Aggressor - There's Metal in Texas Demo (1987)

From Houston, Aggressor (not to be confused with Aggressor from Corpus Christi still active today) came out blazing some really great speed metal. Musically this band is in the technical thrash league with bands like Metal Church or Sanctuary but somehow remind me of Dokken. That's if Dokken was a heavy, fast thrash band without the hairspray. They followed up with a second demo in 1990 and later with an independently released full length "By Any Means Necessary" which is now out of print. Pop over to the band's MySpace page for audio samples.

Track Listing

1. There's Metal in Texas

2. No Time To Lose

3. Solo

4. I Survive

5. We Are Burning Hot

Band Members

Spyder Mike - Bass

Ken Pride - Drums

Scary Larry - Guitars (lead)

Stoney Paul - Vocals, Guitars

Download

Thanks to Motorised at Heavymetalrarities.com for the rip.

Sweet Nightmares - KPFT Radio Show (Nov. 1989)

Another 90 minutes of headbanging metal courtesy of the Sweet Nightmares radio show. This is a great set featuring a couple of demo cuts from Texas locals Watchtower and Morbid Scream. Check out my previous Sweet Nightmares post for more info about the show.

Track List

1. Bolt Thrower - Through the Eye of Terror

2. Morbid Angel - Visions from the Dark Side

3. Exhorder - Death in Vain (Demo)

4. Nasty Savage - Powerslam

5. Demolition Hammer - Infectious Hospital Waste (Demo)

6. D.R.I. - You Say I'm Scum

7. Testament - C.O.T.L.O.D.

8. Kreator - Impossible to Cure

9. Watchtower - Instruments of Random Murder (Demo)

10. Atheist - Room With A View (Tape Flip)

11. Intruder - Killing Winds

12. Bathory - Total Destruction

13. Morbid Scream - The Coming of War

14. Evil Dead - Sloe-Death

15. Indestroy - Senseless Theories

16. Tyrranicide - Drink, Drive and Die

17. Slayer - Epidemic

18. Recipients of Death - Flesh Burn

19. Prime Evil - Reality's Complete (Demo)

Download the Sweet Nightmares radio show

Hellpreacher - Resurrection Demo + Bonus Tracks (1986)

Hailing from San Antonio, Texas, very little is known about Hellpreacher other than the fact that they could produce thrash metal with heavy speedy riffs and needed more vocals in the mix. This demo and bonus tracks is a really lo-fi example of DIY metal. These guys were making metal the old fashioned way... no budget and LOUD! Good stuff.

Track Listing

1. Resurrection

2. Parricidal

3. Inverted Cross

*Bonus Tracks*

4. Black Magic (Slayer Cover)

5. Bloodbath (Rehearsal)

6. Riot of Violence (Kreator Cover)

Band Members

Jessie Lopez - Bass

Javier Villegas - Drums

Roger Gallardo - Guitars

Danny Martinez - Guitars (lead)

Rick Chavana - Vocals

Download

Thanks to Canadaspaceman from Heavymetalrarities.com for the rip.

Josefus - Not Dead Yet: Unreleased 1978 Studio Sessions & Live

Josefus, formed in the late 60's, could very well be called the Godfather's of Texas metal with their heavy, blues-laden riffs. By anchoring their sound with a booming deep end, Josefus turns standard Texas psychedelic rock into pre-doom metal territory rock. If they had combined their riffs with darker lyrics, we could very well be comparing them to Black Sabbath today. Instead they squeaked in and out of existence in only a year and a half leaving behind one full length and a few live recordings. Later the band reformed and became active members of the Houston music scene throughout the 70's and beyond. Today these pioneers are still active in the music scene and are releasing new and previously unreleased material. Give them a listen.

Josefus on Facebook

Official Josefus History

Josefus - Not Dead Yet for sale on Amazon

Josefus - Not Dead Yet Promo Video

Josefus Not Dead Yet CD Review

Be sure to like Shroomangel Records on FaceBook to keep informed on more classic releases by bands like this.

Helstar - Live Bootleg - Houston, Texas (1983)

Today we'll listen to the great Helstar from Houston, Texas. One of the better known metal bands from Texas, Helstar play a great blend of heavy metal, almost speed metal and power metal. Of course power metal has a completely different connotation today from back then. Helstar signed with Combat Records to release their first two albums and then switched to Metal Blade for two more albums. Helstar has been continually active in releasing music throughout the decades and is still releasing kick-ass metal today. This bootleg of one of their very early live shows is a great example of how tight and talented the band was from the very beginning. As a plus we also get Helstar doing their versions of Black Sabbath's Neon Knights and Iron Maiden's Phanton of the Opera.

Helstar on Wikipedia

Larry Barragan Interview

Track Listing

1. Lights Out 

2. Swords and Tequila 

3. Towards the Unknown 

4. Burning Star 

5. He’s a Woman, She’s a Man 

6. Leather and Lust 

7. Neon Knights 

8. The Shadows of Iga 

9. Phantom of the Opera 

10. Run With the Pack

Band Members

James Rivera- Vocals

Larry Barragan - Guitars

Tom Rogers - Guitars

Paul Medina - Bass

Hector Pavon - Drums

Download

Thanks to Strad of Heavymetalrarities.com for the rip.

Rigor Mortis - Demo (1986)

Today's offering: speed thrash gods Rigor Mortis from Dallas, Texas. I remember seeing these guys play with Texas' own Devastation at the Axiom in Houston. Mike Scaccia's extremely fast picking was like a demon fucked surf legend Dick Dale and had a baby. The whole show fucking rocked! There is a ton of information out there about the band and Mike Scaccia's unfortunately early demise so here are a couple of links.

Rigor Mortis on FaceBook

Rigor Mortis on Wikipedia

Casey Orr interview on Noisey

Track Listing:

1. Reanimator

2. Slow Death

3. Die in Pain

4. Foaming at the Mouth

5. Condemned to Hell

6. Six Feet Under

7. The Troll

Band Members:

Bruce Corbitt - Vocals

Mike Scaccia - Guitars

Casey Orr - Bass

Harden H. Harrison - Drums

Download removed at band's request.

Thanks to Thrashcult of Thrashmageddon for the rip.

MÄAX/MindThreat/10 Kingdoms - I Drank What? (1988/1991/2001)

This one is a head scratcher. This demo has gone through three differing bands and variations. The one constant... it's pure heavy metal! I reached out to 10 Kingdoms and Jospeh Ellis to get the history of this demo so I will let him tell the story.

From Jospeh Ellis: The "I Drank What?" EP was originally released in 1988, under the band name MÄAX. A year later, one of the guest guitar players decided he didn't like his 'performance' and tried to sue me to get it removed. So I did, had another guy come in (I've always wanted the bands I'm in to be a 5-piece, so there would be 2 lead players) and do his thing, only to have him freak out when I asked him to tone it down a little (he was attempting to be Malmsteen). 

Anyway, by 1990, I met another guitar player and we formed a band, MindThreat, and we did pretty well for ourselves from '91-'95/'96. He replaced the solos on that demo and they've stayed that way.

The demo was re-released in 1991 under the MindThreat name, so that we would have something to give the club owners to get gigs. MindThreat folded in '96, mainly because everyone wanted to wear flannel and play Hard Rock but call it grunge. Ugh.

Fly up to 2001, and it was cleaned up and released a 3rd time, only this time under the 10 KINGDOMS name. And that's the way it has stayed.

Players:

Joey Gutierrez - Vocals

Joseph Ellis - Lead/Rhythm Guitars

Brian Todd - Bass Guitars

Mike Gage - Drums & Percussion

Engineered by Mike Gage at Studio Southwest, Sunnyvale TX

Mixed and Produced by Joseph Ellis and Mike Gage

Anything else you need to know man, just hit me with a message! THANKS AGAIN!

P.S. The name of the demo comes from a line in the movie, "Real Genius", you can check it out here if you want to know. 

http://youtu.be/deOsP5ipfr4

Track Listing

1. Chains of Despair

2. Renegade

3. Incompetent Fool

Link Removed by Request

Thanks to Proteus 666 of Metalarea.org for the rip.

Visit 10 Kingdoms on Facebook for more history about the band and future shows!

Pendulum/Spectre - Isotopic Chaos [Split EP] -1992

A couple of thrashers out of San Antonio, Texas... Pendulum and Spectre team up for a split 7". Pendulum take side A with a couple of heavy tunes, thrash-like with a bit of crossover punk. With only about 6 minutes, Spectre decides to load up Feed the Bugs at 6 minutes 10 seconds long. Feed the Bugs is a fast, speed metal opus with a punk undertone. They follow it up with a quick SOD-like 25 second riff-lyric-riff-lyric-chaos song. A fun split over-all.

Track Listing

Side A

1. Pendulum - The Jesus Fish

2. Pendulum - Anomalies

Side B

3. Spectre - Feed the Bugs

4. Spectre - Pus Mountain

Band Members

Pendulum

Mike Riley - Drums

Jeff Riley - Guitars

Bubba Whitehead - Guitars

Joey YorFino - Vocals, Bass

Spectre

David James - Bass

Clark Lyons - Drums

Richard "Rick" Rodriguez - Guitars

Kenny Turnham - Vocals (lead), Guitars

Download

Thanks to Proteus 666 of Metalarea.org for the rip.

Sweet Nightmares - KPFT Radio Show (Feb. 10, 1988)

I've been digging deep in my garage to pull out my personally taped cassettes of Sweet Nightmares. This isn't really Texas based music but it does shine a light on what local radio  the bands had access to and how some of them became inspired to create their own metal.

Beginning in the mid-80's, Sweet Nightmares started playing the heaviest, hardest metal of the day for the Houston metro area. Transmitting from 90.1 KPFT (kpft.org), Sweet Nightmares was the only place a true metalhead could hear the good stuff. Wes Weaver (to be joined later by co-host Bill (The Master) Bates) and crew introduced me to some of the classic metal that MTV was afraid to play. While regular radio played Ratt, Motley Crue, and other hair bands, Sweet Nightmares spun real metal from bands like Slayer, Testament, Celtic Frost, etc. This particular set includes songs by Paradox, Sanctuary, Candlemass, Forbidden Evil (pre-Forbidden), Metal Onslaught, Necrophagia, Nasty Savage and more.

Best of all is the fact that Sweet Nightmares is still on the air (Thursdays from 11pm-2am). Check out the KPFT archives for access to the latest shows and follow Sweet Nightmares on Twitter for the latest Houston metal news. (https://twitter.com/nightmareskpft)

A little more history about the show from We Weaver himself...

Sweet nightmares was started in 1987 by a guy named Steve Harrington, he some affiliation to the station and basically he did a metal show one night in march 87 at like 2 in the morning,i missed it but a friend heard it and told ma about it.So I went down the next week with records, Steve played them and asked me back the following week, and i didn't stop going...lol He gave me the show about 6 months later....i had a few people help me and then got Bill Bates sometime in 88 probably mid 88.

Track List

1. Nasty Savage - Abstract Reality

2. Viking - Valhalla

3. Forbidden Evil - Chalice of Blood (Demo Version)

4. Deadly Blessing - Salem's Lot

5. Candlemass - Dark Are The Veils Of Death

6. Vio-Lence - Bodies on Bodies (Demo Version)

7. Sanctuary - Termination Force

8. Paradox - Beyond Space (Tape Flip)

9. Metal Onslaught - Cease to Exist

10. Necrophagia - Bleeding Torment

11. Morbid Angel - Kingdom Come (Demo Version)

12. Gargoyle - Final Victory

13. Nasty Savage - Hypnotic Trance

14. Plasmatics - 12 Noon

15. Exodus - Deranged

16. Nuclear Assault - Justice

17. Judas Priest - Steeler

Download the Sweet Nightmares radio show.

Rotting Corpse - Demo (1986)

Back with more thrash, I bring you the great Rotting Corpse of Arlington, Texas.

From Texas Metal Underground: Rotting Corpse has been delivering a thrash metal kick to the teeth of the denim and leather diehards for over two decades. Pummeling their way out of the spandex and hairspray infested Dallas, Texas area metal scene of the early 1980’s, Rotting Corpse set off on a collision course to deliver their own brand of neck-breaking thrash metal to an eagerly awaiting army of underground Texas metal fanatics. With a penchant for playing anywhere and everywhere (including an actual garage in Houston) the band perfected a sound that has all the subtleties of a baseball bat to the face. It may not be pretty, but that’s really the whole point.

For a more complete history of the band, check out TMU's page. Also, note that TMU has released a DVD of these great Texas thrashers. Make sure to pick up a copy here... Circus of Fools DVD.

Track Listing

1. Rotting Corpse

2. War on drugs

3. Evil Slaughter

Band Members

Walter Trachsler - Guitars, Bass

John Perez - Guitars (lead)

Jim "Moe" Mulqueen - Vocals

Dave Gryder - Drums 

Download

Thanks to blog.bazillionpoints.com for the rip.

Lionhart - Unreleased Music (1978)

Digging deep into the past, Lionhart are pure Southern rockers. There is very little information on the web about Lionhart but fans of Thin Lizzy, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Molly Hatchet will appreciate this forgotten band. Maybe not metal but still a good Texas band that can bring it.

From the Texas Psych music group: Founded by ex-Saturnalia band leader Craig Bransfield, Houston band Lionhart released one album and toured regionally.  Despite offers, Craig was never able to bring himself to sign a major label recording contract, which I believe is why this music isn't as widely known as it should be. Now you can listen to it for free. Definitely Texas Psych with a hard rock edge.

Lionhart on Soundcloud

Wicked Angel - Re-Released Demo (1987)

I will occasionally be highlighting re-releases of classic Texas metal. If you want more of this music to be released, please speak with your dollars and buy from the labels taking a chance on these bands.

This Wicked Angel demo is classic power metal with good vocals and better production values than most demos. Almost like a younger version of Helstar. A really clean sound that makes you want to put on a blue jean jacket covered in band patches! The re-release is on 10" purple vinyl. Limited to an edition of 300, you need to grab this now.

From Texas Metal Underground:
Another killer San Antonio-based Texas metal gem...Wicked Angel emerged from the fertile grounds of San Antonio's south side in early 1985. At the time, the average age of the band members was around 15 years old! The young band recorded a 2-song demo in 1986, but sadly that recording has been completely lost to the ages. After a string of successful gigs with Texas notables such as WatchTower, Syrus, and Assalant, the band returned to Blue Cat Studios and recorded their blistering 'Chaotic Intellect' demo in 1987.

For this release TMU RECORDS was able to utilize the original master reels, which have been professionally transferred to digital, and mastered for maximum vinyl fidelity.

Track Listing

1. Realms of Chaos

2. Valley of the Witch Kings

3. People of the Black Circle

4. Stealer of Souls

Band Members

Mark Zamarron - Bass

Ernest Chavarria - Drums

Joseph Valdez - Guitars

Roland Casias - Guitars

David "Gumby" Caballero - Vocals

Hear the Songs and Buy the Vinyl Here!

Criminally Insane - Demo (1994)

Another fun thrash group with rough vocals... Criminally Insane from Humble, Texas.

This is the second demo they produced. They were also included on the Voices of a Red God compilation put out by Saturn Records.

Track Listing

1. Memory

2. Suffocate

3. Image Man

4. Swim Across

5. Confrontation

6. Alone

7. Corporate America

Band Members

Sherman Clark - Bass

Matthew Morrison - Drums

Wade Johnson - Guitars

Jim Case - Guitars

Sam Stephens - Vocals

Download

Thanks to Hi50metalmaniac at Heavymetalrarities.com for the rip.

Oblivion Knight - Demo (1987)

Up today... a bit of NWOBHM inspired metal from Oblivion Knight. Originally from Alabama before settling in San Antonio. This demo was included on a CD re-issue by Rockadrome. When it is back in stock I will be deleting this link so if you download this, please check the Rockadrome site and buy the CD when it is available again.

Oblivion Knight CD Re-Issue

From Metal-archives.com: Formed in 1986 in Alabama by Chris Camp and Steve Sexton. They didn't find the rest of the line-up there, so in 1987 they went to the Texas scene (of which they were fans) and recruited Ken Ortiz and Mike Soliz. After the demo release Keith Karbella and Brian Kibekinski (both from Long Island, New York) replaced Ortiz respectively took up the second guitar. Chris Collins who did the vocals on the first pre-Dream Theater band Majesty first demo replaced Mike Soliz before Oblivion Knight's second and last demo was recorded in 1990.

Track Listing

1. Clash with the Knight

2. Sword in Hand

3. Beyond the Gates/The Omega

Band Members

Steve Sexton - Bass

Chris Camp - Guitars

Ken Ortiz - Drums

Mike Soliz - Vocals

Download

Thanks to YouTube user AkisDoom for the rip.