Antidote (Finland) - Epoch of Insanity demo 1990

Time for more ancient stuff with some strange connections to a few bit more well known bands. Here's  Antidote from Vantaa, Finland. The band featured future members of Impaled Nazarene and Thunderstone and this demo tape was recorded at the infamous TTT Studio by Timo Tolkki (probably best known for his work with Stratovarius) in May 1990. Antidote made two demo tapes before they got signed and made three albums between 1992 and 1996 before splitting up. This is their first demo - or at least the first demo that's mentioned in the Encyclopaedia Metallum database. A solid demo it is. What should I say about all this then? Well, there's four good speed/thrash metal songs, the band plays well, the production is decent enough. There's some additional keyboards here & there but it's basically guitars, guitars and more guitars. As it should be. This is definitely above the average stuff for a demo from 1990 and it surely is well worth a listen even today. So check it out...

Antidote - Epoch of Insanity demo 1990

1. Careless World 3:37
2. Melancholia 5:01
3. Epoch of Insanity 4:06
4. One Crime ´90 9:05

Style: Speed Metal/Thrash Metal

Antidote - Epoch of Insanity demo 1990

Diablo Brothers (Finland) - Twizted Harmony demo 1995

Hello,

it's been a damn long time since I posted anything new. Sorry 'bout that. Here we go again!

Diablo Brothers? Who the hell were they? Well, this fine little piece of history is actually the debut demo of a band which later became a lot more known as Diablo. As Diablo they have done a bunch of albums and tours - including just for an example a European tour with Children of Bodom and Cannibal Corpse. But when this demo was released all that nice stuff was still in the future for the guys of Diablo Brothers. As you can see this is a sort of typical mid-Nineties demo tape with photocopied covers and all that crap, so nothing really special worth mentioning there. And it's the music that really matters anyway, right? Musically the band reminds me a lot of early 90's Pantera. There's certain similarities here, for sure. But then does it really matter? For a debut demo this is really good stuff and like I told you they were heading for bigger and better things within a few years after this tape got released. On this demo you get groovy riffs and heavy guitars and all that other nice mid-Nineties metal stuff that you probably liked back then. Or not. But that's the way things were back then. Basically if you like Pantera you will also like Diablo Brothers. So check out the four songs here. They're pretty long songs actually - three out of four of these songs are 6+ minutes long so it's not like this demo is full of instant pop tunes. Cool stuff. Thumbs up!

Diablo Brothers (Finland) - Twizted Harmony demo 1995

1. To the Other Side 4:11
2. Twizted Harmony 6:11
3. A Day of My Life 6:17
4. Recovered 6:28

Style: Heavy Metal/Groove Metal

Diablo Brothers (Finland) - Twizted Harmony demo 1995

REUPLOAD: X-Ray (Finland) Classic Metal Part I demo 1998

Say what? Classic Metal Part I? Was there later a part II or perhaps even a part III?

It seems that this band from Rusko, Finland called X-Ray, consisting of a bunch of 18 year olds (Antti Kaasalainen - vocals & guitar, Samuli Sairanen - guitar & vocals, Matti Paajanen - bass, Hannu Paappa - drums) vanished without a trace like most demo bands tend to do. This is especially true in this band's case since not even the almighty Metal Archives knows anything about this band. Or at least they didn't know until early 2012 - someone out there will most likely add this band to their database sooner or later.

I have no clue how this tape came into my possession, but it has been originally sent to a Finnish metal label and yes, there's some words written in the back of the demo cover by one of the band members. You know how it is - all the usual stuff hoping to gain the attention of the record label guys, "here's our demo, listen to it and let us know what you think, blah blah blah"... I certainly have written that kind of stuff in the past, trying to get signed... anyway, this is not about me or my music, this is about X-Ray's music... and the music's kinda OK. I'm not the biggest fan of the 90's European Power Metal Scene, but it's pretty obvious that these guys listened  to all the important bands of the time, you know, Helloween, Stratovarius, Gamma Ray and probably a few hundred more. I suppose generic is the word that should be used here - I think this is pretty much what this demo tape is - a quite typical 'heavy/power metal by numbers' kind of thing. I mean everything about this tape just screams that it's OK but nothing more. The guys can play OK, the vocals are kinda OK but could be a bit better, but you know what? I think it has some value anyway - it's a nice reminder of how the metal scene was back then. Melodic heavy/power Metal was the big thing in Europe and thousands of young hopefuls played the style back then, hoping to get signed and becoming big stars with plenty of money and pussy and whatever... there must have been lots of stuff by bands like this every fucking day on the tables of all the A&R guys in all the record labels back in the Nineties.

X-Ray - Classic Metal Part I demo 1998

1. Way To Home 5:59
2. Time Will Tell 4:50
3. Vicious Circle 5:15

Style: Heavy Metal/Power Metal

X-Ray - Classic Metal Part I demo 1998

REUPLOAD: Burst (Finland) - Beyond the Dreams demo 1992

Yeah, I know it's been a while since I posted any new shit, so it's about time I did something about it.

Here's a demo by this band called Burst from Keuruu, Finland. This demo and some other stuff by them is actually available just by clicking the link and downloading the shit from there... but since I had already ripped this I thought that I'd still post it here. Shit happens. Yeah. I like this one, so perhaps it deserves your attention. This demo was recorded in June 1992 so it must have been pretty out-of-date stuff by the time it was released. It has a good sound quality and musically it's kinda obvious that these guys must have been listening to bands like Stone quite a bit. I don't mean that Burst was a rip-off band or anything, but there IS this certain "Finnish Speed Metal" thing going on within these songs. You can hear the influences for sure even though this is a demo from '92 and for most of the time the band seems to be looking for something else than the Speed Metal thing musically. On their Metal Archives page they're called "Progressive Metal". Perhaps that's what this is then?


I remember seeing this band live once... don't know when exactly - very late Eighties/early Nineties, I suppose. Anyway, what I do remember is that they played at the infamous Herttoniemi Youth Club in Helsinki with a bunch of other bands and that they were definitely a good live band (they certainly played a lot more speed metal influenced stuff live than on this demo). Too bad that the times and the metal trends were already changing by then, so like so many others, they ended up being one of those bands that never really went anywhere.

Burst - Beyond the Dreams demo 1992

1. Black Soul 4:07
2. Find The Life  4:46
3. A Pure Chance 4:43
4. Beyond The Dreams 5:19

Style: Speed Metal/Thrash Metal

Burst (Finland) - Beyond the Dreams demo 1992

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: 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

REUPLOAD: Virago (Finland) - Herttoniemi, Helsinki 26.8.1990

Aaaahhhhh! The good old Herttoniemi Youth Club in Helsinki. I saw many great (and not so great) bands there 20+ years ago... and apparently recorded at least one of the gigs I saw. Don't remember anything else about this particular gig though. No idea about who else played there besides Virago. Anyway, judging by the audience reaction (yeah, I edited all/most of it out, and it was pretty much nonexisting anyway) it must have been one of those gigs that just sucked ass. Those tend to happen from time to time, and yes, I've been a "victim" of such shit gigs myself - on and off the stage. Anyway, I just checked it out: 26 August 1990 was a Sunday! Now I'm not wondering at all about the lack of enthusiasm. :D Anyway, here we have Virago playing a few songs and that's pretty much it. No bullshit. The sound is what it is - I must have recorded with an old crappy boombox or something... and there was no good recording equipment available anyway back then for a broke, stupid young dude like yours truly - or anyone else. Nowadays making your own "bootlegs" is easier I guess - it's a different world with all this digital shit that's available everywhere.

Virago - Herttoniemi, Helsinki 26.8.1990

1. Suspended Animation 4:38
2. Analysis 3:20
3. [title unknown] 3:31
4. Mr. Jones 4:05
5. Waste Another Year 4:43

Style: Speed Metal/Thrash Metal

Virago (Finland) - Herttoniemi, Helsinki 26.8.1990

X-Ray (Finland) - Classic Metal Part I Demo 1998

Say what? Classic Metal Part I? Was there later a part II or perhaps even a part III?

It seems that this band from Rusko, Finland called X-Ray, consisting of a bunch of 18 year olds (Antti Kaasalainen - vocals & guitar, Samuli Sairanen - guitar & vocals, Matti Paajanen - bass, Hannu Paappa - drums) vanished without a trace like most demo bands tend to do. This is especially true in this band's case since not even the almighty Metal Archives knows anything about this band. Or at least they didn't know until early 2012 - someone out there will most likely add this band to their database sooner or later.

I have no clue how this tape came into my possession, but it has been originally sent to a Finnish metal label and yes, there's some words written in the back of the demo cover by one of the band members. You know how it is - all the usual stuff hoping to gain the attention of the record label guys, "here's our demo, listen to it and let us know what you think, blah blah blah"... I certainly have written that kind of stuff in the past, trying to get signed... anyway, this is not about me or my music, this is about X-Ray's music... and the music's kinda OK. I'm not the biggest fan of the 90's European Power Metal Scene, but it's pretty obvious that these guys listened  to all the important bands of the time, you know, Helloween, Stratovarius, Gamma Ray and probably a few hundred more. I suppose generic is the word that should be used here - I think this is pretty much what this demo tape is - a quite typical 'heavy/power metal by numbers' kind of thing. I mean everything about this tape just screams that it's OK but nothing more. The guys can play OK, the vocals are kinda OK but could be a bit better, but you know what? I think it has some value anyway - it's a nice reminder of how the metal scene was back then. Melodic heavy/power Metal was the big thing in Europe and thousands of young hopefuls played the style back then, hoping to get signed and becoming big stars with plenty of money and pussy and whatever... there must have been lots of stuff by bands like this every fucking day on the tables of all the A&R guys in all the record labels back in the Nineties.

X-Ray - Classic Metal Part I Demo 1998

1. Way To Home 5:59
2. Time Will Tell 4:50
3. Vicious Circle 5:15

Download (mp3, 320 kbps)!

Burst (Finland) - Beyond The Dreams demo 1992

Yeah, I know it's been a while since I posted any new shit, so it's about time I did something about it.

Here's a demo by this band called Burst from Keuruu, Finland. This demo and some other stuff by them is actually available just by clicking the link and downloading the shit from there... but since I had already ripped this I thought that I'd still post it here. Shit happens. Yeah. I like this one, so perhaps it deserves your attention. This demo was recorded in June 1992 so it must have been pretty out-of-date stuff by the time it was released. It has a good sound quality and musically it's kinda obvious that these guys must have been listening to bands like Stone quite a bit. I don't mean that Burst was a rip-off band or anything, but there IS this certain "Finnish Speed Metal" thing going on within these songs. You can hear the influences for sure even though this is a demo from '92 and for most of the time the band seems to be looking for something else than the Speed Metal thing musically. On their Metal Archives page they're called "Progressive Metal". Perhaps that's what this is then?


I remember seeing this band live once... don't know when exactly - very late Eighties/early Nineties, I suppose. Anyway, what I do remember is that they played at the infamous Herttoniemi Youth Club in Helsinki with a bunch of other bands and that they were definitely a good live band (they certainly played a lot more speed metal influenced stuff live than on this demo). Too bad that the times and the metal trends were already changing by then, so like so many others, they ended up being one of those bands that never really went anywhere.


Burst - Beyond The Dreams demo 1992

1. Black Soul 4:07
2. Find The Life  4:46
3. A Pure Chance 4:43
4. Beyond The Dreams 5:19

Download (mp3, 320 kbps)!

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)!

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

Download (mp3, 320 kbps)!

Virago (Finland) - Herttoniemi, Helsinki 26.8.1990

Aaaahhhhh! The good old Herttoniemi Youth Club in Helsinki. I saw many great (and not so great) bands there 20+ years ago... and apparently recorded at least one of the gigs I saw. Don't remember anything else about this particular gig though. No idea about who else played there besides Virago. Anyway, judging by the audience reaction (yeah, I edited all/most of it out, and it was pretty much nonexisting anyway) it must have been one of those gigs that just sucked ass. Those tend to happen from time to time, and yes, I've been a "victim" of such shit gigs myself - on and off the stage. Anyway, I just checked it out: 26 August 1990 was a Sunday! Now I'm not wondering at all about the lack of enthusiasm. :D Anyway, here we have Virago playing a few songs and that's pretty much it. No bullshit. The sound is what it is - I must have recorded with an old crappy boombox or something... and there was no good recording equipment available anyway back then for a broke, stupid young dude like yours truly - or anyone else. Nowadays making your own "bootlegs" is easier I guess - it's a different world with all this digital shit that's available everywhere.

Virago - Herttoniemi, Helsinki 26.8.1990

1. Suspended Animation 4:38
2. Analysis 3:20
3. [title unknown] 3:31
4. Mr. Jones 4:05
5. Waste Another Year 4:43

Style: Speed Metal/Thrash Metal

Download (mp3, 320 kbps)!