time I ever heard blast beats…" #blastbeats
49:23"Alright… this one… is REALLY funny…" / Pre-Menstrual Princess Blues — "I'm passing clots the size of basketballs…" / "A clear definition of what it means to be 'pussy whipped'" / Pussy Whipped / "This one was always kinda funny to me…" / Fist Banging Mania — "You've gotta bang fists, dude… fist banging mania… it's not June…" / "Is this the one with the weird Tom Araya type scream at the end? No, it's the Douche Crew where that happens…"
55:05NOTE: Spirit In The Sky was written and performed by Norman Greenbaum / #RussellsRingtoneASMR / "The weird thing about No Turning Back is that it sounds like a 'serious' song…" No Turning Back / "It's a global warming song… they were way ahead of their time…" / "I feel like every bass should have that gnarly, distorted attitude to it…" / F*** the Middle East — "Done and done" / Douche Crew — "This is it… the scream." / "That sounds like Among The Living Anthrax right there…" / Mosh part = breakdown — if you're new here / Hey Gordy! / Ballad of Jimi Hendrix / Diamonds and Rust (Extended Version)
59:02"Oooh, we get extras…" / Identity (See also: Seasoning the Obese EP – 2000) / "It ends with Ram It Up, right?" / 6 Songs in 9 Seconds / "A little bit of Ram It Up and call it a night?" / Ram It Up (Inferno cover) / "I feel like… anytime you're feeling '988 down', just put this on and you won't feel that way anymore… you will feel immediately uplifted." / #988 / ***THANK YOU FOR JOINING US!!!*** / #untilthenext #outroreel
📞 Metal Nerdery PSA: If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out. Call or text 988 — the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline — available 24/7. "Anytime you're feeling 988 down, just put this on and you won't feel that way anymore." And then also call 988. 🤘
- Episode: Metal Nerdery #367 — S.O.D.: Speak English or Die (Reboot)
- Band: Stormtroopers of Death (S.O.D.) — Scott Ian · Charlie Benante · Dan Lilker · Billy Milano
- Album: Speak English or Die — Megaforce Records, 1985
- Recorded: July 2–5, 1985 — three days at Pyramid Sound, Ithaca, NY
- Runtime: 21 songs · 28 minutes · 0 apologies
- The connection: ¾ of Fistful of Metal-era Anthrax + Anthrax roadie Billy Milano
- Headbanger's Ball: That bumper music between the train crash clips? All S.O.D.
- Lilker's bass: "The bass makes it… if you don't have that ugly bass, it's just not there."
- First blast beats: Milk — Charlie Benante, 1985. Before death metal was death metal.
- #RussellsReflections: Teenagers covering Kill Yourself at a Lilburn, GA arts & crafts festival
- The verdict: "It was a joke… and then it just blew up… just like this podcast."
- Rocklahoma: Marty Fucking Moose is headed to Camp Corruption — say hi for us 🤘
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