Wanting to break down the stereotypes that all Christian heavy metal bands sound like
Stryper,
Ryan Clark (vocals/guitar),
Morley (drums),
Steve (bass), and
Don Clark (guitar) dusted off their
Slayer records and formed
Training for Utopia. Taking an additional cue from the likes of
Unsane,
Karp, and
Meshuggah,
TFU's first EP,
The Falling Cycle, was released in 1997, followed by
Plastic Soul Impalement in 1998. After a split EP with Solid State lablemates
Zao during that same year,
Training for Utopia took a different musical direction and added elements of techno/industrial to their 1999 full-length
Throwing a Wrench into the American Music Machine.
Technical Difficulties appeared in April 2004. The Clark brothers later went on to form the metal outfit
Demon Hunter in Seattle. ~ Mike DaRonco, All Music Guide