Ripchord - Thrashaholics (1988)

Juvenile thrash metal from a bunch of high school kids. It has purile lyrics (e.g. "We Hate Jocks"), generic thrash riffs, and bad shouted vocals. In short, it's exactly what you'd expect a high school thrash demo from the late 80's to be. That said, the musicianship is at least competent, so while this might be utterly forgettable, at least it won't dwell in infamy.

Innersight - Meandering (2002)

Yeah, Meandering is a good title for this. It's all over the map without any real regard to song flow. That said, despite its somewhat amateurish sound, the music is pretty good. In style, it's similar to Mytra, but not as high quality. The songs are basically heavy, largely instrumental prog metal, melodic but not hook-based and mostly guitar-driven with occasional use of keyboards. The guitar work isn't showy, but it is solid and handles a lot of different styles with ease. The drums seemed programmed, but are reasonably well done. The riffs don't really remind me of anyone in particular, though there aren't any riffs that I find excellent. The only real complaint I have is that the two songs have no organization. The shorter song, "Varazsceruza" is only five minutes long, but goes through three distinct unrelated sections, while the 25-minute title track goes through too many sections to count. That said, I'm looking forward to hearing their later efforts, as this is promising.

This is their third release, after Blue Shadow and I Have Seen the Future. All of their releases are available from their website.

Zindan - Depth (2009)

Zindan are from Uzbekistan and play "Progressive Melodic Death Metal". I suppose that's a fair description, though it's progressive/power metal mixed with melodic death metal, not "progressive death metal", as I was hoping. The music is pretty substandard by Western standards. They use some interesting Asian-sounding ethnic music (Uzbek folk, I assume?) at times, but aside from that it's pretty disappointing. The funk bass parts (in "Facing One Another") in particular weren't a good idea. When they get heavier (the beginning of "In the Depth of Zindan"), they're much better than the typical prog/power metal sections. But in that track, then they degenerate into Metallica worship and a cheesy sing-along gang chorus. The playing is pretty solid, but not very challenging, and the guitar leads and solos are pretty amateurish. They use two different vocal styles: grunted vocals (which are okay) and clean vocals (which sound like Metallica). The production is decent, but at times could use more power and a crisper feel. Check this out if you need to hear some metal from Uzbekistan, but for the rest of us, this is pretty forgettable.

Their MySpace has one track from this album, "Truth Becomes a Lie", and two other tracks.

Led Astray - In Ways Unforeseen (2009)

I have a similar reaction to this as I did to Daath -- it's competent and well produced, but not that memorable. Unlike Daath though, I actually have fond recollections of having liked it while I was listening to it. The music is somewhat technical, and the riffs are not so generic. I still can't identify any element of their music that is uniquely theirs, though. Thus, they're still a long way from the top tier, but this is a reasonable first offering.

Their MySpace page has two songs from this album and one from their demo.

Hybrid Heaven - The Textures of Spirit (2008)

This is sloppy, tech thrash from Mexico. If they could actually play their instruments in time and in tune, this would be good. The music is technical and complex, somewhere between thrash and death metal, with lots of melodic parts and guitar leads. There's a lot of variety in the music and the songs flow reasonably well. The vocals are something between a shout and a black metal rasp, and are a weak point. The production doesn't add a lot of power to the music, but at least the instruments are clear, even the bass. Really the major problem I have with this is the playing, which is sloppy enough to make this unlistenable for me. If they could clean up their act, they could be a force in the tech-thrash scene.

Their MySpace page has four songs from this album.

Mercenary - Thunder March (1989)

OMFG. This is possibly the worst demo I've heard yet. The vocalist reminds me of that old joke: "How do you tell when your lead singer is at the door? He can't find the key and doesn't know when to come in." Ha ha. It's funny because it's true, at least in this case. This guy has no timing; he comes in late and sings too long, then has to scramble to start the next line on time. But don't think that the vocals are the only bad part of this demo. The lyrics are juvenile as hell, the music is plodding and boring, the production is a horrible mess, the guitar solos are a joke, and the band are sloppy as all get-out. My high school metal band was better than this, and we sucked! Heck, I think I'd rather hear Deep Sunshine's cover of "The Final Countdown". They are slightly better than these guys, though.

Sadly, I don't have the cover art for this demo. I'm sure it's as craptacular as the music.

Katedra - Natus in Articulo Mortis (1992)

This sounds a little like Voivod's Nothingface; it's speedy thrash with dissonant guitars. It's not outstanding, but decent. It's a little dated for 1992, but they're from Lithuania, so we'll let that slide... Unfortunately, the vocals are terrible; they're half-growled / half-sung without much range. The music really requires vocals that are more melodic. The guitar solos and leads are just okay. Sometimes they sound pretty amateurish and sloppy; other times they sound okay. The guitarists sometimes try to play above their ability levels; when they keep it simple, they do well. The bass playing and drumming are good but not really noteworthy.

Their MySpace page has four songs from their 2008 release, Ugnikalnis, which have an updated sound but some similarities to this disc.