REUPLOAD: 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

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

REUPLOAD: 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

Metallic Toaster (Finland) - Toast Till Death demo 7.8.88

REUPLOAD: 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!

EDIT 2014: The first Tetragon album "Signs of Grief" was released in 2013 and it's a really good one. Buy it if you can! Apparently there's also some new Tetragon material on the way so at least one of my ancient faves is alive and well in 2014!

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

Tetragon (Finland) - Vermilion demo 1989

REUPLOAD: 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

EDIT 05 Aug 2014: Just got the correct song titles from a former member of Hammerhead. So here are the correct ones - change the tags in the mp3's if you download the tape:

1. Picnic Outdoors
2. Eclipse
3. Legal Security Act
4. Sepulchral Voice

Style: Speed Metal/Thrash Metal

Hammerhead (Finland) - 14.5.1989 Harju, Helsinki

REUPLOAD: 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

Brainwash (Finland) 14.5.1989 Harju, Helsinki

REUPLOAD: Mörkö (Finland) - Paluu demo 2000

And now: something completely different. Yeah. This blog is not all about ancient thrash metal. It's not about any genre in particular, but it's about old metal tapes in general. There's a difference there, eh? I got this old(ish) tape from my friend JH (Cheers, mate!), listened to it, liked it... and thought that it might be a good thing to upload something different for a change. So I did. This band's name is Mörkö and this is their "Paluu" demo from 2000. And it's pretty damn good, but a rather short demo with three Black/Doom Metal (according to The Metal Archives) tracks. The band later did two full length albums and are still active today.

PS. This band is related to one of my recent faves Jumalhämärä, whom I recommend you to check out if you're interested in avantgarde/experimental black metal.

Mörkö - Paluu demo 2000

1. Mörköperkele 3:47
2. Musta surma 3:40
3. Totuuden henki 6:16

Style: Black/Doom Metal

Mörkö (Finland) - Paluu demo 2000

REUPLOAD: Outrage (Finland) - At the Edge of Hangover demo 1990

"Recorded and mixed at Studio 303 21.1.1990".

Outrage from Hormajärvi, Finland - vocalist Erkki and bass player Pete were also in Mayhem, who also hailed from the same small place. Don't be confused about the intro in the first song and don't turn the music off... yes, the intro is fucking horrible, but so was the original song too. I mean if you had forgotten (or perhaps never even heard) about that horrible, horrible, horrible pop "band" called Bros... well, you've been reminded about them now. The intro to "Like Father Like Scum" is indeed Outrage's own version of a huge Bros hit known as "When Will I Be Famous". Yeah. Click the link if you want to know more about that abomination. Just don't say I didn't warn you. Bring yer barf bags & shit, y'all. But enough of Bros, we're talking about Outrage here. This is a demo tape full of thrash metal, sometimes very fast thrash metal actually. I mean there's some parts in these songs that have... well... blast beats. Or at least something very close to blast beats. Am I sensing a grindcore influence or something? What? Does it really matter? Who gives a flying fuck anyway? This is a good demo and like everything else in this pathetic blog of mine, it is recommended by yours truly. Download the fucker & check it out!

Outrage - At The Edge Of Hangover demo 1990

1. Like Father Like Scum 3:01
2. Deflowered Soul 2:17
3. Drift Away 2:44
4. Malicious Behaviour 3:16
5. Shattered 2:52
6. S.T.O.P. 3:54

Style: Thrash Metal

Outrage (Finland) - At the Edge of Hangover demo 1990