New York's HITTMAN was founded in 1984 by erstwhile ATTILLA members guitarist Jim Bachi and bassist Michael Buccell together with former TAKASHI drummer Chuck Kory. The band soon added singer Dirk Kennedy, who had previously been involved in the formative stages of ANTHRAX and took on a name influenced by the comic book character He-Man.

The band added to their line up with second guitarist Brian Fair, previously a member of ALIEN. In mid 1985 this line-up issued HITTMAN's first demo which gained the outfit their inauguaral live appearance opening for STRYPER at Nassau Community College on Long Island. Further shows followed including guest slots to POISON, KIX, BLACK N'BLUE and SAXON.

four track demo - containing 'Metal Sport', 'Sleepless Nights', 'Winds Of Warning' and 'Live For Tomorrow'- quickly began to elicit rave reviews, especially in Europe, although record companies were slow in picking up on the buzz.

In 1986 HITTMAN suffered from line up ructions as Fair departed, reportedly due to a lack of commitment, to be supplanted by guitarist Greg Walls. Before too long Walls was out in favour of John Kristen.

over by many labels purely because they were playing a more traditional brand of Metal than the in vogue Thrash of the day, it wasn't until 1988 when the New York quintet finally issued their debut product through German label SPV. HITTMAN had previously abandoned plans for a self-financed EP in order to hold out for a deal. Whilst the album features a metallic cover of the theme tune to the old American TV series 'Secret Agent Man' it did not feature demo favourite 'Live For Tomorrow', considered by most observers at the time to be one of the band's classic songs.

The 'Vivas Machina' album featured new drummer Mark Jenkins and found HITTMAN moving ever further into Technical Metal waters.