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.

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.

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.

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?

Trial – Trial

Trial
Trial
1989 (no label)
Kerrville, Texas, USA

Kevin Rollins – Lead vocals, guitar
Michael Curtis – Lead guitar, vocals
Matthew A. Puccini – Bass, vocals
Jamie Worden – Drums

Side 1:

1. No False Metal
2. Trials
3. God Bless the Children
4. Eye of the Storm

Side 2:

1. Not a Drug?
2. Wicked Tongue
3. Homesick
4. If You Could See

I don’t know why I originally thought this band was from Tennessee when I listened to the follow-up tape Young Slave (from 1991). The address on this one is clearly Texas, and they are mostly the same band except for the lead guitarist. This earlier demo seems a bit more commercial and/or traditional metal than their follow-up (which I found to be more power metal). I also don’t notice any prog leanings like I did in the other one. There also isn’t an instrumental song on this one per se, but “Not a Drug” does start with a prolonged solo intro.

Image – Drivn’ All Night

Image
Drivn’ All Night
1992 (no label)
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA

1. In My Dreams
2. Drivn’ All Night
3. Fly Away
4. Tell Me Why

This release appeared on various streaming services as an unreleased demo. I had noted that the band’s previous demos – Heads or Tails from 1989, and In the Middle of Nowhere from 1988 – sounded like hair metal that leaned towards pop metal. This one seems to go even more pop by adding piano or keyboards to most songs, while still keeping a pop metal edge. The last song probably being the closest to hair metal. The singer reminds me of Brett Michaels at times. I can’t find any information about the band members for this demo, but they do have a history of changing members. So I don’t know if they changed members or not.

Missing Information: Who played on this?

Conviction – Conviction

Conviction
Conviction
1995 (no label)
Clarksville, Indiana, USA

Neal Hornback – Lead vocals, BGVs, keyboards, piano
Scott Brawner – Guitars, BGVs
Robert E. Keehn- Guitars, BGVs
Dean Purivs – Bass, BGVs
Jaime Tucker – Drums, BGVs

Side One:

1. Special Kind of Love
2. Take Me As I Am
3. Show Me the Way

Side Two:

1. Fine Line
2. Waiting on You
3. Legacy

There are several different bands called Conviction out there. This is the hard rock one that borders on glam metal from Indiana. There is also a thrash metal band from Canada and another hard rock band from New Mexico. This demo starts of with an almost glam metal number that gets close to Firehouse or even Danger Danger with a slick, commercial metal sound. Then they jump into a power ballad. Then back to a couple of hard rockers, and so on. If they could have put this out a few years earlier and gotten discovered by the Elefante brothers, they could have gone somewhere with this sound (at least in the CCM world).

Deliverance – Rock for the Reason

Deliverance
Rock for the Reason
1987 (no label)
Waukegan, Illinois, USA

Dan Sheridan – Lead vocals, harmonies
Michael Andrew – All guitars, keyboards
Adam Fultz – Bass
Chris Scott – Percussion

Side A:

1. Rock for the Reason
2. Burning Hearts
3. Keep the Dream

Side B:

1. Livin’ for Love
2. Winds of Yesterday
3. Young Rock ‘N Roller
4. Walk with Me

This is not the speed/thrash metal band from California that released Weapons of Our Warfare. They are also not the AOR band from California that released one album for Morada Records. Or the pop rock band from Germany that released several albums in the late 70s. This is a heavy metal band from Illinois that only released this demo in 1987. This demo starts off with a traditional metal sound that is also almost neoclassical with the high-pitched wails from the lead singer. Of course, they have a couple ballads and an instrumental guitar solo song. But other than this, I don’t know if there was anything else by this band.

Secular Deformity – For the Oppressed

Secular Deformity
For the Oppressed
1994 (no label)
Chicago, Illinois, USA

Don Grutzius – Vocals
Mark Boggs – Guitar
Jack Williams – Bass
Scott Boggs – Drums

1. I Strangle This Life
2. For the Oppressed
3. Save It!
4. 100% A.F.B.

Another demo from the Scene and Unseen Music Club. This band is a 90s nu-metal / hardcore band that kind of reminds me of Godfear with cleaner vocals. This is not the rapcore side of nu-metal – this is the earlier version that was more hardcore with trade-offs between shouted vocals and clean vocals, and even some grunge influences here and there. I know that this band also had a demo before this one in 1993 called Bent, but I don’t know much else about where they came from or went.