Joyful Noyz – Run

Joyful Noyz
Run
1992 Tangent Records
Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Todd Underwood – Guitar, vocals
Paul Smith – Bass, vocals
Tommy Corbin – Drums, vocals

Side One:

1. Run
2. Here to Stay
3. It’s Yours
4. To Be with You
5. 10th Century Reasoning

Side Two:

1. Greater Is He
2. UR
3. Waiting to Talk to You
4. Only One
5. Love That Goes On

The first time I saw this tape, I thought it was a pop album due to the band name and colorful clothes. There is also a rap group with the same name from about the same time. But a closer look at the band photo it seems they might be taking more of an Enuff Z’Nuff or Living Colour style approach. The transfer I was sent is ROUGH and hard to hear (if anyone can get a clearer rip from a better tape, please let me know), but I do hear a kind of funky soulful take on hard rock that would be a good mix of those two bands with a hint of King’s X thrown in. Also reminds me slightly of Lovewar at times. So probably a bit less glam rock than Enuff Z.Nuff, and a bit less eclectic than Living Colour. There is variety to the sound though – they dip into rock and a couple of ballads as well.

Scepter – Scepter

Scepter
Scepter
1984 (no label)
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Wendell Koop – Vocals, rhythm guitar
Joseph Madden – Lead guitar, rhythm guitar, Vocals
Darrell Reimer – Bass guitar
Gilbert Vielfaure – Drums

Side 1:

1. Eye in the Sky
2. Presence
3. Nero
4. Hang On

Side 2:

1. Physical Evidence
2. Forgiven Again
3. Star

This is not the same Scepter that released a soft rock album on Star Song in 1982. It’s also not any of the bands named Sceptre. It is the band that became The Keep later this same year and released Never Surrender on Tunesmith Records. “Eye in the Sky,” “Nero,” “Hang On,” and “Forgiven Again” were re-recorded for that album. Their full-length album is hard rock and rock that almost borders on heavy metal at times. This is mostly a rock album with three hard rock tunes. But it is still a good demo, so you can see why they were signed.

Testify – On Enemy Ground

Testify
On Enemy Ground
1994 Royalty Records
Anaheim, California, USA

Steven Urenda – Lead vocals
Eric Turner – Guitar, vocals
Jimmy Ray – Bass, vocals
Danny Peck – Drums

Side 1:

1. Lift Him Up
2. Praise His Name
3. Lord of All
4. Receive Him In
5. Just Believe

Side 2:

1. Accept Him
2. Walk With Me
3. Jesus
4. The Way

Testify is another of those band names that I am surprised was not taken by more bands out there. This is a well-produced and played commercial metal, so one might wonder why they are mostly unheard of and this demo wasn’t really digitized until now. Well, that is because this was released in 1994, and this style was dying out. The tape underground had mostly been taken over by alternative rock, modern metal, and other 90s sounds. The lead singer has a slight Sunset Strip rasp to his voice. There is really only one ballad on the whole tape at the very end. But that is about all I know about this band.

Smash Alley Underground – Demo

Smash Alley Underground
Demo
199? (no label)
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA

David A. Walker – Guitars, Vocals
(others?)

1. (Blind Men Lead the Blind)
2. (No Parties in Hell)
3. (Unspeakable Evil)
4. Back Alley Shadows
5. Chased by the Enemy

This demo by Smash Alley Underground has a lot of stuff on the cover – but apparently no release date or track names in all of that text. So song titles in parenthesis above are a guess. Some of the songs have weird vocal effects when the chorus would be (like a robotic effect or devil effect), so it’s hard to make out what is being said. The cover compares them to Pantera and Metallica, and that is a good guess for some of the songs on here based on the early 90s sound of both of those bands. So I guess that was when this came out. They don’t stick with just the Pantera thing, though. Some songs have flute and saxophone. The third track has doom-ish parts. The last two tracks are different versions of songs on their 1995 CD Rising From the Shadows. But that CD is mostly a commercial metal album. There is also a guy that gives a short mini-sermon at the end of each song. While he sounds very sincere, I’m not sure the points he is making would really convince many people to change their mind.

Eric A Peterson – Wishbone

Eric A Peterson
Wishbone
1994 (no label)
Chesterfield, Missouri, USA

Eric A Peterson – Everything, except:

Brian Keithly – Drums
Joel Puttcamp – Bass on “Sacred,” “Absence,” and “Epitaph”
Jimmy P. Brown II – All vocals on “Absence of Reality” and “Sacred”
John Effinger – Harmony vocals on “Cry”
Marty Warren – Last guitar solo on “Wishbone”
Dan Henderson – Cello on “Strings”
Nick Misra – Violin on “Strings”
Dave Heard – Viola on “Strings”

1. Absence of Reality
2. Strings
3. Wishbone
4. Sacred
5. Cry
6. Epitaph

Just to get this out of the way, this is not the same Eric Peterson that is in Jesus Freaks. It is the same Erik Peterson that was in Poesis. Their demo was alternative rock. This album jumps out of the gate with a mid-90s thrash metal style song with none other than Jimmy P. Brown II of Deliverance on vocals. The second track is a more mellow instrumental song and then a more thrashy instrumental song. I wonder if the Marty Warren on this tape is the same one that was in Shadoworld who worked with King’s X? Then there is a thrash-style ballad with Brown on vocals. This is followed by an acoustic track and a thrash song, both with Peterson on vocals I believe? Petersen’s Poesis bandmate joins him for bass on three songs. But this demo came out about two years before the Poesis demo. From what I have found, Peterson has another demo called End All that might have been from 1993. The songs were sent to me in a different order than they appear on the j-card. I put the order that they were given to me above. I could really use a full scan of the j-card and tape as well.

Martus – The Devil is Screamin’

Martus
The Devil is Screamin’
1988 (no label)
San Diego, California, USA

Dave Zierenberg – Guitars, synthesizers, vocals
Jim Blagg – Guitars, vocals
Phil Thomasson – Bass guitar, vocals
Ed Taylor – Drums, vocals

Side One:

1. The Devil Is Screamin’
2. Nobody Told Us
3. Have You Heard
4. Merry-Go-Round

Side Two:

1. Kamikaze
2. Out of Bondage
3. Perseverance
4. God is on the Throne

First of all, this is not the same Martus from the Los Angeles area that had future members of Adam Again and Undercover. This is a heavy metal / hard rock band from San Diego. Even though they really don’t look like it in the band pic. The lead singer almost sounds like a power / traditional metal belter, while the band leans more commercial metal / hard rock in sound. Sounds like the tape that the transfer I was sent was made from was in rough-ish shape unfortunately. Not bad, but still some sonic issue that sound like the magnetic tape was warped some. A couple of songs, especially the last track – definitely veer into hard rock territory and leave behind most metal aspects.

The Puppets – The Puppets

The Puppets
The Puppets
1986 (no label)
Adelaide, Australia

Tom Martin – Electric guitar
Gerry Holmes – Keys, keyboard bass
Steve Daughtry – Drums

1. Lottery to Space
2. We Clicked
3. Baby Can’t Talk
4. Give It a Go
5. Batman
6. Another World
7. Happy Ending

This wasn’t technically released back in the day, but it was recorded back then to a form of tape and released recently. So it counts. Plus, it’s a good chance to point to a website that has several rare albums for download that were on vinyl (like iDeA). The sound here is an 80s new wave / synth pop sound that does lean a bit towards the pop side here and there, but with a noticeable guitar presence that comes out on songs like “Give It a Go.” You can download most of the unreleased album for free, except for their cover of the Batman TV show theme song. You can stream that one online, though – they just left it out of the download for copyright reasons. After this, Steve and Gerry formed a more electro-pop band called Dancing on the Wire.

Modus Operandi – Demo

Modus Operandi
Demo
1995 (no label)
Orange County, California, USA

1. Good Day to Die
2. Human State
3. Lest I Forget

I’m not sure if this is a demo or a pre-release – as all three songs on this demo also appear on their self-titled full length from the same year. I haven’t heard that one, so I don’t know for sure. This is mid-90s thrash metal, so there are some influences of groove metal as well, but they make sure to thrash out. Plus the gruff vocals let you know this is thrash. But a strong groove metal hook also comes out in the last song.

Missing Information: Who played on this?

Faithful Witness – Demo

Faithful Witness
Demo
1993 (no label)
Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

Robert Gaffney – Vocals
Miles Levinson – Guitars
Chad Wilburn – Drums

1. Shadows
2. Open Graves
3. Stranded

This is a death metal band that was very in line with what was being recorded in the early 1990s. Growling vocals, blast-beat drumming, thrash and speed metal breakdowns, you name it. The vocals just get clear enough to let you know that this a Christian band. Originally, “Shadows” was intended to be released by A.R.T. Records as a 7-inch. That song and a bonus track (“Trembling of the Spirit”) were later released in 2020 on the A.R.T. Records Singles Series Volume 2 compilation by Thrashback Records. They descirbed the band as “East Coast Death Metal versus a blend of Florida Death Metal and Megadeth inspired Thrash riffing.” Also, there is apparently another version of this demo with a glossy color three-panel fold out pro-printed cover with lyrics.

Christian – Demo ‘92

Christian
Demo ‘92
1992 (no label)
Chicago, Illinois, USA

1. For Those of Rejection
2. Regions of the Damned
3. Battle Rages On / Worthy
4. The Dive

As far as I can tell, this is the only band that I know of that just went by “Christian.” This is also a very non-thrash sounding band name for a thrash band. At first I thought the drums were programmed, but as it goes along that is obviously not the case. The recording quality is a bit rough, so that may be the cause of my mistake. This leans a bit to the technical side of the thrash, with kind of sung but gruff vocals (somewhere between Megadeth and Testament, with some death metal growl leanings here and there). According to The Cutting Edge, this was the band’s second demo, but I don’t have any information about the first demo or any follow-ups. Also don’t have any information on members of the band

Missing Information: Who played on this?