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: 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

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)!

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

Download (mp3, 320 kbps)!