Abattoir were a Speed Metal band from Los angeles formed in 1982. Abattoir soon became one of the most remarkable early speed metal bands. Consisting of Mal Sanchez (bass, ex-Evildead), Mark Caro (guitar, ex-Evildead), Rawl Preston (vocals), Juan Garcia (guitar, also was in Agent Steel) and Robert "Danger" Wayne (drums) they startet to play first gigs the same year. Typical line up changes happened the the early days which lead John Cyriis (John Syriis at the time) (vocals ; later Agent Steel) into the band. This line up produced a 2 track demo Tape, but soon after releasing the song ``Screams From The Grave`` on Metal Blade's ``Metal Massacre 4`` sampler the band already fell apart for a short period of time.
John and Juan went on to form Agent Steel while Mark and Mel reformed Abattoir in late 1984. The band got signed by Combat records in the united states and released their debut album ``Vicious Attack`` in 1985. At this time Steve Gaines (v; ex- Bloodlust (US)), Danny Oliverio (g) and drummer Danny Amaya (of MX Machine)filled the gaps in Abattoir's line up. Soon after the release of their debut Steve Gaines was replaced by Mike Towers (ex- Heretic). Gaines tried to form his own project called Tactics and later on rejoined is first band Bloodlust (US).While ``Vicious Attack`` was an almost thrash metal oriented album his follow up ``The Only Safe Place``, released in 1986, showed the band from a more melodic side best described as speed metal on the border to power metal.
``The Only Safe Place`` turned out to be the last album of the band a little after the release of this album Mel Sanchez got together with his formed bandmate Juan Garcia, who left Agent Steel in 1987, to form Evildead. After the Mel was gone Abattoir went through several line up changes but never found a constant line up and finally split up in the late 80's.

In 2001 Abattoir returned and released a live album titled No Sleep 'Til Kalamazoo, and in 2004, a demo titled From The Ashes (which is in fact a rough mix of their 2003 album, Evil Incarnate, that was accidentaly erased during its recording). The band has since has parted ways with Kevin Mac Shane & Steve Gaines (who is busy recording and touring with new bands Pagan War Machine and Dreams of Damnation).