DEMO REVIEWS FROM ASCENDANT STRAINS

BARRIADA
A.S.D.F.

($7.00 overseas, c/o Hideki Fujimoto/1-40-16 #205 Takada/Toshima-ku, Tokyo/171 Japan)
This 4 song thrash demo features crisp, razor sharp production...almost too sharp for my tastes..."Road of Crucifiction" begins with almost inaudibly mechanized vocals, before Hideki Fujimoto begins his real vox, which throughout the tape remind me of Hallows Eve, Dark Angel, Vio-Lence, Nuclear Assault, but with their own sense of inflection and tone, and some nice high notes of actual singing ...This is very fast, PURE thrash, with nice lead melodies and razor sharp riffs courtesy of Masayoshi Itoh and Haruo Suzuki, frantic bass work from Takahiro Arakawa, and the pounding, relentless, attacking drumming of Tatsuo Ogata. The songs have a sense of melody, but are blasted at high velocity, highlighted by the title track, then slowing down to almost a traditional feel on songs like "Aftermath". Pretty well written lyrics focus on traditional thrash subjects of inner pain, insanity, war, and injustice. Pure, passionately executed thrash that still believes in speed carrying on the tradition of the aforementioned bands with its own unique flavor. If you're a fan of the kind of speed that followed traditional U.S. metal in the late 80's that didn't bother with subtlety but pounded you into submission, then this demo would definitely leave you drooling with the promise of what a full length/full budget CD may yield.

HOLOSADE
A Circle of Silent Screams

(47 Heathfield Pk/ Middleton St. George
/DARLINGTON/County Durham/DL2 1LW UK)
This 12 track demo cassette is traditional heavy metal from England, mixing together today's power metal with a strong NWOBHM influence, and various other styles, to good effect. The vocalist is a good, melodic singer, but shadowed with a roughness to his voice somewhat reminiscent of J.D. Kimball from OMEN, or a touch of Paul DiAnno. The production on this is definitely demo quality, rather muffled through most of it, and the music doesn't get the presentation it deserves. "Maximum Security" opens the cassette, with one of the more up tempo numbers on the album. "Superstition" is an instrumental with more of a Maidenish quality. Tracks like "Eastern Promise" offer a bit more of a Sabbath vibe, albeit heavily tinged in middle eastern influences. "Little Miss" offers a bit more of a mid-tempo thrash styling to the guitar work, although it has some great, more melifluent leadwork in the solo. "Once Upon a Nightmare", which evolves from a mellow mystical introduction to a more aggressive track pretty effectively. There is a lot of good guitarwork on here, and solid albeit unspectacular rhythm work. Despite that it does seem to suffer from some inconsistent songwriting, there are times when the songs, and the album, seem to lose their focus. With the right producer, who could not only give a better sound, but help tighten up the songwriting and selection, this band could produce a very good album, and it's great to hear some of our brethren from the north of England still upholding a more traditional approach to heavy metal.


DEEP PURPLE
Purpendicular

Speaking of England...after 26 years, it's difficult to imagine a Deep Purple without Ricky Blackmore...but then, given the mediocre Foreigner imitation that was Slaves and Masters, and the on again, off again The Battle Rages On, it wasn't as if there was that much to lose. So Blackmore parted ways with the rest of the original "Mark II" lineup, and was replaced by Steve Morse of Kansas. Well, it's a rather different album then you would expect with Blackmore, the guitarwork is excellent, but has less of a metallic feeling, and more of a jazzy, progressive influence to it...in addition, there's more focus on the keyboard flights of Jon Lord than we've seen on Purple's studio albums in the past. Not nearly as much of a heavy metal disc as The Battle Rages On, Perfect Strangers, or Machine Head, this is still a fresh, enjoyable work, if you're so in the mood. "Hey Cisco" is an affectionate and energetic elegy for the old Western serial hero, instantly memorable and hard not to smile to. "The Aviator" is gentle acousitc ballad, albeit not too mellow, and avoiding many of the cliches of this kind of work. "Rosa's Cantina" is a relaxed, brooding yet jazzy anthem to be played under moonlight. "A Castle Full of Rascals" is a sardonic political anthem that hits home in laid back style. "Vavoom:Ted the Mechanic" predictably represents the band's playful twist on the hard rock barroom cliches. Deep Purple's influence on metal can't be overestimated, and yet they're still able to offer up something like this in a very different feel. Personally, I enjoy this disc thoroughly, so if you want to show your respect for metal's past, check out some different stylings, played with impeccable talent. If you're a die hard metal purist, probably avoid this one.

TIMESCAPE

(c/o Johan Berlin/Skogvaktaregatan 4/602 08
NORRKOPING/SWEDEN,
email: johan.berlin@mailbox.swipnet.se,
http://home.cord.edu/student/imakino/timescape)
This five piece, Swedish progressive band's excellent three song demo CD certainly proves that less can be more. The production is excellent, the packaging, lyrics, and graphics are professional, and most importantly, the music is superb, somewhat in the vibe of Conception and countrymen Tad Morose, but with an even more unique presentation. The band blends together standard progressive complexity and technical skill with memorable songwriting. Vocalist Robert Haglund provides a rather husky and unique sound, warmly carrying the emotion of the songs. The lyrics are quite well done, in the rather traditional mode for this type of music of personal reflections and feelings. Lead guitarist Kerim Kalkan offer a nice contrast of crunchy riffs and more melodic lines, and rhtyhm guitarist Johan Berlin helps deliver a very effective atmosphere of sound, working in a lot of different styles without breaking up the structures of the songs. Bassist Johan Erixon and drummer (16 years old) Anders Berlin provide a solid rhythm section that draws you into the complexity, rather than boring you, as some progressive bands do. The tracks are "Silent Room of Time", "Whispering Shadows", and "My Lonely Stare", and all are excellent, growing on me more and more with each listen. All in all, a tremendous CD, and while the band may still have some room for improvement, I eagerly suggest you look into picking up this demo.

TAL DORGAR
Surmount the Quiet

(Demo cassette available for only $3, c/o/Matthew
McWhirt/1002 Highland Road/Fredericksburg,
VA 22407/Email: Mattonious@aol.com/
Tal Dorgar Homepage )
This 10 song, lengthy demo from Virginia is a rather interesting mix of styles. On one hand, the bassy, rather raw production, and brooding songwriting is very reminiscent of the street doom of Count Raven, and especially, St. Vitus. On the other, the music is much more uptempo and complex in its arrangements, reminding me more of Rush's second and third albums than anything else, but clearly standing alone. The songwriting provides a a lot of catchy, rather hypnotic sections to the music and the vocals...which veer on repetitious in some sections, depending on your tastes. It's fairly hard to make a determination on bassist Chris Hoovler's vocals through the production, as they are quite buried throughout, but he manages to fit this music pretty well, with a rather silky, low key approach. Matthew McWhirt provides the spirited drumming, which helps form the rather brooding quality of the music. Lee Foster's guitars are also pretty difficult to hear, but they capture a laid back eastern feeling throughout much of the music. Very interesting, and with some better production, and perhaps tightening up the song writing, could be quite worth following up on. But if you're a fan of something a bit more experimental, give the demo a try.

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