Good bad Music for bad, bad Times!

Before HIRAX were one serious motherfucker of a Thrash Metal band that more and and more stretched out into Hardcore-crossover territories, they released one of the best non-british NWOBHM recordings: This four track demo tape from 1984!

I had ordered this after I read about it in one of the underground magazines. The name HIRAX sounded so damn great. There were other bands with neologism, like AMEBIX or EXXOR (whose name was directly inspired by HIRAX) and they all had to have at least one “X” in the name.
The four songs on this demo – how could I possibly put into words what they mean to me. “Born in the Streets” opens up the reign and you can’t get the riff out of your head again, once you heard it. And let’s face it: Katon’s vocals add all the extra sugar on top of it. I can’t understand why some people were so put off by his singing, because, seriously: It fucking rules. And so the other three songs too totally live off his unique voice. “Battle Cry” is just perfect, “Stand and be counted” will have you sing along soon and “Believe in the King” starts off with a cheesy intro only to blast off into one monster of a song.

I first thought about adding some rehearsal tracks to illustrate how HIRAX quickly added a lot of muscle and became a Thrash Metal outfit almost over night. But let’s save these tapes for some other time round, when I have more time to go into the NWOBHM / Thrash transition-theme again.

In the meantime, download these four songs in the best quality you will ever hear them. This goes out to Marco Suremann, wherever you are. And thanks to Dave from Rocket Sciene for selling me his copy of the demo, after I had lost my own copy along the way.

Born in the Streets.mp3
Battle Cry.mp3
Stand and be counted.mp3
Believe in the King.mp3

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That’s the great thing about this blog: Sometimes people support it and its idea by providing freesource material. Early this week, I had a box full of original demo tapes in the mail. Thanks a bunch Joachim!

Here’s the first demo tape by Germany’s TOXOPLASMA who were one of the most popular of the 2nd wave of german Hardcore Punk bands. Their selftitled LP from 1983 is regarded a classic of the genre. If you haven’t heard it, it’s well worth checking out, if you like it fast & loud. It’s currently available on both vinyl and CD from Weird System.

This first demo tape, which was partially released on Joachim’s label Get Happy Records in 1994, features some of these songs in much rawer, slower forms. Totally great, if you ask me – especially tracks like “Arschkriecher” are the winners here. Overall, the tape is extremely aggressive and abrassive with the typical stupid lyrics of the time (we called them “political”, haha).

So if you like it not so fast but loose, click on this link here and download the entire 1981 demo tape by TOXOPLASMA.

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DISGUST from Holland had released a demo tape prior to this and it never impressed me too much. But as soon as I found the 2nd demo in the mail, I was blown away, and upon playing it again recently, I was still very impressed. Very desperate sounding hectic and brutal Hardcore, much in the vein of PANDEMONIUM (with whom I think they shared band members) and Italian HC. The vocals and the fuzzy guitar are just perfect!
In late 1986 or early 1987, DISGUST also released a 7″EP, “The last Blast”. That’s great too, a bit more PANDEMONIUM sounding than this maybe, but still essential if you’re into this kind of thrash. They were also on the infamous “Babylon bleibt fahren” comp. LP and maybe some more of which Ican’t think right now.

Download the entire «Trash back» Demo by clicking here. The folder also contains the full cover scans.

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It’s been some time since the last Metal post.

NASTY SAVAGE released this demo in 1984 and immediate fame followed with it. Fanzines from all over the pre-internet world reviewed it enthusiastically and so I took my chance and ordered a copy. Nasty Ronnie, who was anything but nasty, sent me the tape along with these little extras you just loved when you were 16 years old and from this point on, we kept in touch, so when Thomas, Roman and I tripped through the USA, we were welcomed by NASTY SAVAGE too (and it was Ronnie who introduced us to MORBID ANGEL). Ronnie set up some kind of a pool party for us – a rather bizarre event of which only some blurry images have left. And of course, we were invited to a NASTY SAVAGE rehearsal – and that was so extremely impressive, just like the other Florida rehearsals we saw in the the same week (MORBID ANGEL and MASSACRE, if memory serves). I think Thomas has photos from this session too and maybe one day, these will appear somewhere. The rehearsal was more like a private gig for us: They played a full set (which I recorded) in some kind of a storage hall. It was fucking hot & humid and for the first time in my life, I will never forget this, I drank water out of paper cups coming from one of these rechargeable water-things, you know, these with a turned-up, giant plastic bottle full of water on top. These little details were America to me – things that hadn’t made it to the small village in the swiss mountains I came from but which I had seen on television. The guy who this hall belonged to was called John Galt and after the session, he gave us a bunch of black shirts which said “Who the fuck is John Galt” on the back, haha. Wish I had kept one of those too, but just like so many things, I didn’t take as much care of them as I should have so in the past course, they got lost in space in time (just like my personal copy of “Wage of Mayhem” – thanks to David from Rocketscience, I hd the chnce to find me a new one).

So this demo tape contains much more than just music, as you can guess, but that’s so often the case, isn’t it. Whatever NASTY SAVAGE put out (and it wasn’t all too much, unfortunately), has got that very special touch, but the demo and the first LP are just unbeaten. The insane, impressive riffing and Ronnie’s high-pitched vocals coin a totally unique sound. Unique, but you can tell some of the influences: Mercyful Fate, Slayer, the heavier NWOBHM bands generally. “Wage of Mayhem” is without the slightest doubt one of the greatest and most influential demo tapes of the 80s.

“Unchained Angel” hits you like a motherfucking truck. The riffing stakkato is immense and so fucking well done. “Savage Desire” is a bit slower, calmer, while “Witches Sabbath” is a bit catchier again. The riff break near the end of the song is amazingly well set. “Triple X” is massive with the double bass drumming and again incredible riffing.

Two songs from the demo made it onto vinyl: “XXX” was featured on Metal Massacre V and the aggressive “Unchained Angel” was on  a rare and quite obscure LP compilation, called “Iron Tyrants”. It was released in regular form and as a picture disc on the no less legendary Azra label.

PS: This one goes out to Thorsten and BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE. Thanks much, mate!

Unchained Angel.mp3
Savage Desire.mp3
Witches Sabbath.mp3
Triple X.mp3

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Not the PSYCHO with the great 12″ and the not so great 7″, but the infamous PSYCHO with Billy Milano, the professional redneck from S.O.D. on microphone. What’s kinda confusing is that the tape has the band name spelled PSYCHO and not PSYCHOS and I couldn’t find a thing about this in the net. The tape is authentic though – I received it from Dan Lilker of ANTHRAX / NUCLEAR ASSAULT, if memory serves.

Oh well, apparently the Boston PSYCHO – didn’t know they had such a great vocalist. Thanks, Eddie!

Recorded with some audience in the rehearsal room, this recording used to make its round through collector circles, but never really got much exposure. Sound is bit muddy, but the music rages much in the vein of NEGATIVE FX, YOUTH KORPS, IMPACT UNIT etc. And Milano’s voice is just too great here. Some songs are fillers, but overall, this is aggressive, brutal Hardcore of the unfriendly sort. Enjoy!

Download the complete tape here. Songs are not separated for once and the tape is encoded with 224 idiosyncrasies per inter-discourse, in order to make the file reasonably small for download.

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I bought this tape in some record store with a air conditioner of the size of a jumbo jet somewhere in Florida in 1986, because of the band name and the cover. When I took it back to the flat of Kam Lee & Rick Rozz (formerly of DEATH, at that time active in MASSACRE) to play it, everybody was having a good time.

I’m afraid I don’t know much about DEAD. This tape sure was one of the highlights in the campaign of the destruction of music by means of traditional rock instruments (which is probably not the same as the “campaign of musical destruction” by LÄRM). I’m pretty sure this fascinate some of this blogs readers. I mean, it does sound evil. The vocals, the vocals. Makes Norwegian Black Metal sound like Janis Joplin. If you can’t sit through this, you’re a fucking wimp. The excessive intro is from “2001″, isn’t it? The good old movie-soundtracks-intro-times, where have they gone? And where is my Necrophagia “Death is Fun” demo?
Please fill us in with more about DEAD, if you know other than what’s easily googlable (and that’s not much, really).

“Recorded in a House”. Priceless.

[Intro separated[.mp3
Azathoth.mp3
Chopper.mp3
Dead.mp3
Mephestopheles.mp3

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The annual server costs are due (130$) – please donate (use the button in the left column) and keep the blog alive. I supply the music, you bring in the cash and the blog stays ad-free (and you wouldn’t believe how many commercial advertisement requests I’m receiving). As soon as the money has been collected, the button disappears. Curious to see whether the money will be collected faster than last year (it had taken a couple of days, if I remember correctly). Thanks in advance!

For your ears’ pleasure, here’s a tape that wasn’t supposed to be heard. Before there was EXTREME NOISE TERROR, there was RAW NOISE, and after one of the many splits of ENT, RAW NOISE came back together. What most people don’t know is that the band had recorded a demo in 1984. Most of the songs are early, much punkier versions (with different song titles) of the classic tracks on the equally classic split LP with CHAOS UK, released by Manic Ears in late 1985. From what I remember, RAW NOISE were totally unsatisfied with this demo because it was too “clean” and sure, if you hold it against the split LP, it’s much tamer in sound. It’s also noticeable that it’s still Dean alone doing the vocals job here; Phil joined in the band shortly after these recordings were made. A great document of the state of the art of Hardcore in Europe, jut a blink of the eye away from the escalation that was about to set in.

A great tape that deserves to be dug out and exposed to your hungry ears. Download, turn up loud and enjoy!

Get the entire Demo here.

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A local NWOBHM band of some weight was MYTHRA. Even in Heidiland, they were taken notice of, most likely due to coverage in NME and Kerrang and maybe the formidable cover artwork played a role too.MYTHRA is one of the “big” groups in the “minor” league, and as they stated in an interview, they really hoped they’d make it with this one, getting loads of money and fame and I think it’s fair to say this shines through on the EP – for the good. Just like it always puzzles me when I listen to the mighty white album of DIAMOND HEAD with all its POTENTIAL and WILL, the same can be felt here. MYTHRA were ready to take off – but things just didn’t go that way. Shame, but what can you do. Much of the same bad luck faced the band 10 years later, when Lars Ulrich of METALLICA compiled his much acclaimed (and, really, great!) NWOBHM compilation double album: MYTHRA were asked to kindly appear on the sampler, but they were the only band that said no. Or much rather had to say no, because an uncle of theirs had the mastertapes in his possession and he wasn’t interested. Great move.

The four tracks on the bands only life time release would have been described as “rocking” back then and the EP’s hit song “Killer” is a real rocker. They must have realised themselves, the chaps in MYTHRA, that this was the standout track, so they added that “featuring KILLER” thing on  the cover. I love such details. Amazing, to the point twin guitar mayhem and then some good rocking. Malc Macmillan, author of the NWOBHM-bible, oops Encyclopedia calls this riff archetypal, and although we don’t believe in archetypes and such (Foucault and Derrida, you know), we do get the point and cannot but agree on that (and I just love speaking of meself as “we”). Great are the other three tracks too. Every single one of them could be called a blueprint for the first wave of the NWOBHM: A bit on the typical side but that’s not always a bad thing, is it. You hear JUDAS PRIEST and you hear DIAMOND HEAD, your feel the energy of Punk and lots of balls can be felt swinging too. Air guitar chuggah-chuggah-material. You seen that documentary on the NWOBHM on youtube (which is alsco included in the first Iron Maiden archives DVD)? Them two geezers with their handsawn wooden guitars (so to say materializations of air guitars)? Yeah – I can picture them doing their imposterous little tricks to this MYTHRA EP. Brilliant.
This kind of music is not something I can listen to any day, but whenever I’m in the mood for it, it seems like nothing can top the mood of it. Skipping school, Mopeds (the olders drive them, with fox tails and iron cross shaped rearview mirrors – you came on your brothers rusty bicycle), thin moustaches (and blossoming pubes – nowadays, the kids shave em off before they even know the pride of growing them), juke boxes with Status Quo and Roxy Music singles in some redneck pub (and you have to press “Whatever you want” over and over again cause it’s the only thing that even remotely reminds you of that Judas Priest song you’d wanna bang your head too), a couple fags (stolen from mum), a bottle of beer you’re trying to empty (although your 12 years old mouth detests the bitter taste). That was my little glimpse of the NWOBHM. Or the total absence of it.

This wonderful four tracker was first released on the essential Guardian Records label in 1979. Lots were pressed after a very small and unidentifiable first edition of a meager 200. Not too many came with the amazing picture sleeve. Then, Street Beat Records repressed it on the luxury and popular 12″ format and on 7″ again, with one song (“Overlord”) left off. Again, not all copies, neither 7″ or 12″,  have the ps which is printed on poshy thick paper. I love these 12″ covers, like early Iron Maiden 7″ singles that came in a 12″ version, with the same cover just BIGGER. I’m a sucker for shit like that. Or the Angel Witch 12″, ith the sitting baphomet on it, just like the 7″ sleeves, but all black and white and BIG and scary. I have two of those – one on display in my designer apartment.

Death & Destiny.mp3
Killer.mp3
Overlord.mp3
UFO.mp3

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Not much is known about VERMIN. The three track demo tape here was sent to a friend of mine in December of 1984 by the band and quickly found its way into my collection. I did a bit of googlin & doodlin’ and found some bits & pieces on the history of VERMIN – everything was new to me.
The band was formed in 1982 in Los Angeles and during its two years of existence included later members of bands such as AGENT STEEL, DETENTE, ABATTOIR and SCEPTRE. There seems to be a one track demo, released shortly prior to this but I’ve never heard it. In 1985, VERMIN released a four track demo. Neither heard that one.

What is special about this demo is that it’s a very early kinda Death Metal-ish recording (recorded in November of 1984) with quite a bit of evilness and shrieking guitars. Also note the short running time of the songs and the Hardcore backup vocals on all of the songs (we used to call it “punky” back then). This is not traditional Metal anymore, but hell, what am I saying – as if SLAYER hadn’t already destroyed the world with “Show no Mercy” in 1983. It’s pretty easy to imagine that had these songs been properly recorded, you’d see some folks running around these days with VERMIN patches on their denim.
Nobody will have ever heard of this band before, maybe except for some of the late-born encyclopaedists. And those who had known them in the old days have probably forgotten VERMIN along the way. So did I, but upon finding this tape, some memories arose of when I used to sit in front of my speakers blasting out such recordings and I couldn’t find anything wrong with the quality. That’s just how the underground 80s sounded. I guess we just were in the middle of a musical avalanche. All white around us, all loud and nobody had the slightest idea what the fuck was happening here. This avalanche was over by 1985 or 1986 and believe me or don’t: there was only one avalanche like this and not one Hardcore and one Metal version.

It’s not that I’d play this up and down, but there’s just no reason to let this be forgotten. Enjoy Metalheads, Genealogists and Archeologists – especially the riffing in “Raw Deal” and the double – doublebass intro to “Satan’s Reign” are neat. Another piece in the never ending mosaique of the history of good bad music.

Raw Deal.mp3
Fear no Evil.mp3
Satan’s Reign.mp3

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One of my favourite demo tapes ever! ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT came out of the blue with this one. They sent out the demo tape to a lot of international fanzines and radio stations and got very popular immediately. Everybody was blown away – rarely had there been a genuine blend of the best elements of both Hardcore and Metal, played with such passion. The joy is literally bleeding through within every note, yet all the songs have a fascinating melodramatic atmosphere. Really really intense! “In the Center it was silent” gives me goose bumps. What a song! By the way, this was recorded at the infamous “Turk Street Studios” where EXODUS also had recorded a demo tape. If said EXODUS demo only had the sound this one has ….
The LP that followed (“American Paranoia”) was long in the making (same Pusmort procedere as always). The advance tape found its way into trader circles quickly again and it actually sounded better than the actual vinyl did, with a lot more crunch to it. The LP somehow never impressed me half as much as the demo. I don’t know what it is, but it just lacks something. also, the whole package was so damn shitty looking.
In 1986, I met Rick Strahl (bassist) at a gig in San Francisco. A true gentleman of Crossover. If I remember correctly, he came to me and asked me how a guy from Switzerland hanging around in San Francisco could wear a Attitude Adjustment T-Shirt (the classic one, with the soldier and the peace sign fingers). Might also be that John Scharpen introduced us to each other. Maybe John remembers this little episode.
I suspect that this tape has suffered a bit over the years in terms of sound (that strange wobbling sound you hear, you know). Still, it’s got a clear and crisp sound and I think these rips are definately a lot better than the cheap ass files floating around. At a later time, I might be uploading the LP rough mix and a killer rehearsal tape too.

Download the complete demo here as one .zip file. Encoded in hi-quality 320 kb/sec bit rate.

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