Episode 48 – The Dark Stuff (right click to download)

Sometimes things just don’t go as expected. It happens. Take this show, for instance. We started with a nice punk track, then proceeded with metal, of course, of the grindcore/death metal kind. Underground stuff. When SUDDENLY things went batshit and we ended up with a pile up of hardcore, bottom-of-the-pit demos whose existence most people would never know of. Good news: it’s all cool stuff. Bad news: if you like your metal nice and polished, FORGET THAT. This beast of an episode will put your cvltness to the test. Proceed with caution.

Click for show notes and a complete tracklist.

Episode 48 – The Dark Stuff

Don’t worry: STP does NOT stand for Stone Temple Pilots. We would never do that to you, precious listener. This is STP, an all girl punk band from 1990. We’ll tell you the truth: there’s not much else we know about them. But this song… man, it’s GREAT.

Now Test we know much better. So well, in fact, we already had featured them before at Episode 42 – Legion of Horribles with a track we even played on a couple SATAN MADE ME DO IT deejaying gigs. This one, “Venemom”, is also really good. That’s all you need to know.

We’ve already talked extensively about the merits of South American brands of metal, both here and on Rádio Quântica. Cancerbero, from Chile, is certainly not an innovator of any of those brands, but yet another great example of the unrefined, borderline animalistic rawness that only the subcontinent is capable of. Several things to highlight about this track: the guitar tone slaughters angels in hell, the drum sound is bananas (they really went all out in the mixing) and the vocals… plain bullshit free. Can’t really detect any effects or anything (a second voice track, perhaps). What a great little song.

“Alison Hell” is certainly no stranger to most of you. Not really played out, but definitely exposed aplenty. This is the 1986 demo version from “Phantasmagoria”, with Jeff Waters on vocal duty. Results are interesting to say the least. Maybe not really that apparent on this track, but there are quite a lot of, well, death growls on this demo. Not what you might have expected if the 1989 album is all you’ve heard by Annihilator. THE MORE YOU KNOW!

Trying to come back to more punkish stuff with Sacrilege, another band we featured at Episode 42 (which proves that one was one hell of a show). Again, all praise to vocalist Lynda “Tam” Simpson’s set of pipes is not enough. We present you the demo version of “Out of Sight, Out of Mind”. The quality of the recording is not perfect, but oh-my-Lord Satan, it’s fucking POWERFUL! Yeah! Sacrilege deserves much more recognition (not one single review on Metal Archives!), so it’s a good thing that Relapse have recently reissued their debut album from 1985, “Behind The Realms of Madness”. Hear it. Celebrate it. Love it. Just like with Bulldozer. Everlasting love for Italian metal from SATAN MADE ME DO IT.

Not the first time Enter Obscurity has been featured on SATAN MADE ME DO IT. We’re both big fans, it’s that simple. They have been working the road and paying their dues, all the while becoming this really cool black/speed metal band in the vein of the all-time greats. And we feel the best is yet to come…

Okay, so next is Lacerate from Florida. Similar influences here, we imagine, minus the Norwegian bands. Not as inspired thrash for sure, but one of us at least sees plenty of potential. Gotta work on coming up with a more signature sound (talking about production here specifically).

This pair only a very limited number of listeners will know. That’s because they’re both tracks from the Portuguese metal underground from the early 90s. First we have a nice instrumental track from Exiled, which doesn’t make much justice to what they really sounded like, which was more death/thrash. Then comes Procyon, thrash legends from the Portuguese underground at that time. This song, “Asking More”, actually still holds up pretty well. Problem is the vocals, but for some godforsaken reason that’s a problem with too many Portuguese bands from all genres. Anyway… both bands feel close to home to one half of SATAN MADE ME DO IT, as he was more or less actively involved in the scene at the time, even participating in the promotion and distribution of demos K7s from both bands. We just realized: this Procyon’s demo, “Last Seeds of Time”, is being sold at Discogs for 40 plus euros. Man…

Welcome back, Treblinka! This is a first wave bm classic and a Swedish death metal relic. Most people know them for their inspiring 1988 demo “Crawling in Vomits”, which we have played before. “Necrophagous Shadows” is from the second demo, “The Sign of the Pentagram”. Here they managed a much wider soundscape and involving sound. Not necessarily better than before, but different. Some riffs here remind us of, well, some riffs on “A Blaze in the Northern Sky”. Could be the fiery water talking, but we’re not backing off of our claim. Also, those are some well buried guitar leads. Atmosphere reigns supreme!

Here’s another Swedish death metal relic: it’s Curse from Stockholm! One of us has a seat reserved for Mefisto’s demos in his Pantheon of Greats. What does that have to do with Curse? Well, Curse was one of the few bands with a similar freestyle discipline in death metal in the 80s. Just hope they are not thinking about doing a reunion too. That Mefisto album… metaphysical tears were shed.

And finally… Throaat. We just had to go back to them, after featuring them at one of our Rádio Quântica shows. We kinda had a laugh at expense of their name, which we thought was Throoat. It’s actually Throaat. Not that it makes much of a difference. But anyway, we were asses and Brooklyn’s Throaat deserved an apology AND we don’t mind giving them all the airplay we can. Because they’re that good! And they have the best song titles! Those of you who listen to our show at Rádio Quântica already know we love “More Blood on her Altar”. This one is called “My Horsemen Are Unconcerned with Your Feelings”, from their 2013 demo. It’s great!

— Tracklist

1. Hey Bastard | STP (USA) | Smoke ‘em [7” EP], 1990 https://www.discogs.com/STP-Smoke-Em/master/804266
2. Venemom | Test (BRA) | Arabe Macabre, 2012 http://www.testdeath.com.br/index.html
3. Dark Messiah | Cancerbero (CHI) | At the Portal of the Evoked Blasphemies, 2012 https://www.facebook.com/Cancerbero-deathmetal-110006759156530/
4. Alison Hell | Annihilator (USA) | Phantasmagoria, 1986 https://www.facebook.com/Annihilator-9614139730/
5. Out of Sight, Out of Mind | Sacrilege (UK) | Demo II [demo], 1985 http://sacrilegeuk.bandcamp.com/
6. Cut-Throat | Bulldozer (ITA) | The Day of Wrath, 1985 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bulldozer/39721039661
7. Bombs Away | Enter Obscurity (NOR) | Enter Obscurity [EP], 2015 https://enterobscurity.bandcamp.com/
8. Savage Devastation | Lacerate (USA) | Savage Devastation [Demo], 2014 http://laceratemetal.bandcamp.com/
9. Landscape | Exiled (PT) | Ascension of Grace, 1994 https://www.facebook.com/Exiledoficial
10. Asking More | Procyon (PT) | Last Seeds of Mind [demo], 1990 https://www.discogs.com/Procyon-Last-Seeds-Of-Mind/release/4788839
11. Necrophagous Shadows | Treblinka (SWE) | The Sign of the Pentagram [Demo], 1989 http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Treblinka/9478
12. Morbid Death | Curse (SWE) | Ad Futuram Rei Memoriam… [Demo], 1989 http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Curse/36789
13. My Horsemen Are Unconcerned with Your Feelings / Weep on No Grave | Throaat (USA) | Puke on Your Grave [demo], 2013 https://throaat.bandcamp.com/