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: Flounder (Finland) - Demo III 1989

A.K.A. "Sea=Dancer+Bunch of flowers demo"

OK, so did you listen to that Flounder demo I posted? Good. Now prepare to get royally mindfucked. I mean if you thought the previous demo was a bit strange, what the hell is this then? I'm at loss for words. Listen to this one yourself and then think about this: how the hell did these guys manage to remember all these parts in these songs and what the fuck were they thinking anyway? I mean this is definitely not your standard rock music with your standard rock music structures and all that crap. This is, well... mindblowing and adventurous music that does not fit into any genre whatsoever. Yeah, sure, there definitely IS metal among other things, but isn't some of this really more like Voivod playing tango while being assraped by the late great Frank Zappa?

Yeah.

Loss for words.

Listen to it yourself if you dare.

Flounder - Demo III 1989

1. Dada (Parole in liberta)/Maybe.. 5:54
2. Frustrated 8:55
3. Imperishable Invisibility 4:56
4. Outro 1:03

Style: Avantgarde Metal/Thrash Metal

Flounder (Finland) - Demo III 1989

REUPLOAD: Flounder (Finland) - Demo II 1989

Flounder was certainly one of the weirdest bands in the late 80's Finnish metal scene. Experimental? Yes. Avantgarde? Yes. Weird jazzy bits here & there? Hell yeah. All of that mixed with thrash metal. It's still very entertaining stuff if you like unusual stuff. After making four demos Flounder did an EP in 1992 and then vanished. I was a huge Voivod fan in the Eighties - I still am actually - and Flounder reminded me of them somehow. The were not a clone band or anything like that but their weird song structures and the guitar playing reminds me of the Canadian masters of weirdness. And also like Voivod, Flounder is not for everyone but something else. An acquired taste. It's either Art or Incoherent Bullshit. It depends on the listener, of course.

This is Flounder's second demo and yes, it's fucking strange. That probably describes it well enough. Like it or not, at least it's not yet another generic thrash metal demo. This one's also known as "Virtahevonkakkaa!!!" demo. That's something like "Hippopotamus poo!!!" in English, in case you were wondering WTF is that supposed to mean. ;)

PS. Two members of Flounder later appeared in the legendary Finnish Death Metal band Convulse. Flounder's guitar player Aki Yli-Salomäki is apparently these days an award winning composer of classical music and all these great arty things I don't know much about...

Flounder - Demo II 1989

1. Intro Visuvedelle 1:30
2. Soprano & 8 Cellos 5:41
3. Ulterior Ramification 3:17
4. Paunch of Pauper 5:03
5. Inorganic Crystallization 4:34

Style: Avantgarde Metal/Thrash Metal

Flounder (Finland) - Demo II 1989

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: Virago (Finland) - Demo (198?)

Allright. Time to get back where we started. As those of you who have been following this blog since the beginning may remember, the first tape I posted was by a band called Virago and it was from '89. However this one I recently found from my boxes of dusty old tapes is an earlier demo. Don't know the exact year, but on this one it's still their bass player on vocals, and not the lead singer that sang on the later demo. Perhaps a little bit more aggression here and there, and it's more straight-forward kinda stuff than their later music in general. This is still a fine example of the local speed metal scene of the late 80's... well, at least for me it is. I still remember seeing this band live, supporting the bigger bands of the scene. I mean I saw Virago several times opening for Stone, Airdash, Prestige... pretty much all the important names of the time. And what did they get for all their efforts? Fucking nothing. But hey, that's life and like I've probably said a few times before, back then it was much harder for a Finnish metal band to get signed.

Virago - Demo (198?)

1. Hazevisitor 3:17
2. Proclaim 4:40
3. Indisposed 3:15
4. Beerboys 3:36

Style: Speed/Thrash Metal

Virago (Finland) - Demo (198?)

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

REUPLOAD: Mayhem (Finland) - Bitter Remains of Better Future Demo '89

"Wow! What a way to start my day, hangover and missiles on their way
If I have to die in here, then I want a beer
I don't care for crumbling land, I just want a beer in my hand
If I really have to die, then I want to die drunk" 

Mayhem - Die Drunk

Oh yeah. Thrasher kids of Cold War era writing lyrics about the impending nuclear war... and getting drunk. Kinda typical, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. I guess there must have been literally thousands of thrash metal bands doing the same thing everywhere in the world back then. Apparently these Finnish Mayhem dudes had not (yet) heard about their infamous Norwegian namesake when they were recording this demo in late October 1989. Vicious and sometimes extremely fast (especially during the opening track) thrash metal which occasionally reminds me a bit about another Finnish band - Protected Illusion. Actually there IS a connection here: the drummer/vocalist Erkki Virta of Mayhem joined Protected Illusion a bit later (or perhaps he already was a member of PI when he played on this demo?)... and the last time yours truly heard about him was in 2008 when he played drums on the excellent doom metal album Lithium Gates by The Puritan. So I suppose he's kept himself busy making music since late Eighties. No idea about the other guys. I suppose they just got day jobs and started families & shit like the rest of us old farts. That's the way life goes I guess. Anyway, this is a great demo but perhaps a bit lengthy one - I mean there's eight songs on this demo and it lasts about half an hour so it's almost more like an album than a demo tape, but this is definitely one of those things from the Finnish scene of the late Eighties that deserves to be heard again.

Mayhem - Bitter Remains of Better Future demo '89

1. Die Drunk 4:35
2. Burning The Bridges 4:04
3. Brainstorm 2:59
4. Two (Bitter Remains...) 5:18
5. Incestor 0:11
6. ...Without Any Reason 3:51
7. Blind Belief 3:52
8. Blackened Sanity 5:15

Style: Thrash Metal

Mayhem (Finland) - Bitter Remains of Better Future Demo '89

REUPLOAD: Defection (Finland) - War of Losers (198?)

Defection from Vantaa (Mika - guitar+vocals, Jökä - guitar, Pete - bass, Jone-drums)... this is thrash metal played the way it's supposed to be played! There's no year mentioned in the cover of the tape, but I suppose this is from the late Eighties. This is yet another rather unknown band, but some of the people involved with this little tape have made some things later that may have made some of you out there notice them. First of all this demo was recorded and mixed at TTT-music studio by the one and only Timo Tolkki himself. I suppose most of you have heard about Stratovarius and some of the other bands/projects he's been involved with. Then there's the bass player of Defection, Pete Peltonen, whom some may or may not remeber from another Finnish thrash band, Antidote, who made three albums in the Nineties. There's some session keyboards on this demo - played by Kari Tornack, who played on several albums by Thunderstone. So this is indeed some early work by guys who later did something different and got signed and all that crap... Anyway, this is a very good demo by yet another forgotten band - check it out. It's definitely worth a try.

Defection - War Of Losers (198?)

1. War Of Losers 3:16
2. Conscientious Objector 5:19
3. Battle Of The Blades 6:18
4. One Day 5:08

Style: Thrash Metal

Defection (Finland) - War of Losers (198?)

REUPLOAD: Hammerhead (Finland) - Demo '88

Hammerhead from Helsinki. I got this one through tape trading. Remember tape trading, pen pals, letters, envelopes, stamps, all those lovely things? Yeah. It was a different world indeed in the late Eighties... and so was Hammerhead. Different, I mean. They were one of these bands that me & my friends really liked... and yet another one that just sort of vanished. They had perhaps a bit less straight-forward approach to their music than some other Helsinki area bands of that time. Which basically means that they had a few more riffs and tempo changes in their songs and the song structures were very varied... and in general the songs weren't exactly 'short but sweet' either. Call it 'technical' or 'progressive' or whatfuckingever, it's still enjoyable and that's all that really matters, right? This is called Demo '88 but it sounds almost like they're playing this stuff live. Or then it is a low budget studio recording. I don't know. It's a shame I don't have more info about this tape. I mean I only know one of the song titles, and that's only because it was played once on the radio and I happened to hear (and record) it... and now that I'm thinking about it I'm not even sure about that one song title. But it says on this piece of paper that I have that track #4 is called 'Thing', so I'll call it 'Thing'. Might have been something like 'The Thing', originally... does it really make a difference? No, not really. This monster of a song goes through several changes before the lead vocals come in at around the three minute mark. Not exactly simple pop music, eh? Yeah, I consider this 'Thing' a classic tune. Loved it in 1988, still love it in 2011.

Hammerhead - Demo '88

1. [title unknown] 3:06
2. [title unknown] 5:46
3. [title unknown] 8:10
4. Thing 8:14
5. [title unknown] 0:34

EDIT: Here's the correct song titles...

1. Sharp is the knife
2. Teargas stories
3. Faceless dawn
4. The Thing

Style Speed Metal/Thrash Metal

Hammerhead (Finland) - Demo '88

REUPLOAD: Harlot (Finland) - Demo 1989

Now this is probably as obscure as it gets, and at the same time one of my absolute faves among the piles of old tapes I have. I have rarely seen this band mentioned anywhere, and despite (because?) of that I still think they were one of the very best Heavy Metal demo bands Finland had to offer back in the days of USSR and Cold War and other such Utter Bollocks. And it really seems that almost no one has ever heard of Harlot. Well, at least not too many people have heard about them. I saw Harlot live with my mate ML back in '89 in Espoo and we were completely blown away by their performance. Of course we went to meet the guys after the gig and I bought this demo tape that you can now download. Never saw them live again and never even heard anything about them after that! That's how it was back then. No Internet, pretty much no information easily available - have a nice trip to the Land of Obscurity with your music, young man!

This demo is actually a bit heavier than I rememebered. This is sort of a borderline thing between two genres - the songs definitely have a strong Speed Metal thing going on too. There's something familiar about the vocals, but I can't figure out who does the lead singer sound like. There's plenty of skillful guitar playing and all that crap that is usually expected - this band was really a pretty fuckin' professional sounding unit when compared to many of the other new bands in the Finnish Metal scene at the time. But hey - check them out yourself. I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed.

Harlot - Demo 1989

1. Burying Dreams 5:47
2. Shadow Of The Black 5:46
3. Tears Of Ice 6:04

Style: Heavy Metal/Speed Metal

Harlot (Finland) - Demo 1989

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

REUPLOAD: Virago (Finland) - Rehearsal 1988

Don't know much about this tape either. If I remember right I got this from a friend (who got it from a member of the band - the drummer, I think) back in '88 and I suppose it was recorded early that year - might have been recorded even in '87? Who knows? Anyway, this is your usual rehearsal stuff with a sort of a decent sound for such a shitty old tape. There's some good songs on this one. Perhaps they are a bit simpler songs than on the demo I posted earlier, but this is an older tape, so obviously the band must have also been a bit younger and more inexperienced. Blah blah fucking blah. Download the thing if you want to. :D

Virago - Rehearsal 1988

1. Taste Your Blood 5:07
2. Asphyxia 4:06
3. Warrior/Batman/Black Adept 12:26
4. Beer Boys 4:35
5. Battle Inside 4:03

Style: Speed/Thrash Metal

Virago (Finland) - Rehearsal 1988