Trapped Under Demo's #1

Here at Heavy Metal Textbooks, I like to bring a little bit more of an underground sensibility to the site. I hear all kinds of new stuff both good and bad and although I have to wade through lots of shit to find diamonds there's nothing quite like the moment you come upon a band with great potential, especially when it comes in demo form. The 2 demos I'm going to talk about here today are both worth wading through the bullshit to find.

Now, I'm an old school cat. I like my metal fast, loud and rough around the edges. You'll soon come to realize that I only poke my head out from 1984 quite rarely. I missed out on a lot of that stuff and I've started down that rabbit hole and I've yet to crawl out. With that being said, these 2 demos are both from 2013 even though they sound straight out of 1984.

 A fine example of metal in 1984...

RANGER - Combat Metal

This 2 song demo blew me away right off the bat. I'm a huge fan of Canadian Thrash band Razor and if this isn't Razor worship than nothing is. So fast that it's ready to come off its hinges at any moment, great vocals with the falsetto screams and the type of dirty production I enjoy. Listen, I applaud bands for trying new things and taking Metal to new places but these bands that can capture the true essence of old school deserve some credit too. Progression does not always mean better and if you can rock out like this, why bother? Stay primitive.

The next demo I have for you is also a doozy but in a completely different manner. Epic, old school, traditional heavy metal. Again, nobody is creating anything new here but the quality is so good that it doesn't matter. For years now the trend in metal has seemed to be "extreme" over the ability to write actual songs and I'm happy to report that the trend recently seems to be melody, hooks and memorable songs. Exhibit A... 

ETERNAL CHAMPION - The Last King of Pictdom