White left the band due to personal and musical differences. For a few months the late ex-Exodus vocalist Paul Baloff became the band's vocalist. They also briefly toured with late Metal Church vocalist David Wayne. In late 1988, Rick Weaver was recruited from The Dispossessed who had opened for the Midwest leg of the Heathen's national tour. He left amicably in 1989 citing creative differences, and White returned to Heathen later that year. Victims of Deception and breakup (1991–1993) In order to record their album Victims of Deception, Heathen recruited Blind Illusion mainman Marc Biedermann to play bass in the studio. The album was released in 1991 through Roadrunner Records. Victims of Deception was considerably more technical than Breaking the Silence, featuring odd time signatures, more complex riffs and songs, tempo and key changes, and longer song lengths, and is often described as progressive thrash metal, retaining little of the NWOBHM influence its predecessor had exhibited. It was also highly critically acclaimed, though it was not quite as commercially successful as Breaking the Silence. The band's cover of Rainbow's "Kill the King" and original ballad "Prisoners of Fate" were released as singles and had minor rock radio airplay. The band again toured in support of the album, notably touring Europe with Sepultura and Sacred Reich. That year Heathen found a permanent bassist in Randy Laire and toured extensively until the untimely death of Laire and his girlfriend in a car accident. The band replaced him with Jason VieBrooks. Doug Piercy departed from the band in 1992 and was replaced by Ira Black. The band planned to record a covers EP dedicated to Laire and his girlfriend as well as White's deceased brother Jeffery, but the band went on hiatus in 1993. Reunion (2001–2008) Heathen reunited in 2001, its lineup comprising David White, Lee Altus, Ira Black, Mike Jastremski and Darren Minter, to play the Thrash of the Titans benefit concert to help Chuck Billy and Chuck Schuldiner raise funds for Billy's throat cancer treatment and Schuldiner's brain cancer treatment. The concert was a huge success, but in 2004, Jastremski left the band again, and was replaced by Ulysses Siren bassist Jon Torres. An EP, Recovered, was released on Relentless Metal Records, consisting of Victims of Deception-era demos and newly recorded cover songs. A new demo was released in August 2005, containing three new songs. Heathen recruited Terry Lauderdale in 2005