Jackhammer [pre Whiplash] "Lethal Injection" Demo #1 1983 & "Chainsaw Love" Demo #2 1984

A long forgotten nugget from the very early days of thrash, the first tape features Tony Scagilone on drums and Rob Harding on bass, both of whom would turn up in Whiplash with the guitar and vocals handled by Chris Ott. The riffs owed a lot to the NWOBHM, but "Live By The Sword" is pretty thrashy for the day. The second tape was a more embryonic version of Whiplash with Tony Portaro now on guitar and vocals, and it shows the beginning of the buzzing guitar tone he would use to great effect in the next few years. Although these are far from the best demos ever recorded I've posted them out of historical interest and I also have a number of other demos from famous musicians making their first tentitive and often embarrassing steps into the world. If you think this is a little lack lustre, wait until you hear the band that came before Darkthrone!

Link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1GOWA0SP

Warhammer "Abattoir Of Death" Demo 1985

The UK's first death metal band! It was also the starting point for Shane Embury who appears here on drums. As you might expect it's primitive stuff, owing a large debt to Possessed, Sodom and Bathory. In 1985 when most people were happy to rip off Metallica and Slayer, Warhammer were pushing the envelope. This was their only demo although I seem to remember a live tape and a bunch of rehearsals doing the rounds, now if anyone has these, please contact me!

Link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IGCMXQK6

Devastation "A Creation Of Ripping Death" Demo #1 1986

Not the Devastation who recorded the Violent Termination & Signs Of Life albums, but a bunch of death metallers from Chicago. Their output was limited to this demo, which was re-released the following year with new vocals under the title "A Re-creation Of Ripping Death", they also recorded an unreleased album called "Dispensable Bloodshed". Think proto-death metal important enough to warrant a cover version on Napalm Death's "Leaders Not Followers Part II" and exactly the kind of band this Blog intends to focus on: influential as hell but relatively unknown due to never releasing an album.

I was going to upload my rip of the demo until I stumbled across their official site that has both demos and the album for free download, so go to http://www.devastationmusic.net and get clicking!

Awesome stuff!

Requests?

No I'm not posting anything by Metallica, Slayer, Exodus, Anthrax etc., this is a Blog dedicated to obscure 80s bands only.

Expect goodies from the likes of Amputation, Antichrist, Azagthoth, Black Death, Black Majesty, Cremains, Devastation (Chicago), Fatal, Future Tense, Hellpreacher, Leviathan, Master, Mefisto, Morbid, Redrum, Satan's Bake Sale, Sindrome, Terminal Death, Tirant Sin, Vacant Grave, Voor, Wargod, Warhammer and Xandril to name but a few.

I have a stack of stuff to share, so any requests?

Greetings Thrashers!

I've looked everywhere for a Blog that deals with rare 80s Thrash and Death metal and have drawn a blank.

So I'm doing it myself.

I'll be posting rare demos from bands that time seems to have forgotten but deserve to be remembered. Some of them are my rips, most are not, but all hark back to my tape trading days when the TDK D90 was king.

Enjoy!