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.

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?

Dan Kulp – Nobody’s Fool

Dan Kulp
Nobody’s Fool
1995 (no label)
Tallahassee, Florida, USA

Dan Kulp – Vocals
Dave Hindreth – Guitars
Lee Roberts – Keyboards
Glenn Nasso – Bass
Ted Hurlbutt – Drums

Side One:

1. Follow
2. Are You Lonely
3. Run to Him
4. Somebody’s There for You

Side Two:

1. Nobody’s Fool
2. Master of Life
3. Born Again
4. All the Things
5. Stand Up

Dan might look like a solo singer/songwriter type on the cover, but as you can see by the full j-card he has a full band and goes for a full rock band sound here. They kind of flirt with hard rock here and there but stay mostly in mainstream rock sound (but one that also avoids being pop or folk as well). In other words, the guitars are a bit crunchy at times, but you also get things like keyboards and harmonica in some songs. Some of the songs even have a bit of an epic feel to them. There are even some longer songs, one of those being over 8 minutes long.

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.

Electronic Chaos – Demo

Electronic Chaos
Demo
199? (no label)
Vestaburg, Michigan, USA

• (5-6 unnamed songs)

Not much information on this one – and no song lists or vocals to give any clue about the song titles. It’s about 5-6 songs of experimental industrial noise. There are some samples, but the songs are driven mostly by percussion. Since the percussion is manipulated, I don’t think it is played on real drums. Also some keyboard elements as well. This does have a bit more structure than some noise albums, but still sounds like an early industrial album. But that is all I know. They also have a one song demo CG called 2 a.m.

Steve Turner – City Without Love

Steve Turner
City Without Love
1982 (no label)
United Kingdom

1. I Am
2. Assassin
3. Great to Be Back
4. The Prophet
5. Prison Poem
6. I Looked Down
7. Never Talk About Him
8. City Without Love
9. News and Weather
10. Once More with Feeling

On the previous review of The Strait Tapes Volume 1, I had mistakenly thought that the Steve Turner track was unreleased. Turns out that it actually was released previously on this album in 1982. I don’t know if this was originally released on tape or vinyl. But this album is now on most streaming and purchasing sites like BandCamp. The cover above is not the original cover – all of the releases from the label that re-issued it that don’t have artwork have the same cover. Anyway, this is quirky alternative music that seems to be a spoken word set to rock music. This is not ambient poetry reading, though. These are full on music tracks with spoken word vocals. I don’t know really much more about this other than this is probably the author, speaker, and poet from Britain as well.

Jamboree – Melt Down

Jamboree
Melt Down
1985 Jayrem Records
New Zealand

Brent Tasker – Vocals
David Ball – Guitar, keyboards
Dave Steunebrink – Guitar
Andrew Horst – Bass
Jozsef Fityus – Drums

Angela Tasker – Backing Vocals on “Spin Me”

Side One:

1. Melt Down
2. A Familiar Quietness
3. Cold

Side Two:

1. Out of Season
2. Spin Me

I have heard this one before but found out some more information about it so I thought I would cover this here (even though it is technically vinyl). Jamboree was an early version of Hoi Polloi before Jenny Gullen joined. Ball, Horst, and Fityus joined Gullen by the time they were Hoi Polloi and released Satisfy in 1990. Horst and Gullen were also married by the time they were in Hoi Polloi, but I don’t know if that was the case here. The sound here reminds you of an earlier version of their later sound. It was kind of in line with what many New Zealand alternative bands were doing at the time. This album also contains an early version of “Spin Me.” They also have a single from 1987 called Independence Day that will now go on my want list. Steunebrink didn’t seem to join Hoi Polloi, but he did go on to produce and/or manage many Christian bands and acts, including Hoi Polloi.

Jigsaw Jungle – Demo

Jigsaw Jungle
Demo
1992 (no label)
Detroit, Michigan, USA

Side A:

1. Rain
2. Remember

Side B:

1. Cinderella
2. Back to the Bone

I was holding back on some of the Scene and Unseen Music Club YouTube videos in case some more information came to light, but I haven’t seen any new information on the few that I have left. So I will dive into those now. This one starts off with an early 90s heavy metal sound – a time period when heavy metal was trying to get away from hair metal trappings and try something different. This one leans into groove metal a it as well as gritty alternative rock. Kind of like Band Tango meets a serious Green Jelly. The last track does get more into traditional heavy metal. But that is all I know.

S.I.N. for S.I.N. – Opiate for the Masses

S.I.N. for S.I.N.
Opiate for the Masses
1994 (no label)
Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA

Rob Colwell – Vocals
Brook – Guitar
John – Bass
Todd – Drums

1. Opiate for the Masses
2. So Blind
3. Rise Above
4. Fear of God

There is a bit of a mystery about this tape – the Discogs entry shows 8 songs, but the video below has 4 songs. Is the Discogs entry wrong? Did the uploader forget to turn the tape over (unlikely since they have uploaded many demos)? Are there two versions of the tape? I have found scans of the whole j-card and tape, and there is no song list on either. So I am not sure where the song titles are even coming from. The list above are the songs I think are on the video – the last song is different than what the description has. I went by the lyrics. Anyways, this is mid-90s thrash, the kind that went in a bit more power/traditional metal direction. The vocalist at times has a hint of Dave Mustaine in his voice. I’m also not sure what their band name is an abbreviation for. We will see if more information comes to light someday. Rob Colwell went on to be the vocalist for Faithbomb.