Käsi (Finland) - Demo 1996 (?)

Thanks to Kari Koskinen for sending me this one. Much appreciated!

Käsi? Yeah, Käsi. Kinda strange name for a band (for those of you who don't speak Finnish: the band's name simply means 'hand'). Anyway, this is yet another obscure Finnish band that played death metal in the mid-Nineties - I had never even heard about them until a week or so ago. I don't really have much information about them except for the fact that their lead singer Tomi Joutsen later became quite well known - he's nowadays singing in Amorphis - and I bet my ass that quite a lot of people into metal music have heard about them. This demo is probably from 1996 - even mister Joutsen himself wasn't really sure about the year this tape was recorded & released when he was asked about it. Anyway, this isn't bad at all, so download it and check it out if you want to.

Käsi - Demo 1996 (?)

1. The Godfather 4:19
2. Through Different Eyes 4:19
3. Mindless 4:33
4. The Last Man 4:42

Style: Death Metal

Download (mp3, 320 kbps or something like that...)!

Tetragon (Finland) - ...The Water Had Rounded The Stones demo 1991

Thanks to mister Ratzombi for sending me this interesting little piece of history!

More Tetragon for your pleasure (or horror). This one's from 1991 and by then Tetragon must have been even more out of fashion than they ever had been before with the avalanche of Death Metal almost completely burying every other genre of metal underneath itself - that's how things really seemed to be in the early Nineties in Finland...

The music is still technical/experimental/avantgarde/whatfuckineveryouwannacallit Thrash Metal. Of course the band had developed as musicians and played better on this tape than on the Vermilion demo 1989. This is really good and interesting stuff indeed. Highly recommended for those who are not afraid of having some art in their thrash. Or something like that. I suck at describing things, but I know when I hear something I like!

Tetragon - ...The Water Had Rounded The Stones demo 1991

1. In Flight/Rounded Colours 6:16
2. Motherland 8:19
3. Variables/God's Only Son 9:05

Style: Avantgarde/Thrash Metal

Download (mp3, 256 kbps)!

Metallic Toaster (Finland) - Toast Till Death demo 7.8.88

7.8.88. That's August 7th, 1988. That's a fucking long time ago.

Metallic Toaster is a bit of mystery. There's absolutely no information about them on the Internet... well, there actually is now at least some audio of this thrash metal band available since I'm posting this demo I found from one of my infamous boxes. I remember hearing about this band playing a few underground gigs here and there in the Helsinki area, but I don't remember if I ever saw them live. I don't know who played in this band nor do I know which city they were from. All I know is that they were from Finland and they recorded at least this three song demo. I would like to know a lot more, so if you have any info about this band - get in touch.

Metallic Toaster - Toast Till Death demo 7.8.88

1. March Of The M.T. 2:04
2. Religious Freak 5:18
3. The End 7:17

Style: Thrash Metal

Download (mp3, 320 kbps)!

Tetragon (Finland) - Vermilion demo 1989

Technical metal? Experimental metal? Avantgarde metal? Progressive metal? All of that and then of course Thrash metal. That's Tetragon from Parkano, Finland. One of the forgotten and perhaps even somehow original or unique treasures of the ancient Finnish metal scene - they certainly were not one of the generic thrash bands of the era. Perhaps they were a bit too complex for your average thrasher of the day? I mean this isn't any thrash metal by numbers clone band. The Metal Archives entry for this demo mentions only four songs, but there's actually five songs - the first one being over three minutes long piano/vocals piece (don't know the title - if someone out there can help me with this, get in touch...), and only after that things become more metallic but at the same time remain experimental through the entire demo. This is highly recommended to those who are not afraid of music that is more adventurous than usual.

The band is again somehow active today. Or it seems that they at least have been active in 2010. They have a website, a Facebook site and a MySpace site. "Tetragon is recording new material", they say. If it's anything like this demo, I'd definitely love to hear that new material!

Tetragon - Vermilion demo 1989

1. [title unknown] 3:32
2. Brothers In Blood 4:34
3. Tetragonal Dreams 5:15
4. Satanic Verses 4:04
5. Vermilion 9:38

Style: Avantgarde/Thrash Metal

Download (mp3, 320 kbps)!

Hammerhead (Finland) - 14.5.1989 Harju, Helsinki

Another Hammerhead tape for you. Here's the short set that Hammerhead played when they were the opening act for Brainwash at Harju Youth Club. There was some guys in the audience who didn't like Hammerhead at all and they were not afraid to tell the band so... the band got more and more pissed off during the show and it seemed like they cut their set short (which pissed me & my mate ML off). The last song (a Sodom cover version) was probably something they had not planned to play but they played it anyway. I edited this tape a bit, which means that I cut most of the unnecessary bullshit out. What is left of the show here is musically really good and the sound is OK too. Check this shit out and don't forget to check the Hammerhead demo I posted in March...

Hammerhead - 14.5.1989 Harju, Helsinki

1. [title unknown] 6:48
2. Eclipse 6:07
3. [title unknown] 5:05
4. Sepulchral Voice 1:40

Style: Speed Metal/Thrash Metal

Download (mp3, 320 kbps)!

Brainwash (Finland) - 14.5.1989 Harju, Helsinki

Bringing back to life some more noises by yet another almost forgotten band - this one was called Brainwash and they were from Helsinki. If I remember correctly they were originally called Backline... or something like that. Too bad there's no demo shit available - at least I don't seem to have any. But there's this live tape recorded by yours truly at Harju Youth Club in May 1989. Once again, the sound is what it is, but at least I can hear clearly a speed/thrash metal band that played really well and had some pretty fucking good songs. Check it out yourself. This is the complete gig and there's also a Black Sabbath cover version included. May 14, 1989 was a Sunday - that most likely explains the lack of enthusiasm shown by the audience. Brainwash were the headlining band that evening and the opening act was Hammerhead. I recorded both bands and I think I'll be uploading the Hammerhead gig too one of these days.

Strangely enough quite many metal gigs at that time were on Sundays. Don't know why, really, but I guess the organizers thought they'd get less problems if the fans were sober... and I suppose they were absofuckinglutely right. Yeah. :D

Like so many other bands of the time, Brainwash simply just disappeared. However the lead singer/bass player Ali later surfaced as a singer/bassist for Corporal Punishment, who did three albums in the Nineties - and had in its lineup guys who had played in bigger bands of the Finnish metal scene like Stone and Airdash. Last time I heard of Ali was around 2005 when he was playing in a band called Bendover with the drummer from HIM...

Brainwash - 14.5.1989 Harju, Helsinki

1. Have No Mercy 3:25
2. [title unknown] 5:59
3. [title unknown] 5:19
4. Brainwash 3:08
5. Right To Kill 4:18
6. Children Of The Grave 3:37
7. [title unknown] 4:42
8. Pain In My Brain 5:00

Style: Speed Metal/Thrash Metal

Download (mp3, 320 kbps)!