Upon my infiltration of the Warriors of Metal Open Air festival I tasked myself to get as many albums to review as possible. During a moment when I was working the side stage and putting up with a raging douche-bag Pantera fanatic who thought he was a shred master, he was nothing of the sort, I met a kid named Brandon. This is one of those rare oldschool styled fans. He looked like a cross between Joey Ramone and any nameless fan of early 80’s thrash. I must commend him on his fashion sense. I met him at the shred competition, and needless to say I was curious if he was part of some musical outfit. It should be evident that I am no huge metal fan. However, I LOVE gen. 1 thrash metal (and even some of this new wave…Toxic Holocaust, Skeletonwitch, Municipal Waste, etc). I figured with Brandon’s eclectic taste in metal and raging teen hormones that he would play some noxious speed metal that is black as pitch. Well, the music is only as good as your fellow musicians. If one musician composes great music, but the drummer can’t keep time the band could have a problem. This can go for any member or even multiples. I’m sure this is just preaching to the choir, but you get my drift.
So I acquired the Death Dealer demo with all the force my BOP wielding powers could muster. I figured it was going to be pure shit, but I love getting underground music to test drive. Some reviewers get really jaded to new music. My jaded heart falls more toward the bands that keep on moving, yet loose their relevance. We all know which bands these are and no names need to be mentioned. Death Dealer delivers demo artwork that is completely awesome. Demo packaging like this should be a standard for up and coming artists. The vibe I get is purely DIY and some real care was polished into this. Take note you myspacefacebooktwitter heads. There are better ways to promote other than the internet. As far as I know the Demo image was also made into a T-shirt of some kind or maybe Brandon just mentioned the idea to me. Either way that is a T-shirt I would wear.
Youthful harboring of nocturnal delight and Necronomicon filled lullabies make me feel all warm and tingly inside. Just like if Cathulu were writhing up through my very bowels. Death Dealer delivers five songs that clock in just less than fifteen minutes. By the three minute mark I wanted to turn it the fuck off. Honestly, this doesn’t surprise me, but I’m giving this an honest listen and opinion.
This demo starts off with a song called “Return from the Crypt”. The guitar work is pretty mean. The drummer (who at this time has moved to vocals…good move) needs to start a wicked cocaine habit, because he is SLOW!!! I don’t believe the band had a bassist at the time of recording so no low end can be found…and trust when I say that the music needs it. This vocalist doesn’t have the chops for this style of metal. So far I’m getting a garage punk vibe. Like really old D.R.I. with a bad drummer. That isn’t a bad thing. Brandon needs to get a solid line up together so they can grow as musicians. Next up is a tune called “Evil Desire”. Not an all together bad riff. The vocals are still a bit annoying with no punch at all. This song needs bass like Stephen Hawking needs to get laid. This tune isn’t too bad. The drummer can even keep up. OH! One other thing is that these kids must have no knowledge about recording. Live recordings are great and all, but when soloing it is always good to dub in a rhythm guitar backing track. “Thrills in the Night” is the third song. Taking a chainsaw to the singer’s anus would produce a better effect than his attempts at “evil”. NEXT…”Hidden Terror” be the name of this demo crapster piece. The only thing on my mind is that this needs bass. Attention Death Dealer…you know you can over dub and mix in a bass track. Seriously, this yearns for a rhythm guitar track and a bass track like Robert Downy Jr. staring at a bottle of aged scotch. Strong riffage on this song though. Finally, we have the worst of the five songs. “The Great Awakening” is like a giant misnomer. The drummer, either ran out of creative steam on drum beats, or never gained consciousness with the rest of the band. I will say it again; the best thing the drummer did was move to vocals.
So that is that. The band has potential, but needs a steady line up to grow. That can be hard when living in the asshole of Kentucky. I would imagine that finding metal heads that are into Venom and Kreator in the loins of redneck breeding grounds can be hard. I’m giving this demo a 4 out of 10 severed heads. That may sound bad, but it is a fucking demo and these kids have heart. It may be black and hard like one of Dolemite’s pimp slaps, but it is still heart. I dig this just for the effort. If I gave that a rating it would be at least a six. This is a young seed that will hopefully grow into something face melting. Dig that shit like your Saturday night dates grave.
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