CELTIC FROST • July 4, 1986 Toronto, Canada

Bootleg 1986
So the DESTRUCTION bootleg spawned some comments re: CELTIC FROST at the World War III festival... unfortunately I don't have a copy of that, but I do have this, from a year later, when FROST toured in support of the To Mega Therion record. I didn't record this, but I was there, and had my puny teenage mind sufficiently blown! It was my first Metal show: CELTIC FROST, VOIVOD, and SLAUGHTER... it couldn't get any better! SLAUGHTER actually scared me, VOIVOD were beyond phenomenal, and you can hear CELTIC FROST for yourself. The quality is shit, and if it hadn't been requested I wouldn'ta posted this... but it was, so I am. For the diehards!
DOWNLOAD: CelticFrost-July4-1986.rar (92.5 MB)

DESTRUCTION • Live At World War III LP

Old Thrash Records 2010
I couldn't resist buying this record even though I knew it was gonna blow. Who gives a shit though... it's DESTRUCTION at World War III! Hadta have it! The WWIII festival is one of those fabled shows that I'da given my left nut to see. In November 1985 not only DESTRUCTION, but VOIVOD, POSSESSED, CELTIC FROST, and NASTY SAVAGE all descended upon Montreal's Paladium for one of the best line-ups ever! Anyways, I kinda remember a videotape of this floating around, and I'm certain that said videotape is the source material for this boot. Of course it sounds like total ass, but it's cool as shit, and is infinitely better than the SODOM boot I posted way back. After a couple of songs the guitar becomes audible so at least you can decipher what the fuck is going on. If you don't download this, you know the punishment... death, death, DEATH!
DOWNLOAD: Destruction-WorldWar3.rar (66.47 MB)

R.U.G. • Deathly Fighter Anthology LP

GISM Appreciation Society 2009
I bought this record in spite of having already downloaded everything that's on it, ages ago, from another blog... which, evidently, is where the bootleggers got their material too. I did a quick search and have read many complaints about this record, and everything I've read is correct: this LP was made using mp3s as the source material (the quality is not good), and the pictures are all pixelated (clearly they were found online and blown up for the cover art). However, when I buy bootlegs, I buy 'em for collectability and not for quality or even playability necessarily. Sure, good quality is appreciated, but it's certainly not expected, cuz you never know what you're gonna get. So, what you have here is the RANDY UCHIDA GROUP's Deathly Fighter 7" from 1984 and six live songs that were downloaded as mp3s, pressed on to vinyl, purchased by me and converted back into mp3s... are you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'? Yeah... if you really, really wanna hear this shit, you'd be well advised to find the original mp3s and avoid the generational loss of vinyl and re-encoding. My personal experience with this record is this: I didn't really care for this stuff when I first downloaded it, but after investing my hard-earned cash in this boot, and giving it a proper listen, I've realized just how great the Deathly Fighter single is. Musically R.U.G. sounds like a slightly more metallized G.I.S.M., but the vocals are the big difference. While Sakevi had one of the most tortured vocal styles ever, Ronny Wakamats of R.U.G. is yer typical Metal vocalist: high pitched with mildly annoying overuse of vibrato. The star of this record is Randy's guitar playing - it's instantly recognizable and as infectious as ever. I can't say I'm disappointed with this record... it is what it is.
DOWNLOAD: RUG-DeathlyFighterAnthology.rar (62.81 MB)

EXODUS • Strike Of The Beast 2LP

Imperial Records 2007
This is a beautiful package: 2LPs (one black, one green), high quality pressing, nice design with full colour insert... top notch in every way. Strike Of The Beast contains EXODUS' 1982 Demo and the Turk Street Demo (1984) plus a barely intelligible 1985 radio interview. I've heard the '82 demo before, and most likely have it on an old cassette somewhere, and this sounds pretty much how I remembered it - like a 9th generation cassette copy. It woulda been nice if they coulda found a cleaner version of these tracks, but that gripe is minor when compared to how great the songs are. Less manic and violent than they would soon become, the '82 demo sees EXODUS treading a more trad Metal path... and it's fantastic. Hard to imagine Baloff as a conventional Metal vocalist, but here's the proof. The Turk Street Demo sounds live, more like a rehearsal, but the quality is good, as the band tear through largely instrumental versions of most of the Bonded By Blood record (perfect for your next Thrash karaoke party!). We all knew that HEATHEN borrowed heavily from EXODUS, but check out "Strike Of The Beast" - it sounds exactly like the first HEATHEN record... I'd even swear it's Lee Altus playing the plentiful leads. This album is so heavy that when I opened it the records flew out and chopped a poser's head off at 20 yards (or something like that - anyone remember the original quote?) You're gonna wanna download this lest you be the poser at the receiving end of a vinyl decapitation.
DOWNLOAD: Exodus-StrikeOfTheBeast-Pt1.rar (53.22 MB)
DOWNLOAD: Exodus-StrikeOfTheBeast-Pt2.rar (57.43 MB)

RUNNING WILD • Metal 'til Death - Live 1983 LP

Bootleg 2009
This record had the potential to be the biggest pile of shit ever committed to wax (next to SODOM's Pretenders To The Throne that is). I mean c'mon, a bootleg of a RUNNING WILD show from '83 - that could be bad. Thankfully this is a pretty decent offering. Rock 'n' Rolf and Co. storm through 9 pounding Metal anthems including "Chains And Leather", "Walpurgis Night", and "Genghis Khan" from their early records, and a bunch that never made it to official release. It's an audience recording, and it doesn't sound good by any stretch, but what it lacks in fidelity is made up for in exuberance and sheer spunk. The band sound like they've got their shit together - tight and pretty damn professional, and the crowd clearly loves it, chanting along throughout most of the show. I definitely don't consider myself a RUNNING WILD diehard, but I still enjoyed this immensely and will be digging out my copies of Branded And Exiled and Gates To Purgatory tout de suite!
DOWNLOAD: RunningWild-MetalTilDeath.rar (69.65 MB)

SACRILEGE • Early Demos LP

Bootleg 2009
Lately I've amassed quite the collection of bootlegs, so in my next few posts I'm gonna attempt to weed through a few of 'em. First off is the mighty SACRILEGE. Early Demos contains, as the name implies, SACRILEGE's first 2 demos from November '84 and February '85 respectively. Cool to hear the band progress over a scant 4 months from crusty Punks to crusty Metal loving Punks. If you like SACRILEGE then you know what's in store: oppressively heavy Metal/Punk combining equal parts DISCHARGE and TROUBLE, and fronted by possibly the best female vocalist ever. SACRILEGE get my vote for having one of the heaviest and most distinct guitar sounds off all time - absolutely crushing! Right... so if, like me, you've resorted to buying AFTER THE BOMBS records to fill the void, and to get your SACRILEGE fix, you'll be plenty chuffed to hear this one. The real deal!
DOWNLOAD: Sacrilege-EarlyDemos.rar (46.07 MB)
PS: Forgot to mention how amazing the song "Out Of Sight Out Of Mind" on Early Demos is. It's reminiscent of "The Price Of Silence"-era DISCHARGE, and is very different from the version found on Behind The Realms Of Madness.

BLACK SABBATH • Born Again Unmixed CD

Bootleg 1983
Apparently Ian Gillan's response to Born Again went something like this: "I looked at the cover and puked! Then I heard the mix and puked!" Funny... but way off base. Not only is the cover one of the greatest things I've ever seen, but it's perfect for the music contained within the grooves of this monumental record. As far as the mix is concerened, it's sloppy and muddy, but it's integral to the overall menace of Born Again... and this is a menacing record if ever there was one. Oh shit... this ain't Born Again though... it's Born Again Unmixed. I downloaded this from a newsgroup a few years ago, and there was a story about how these were rough mixes that ended up in the possession of Bill Ward's girlfriend at the time. The entire record is here plus an unreleased track called "The Fallen" (rumour has it that there's up to 5 other unrleased tracks that were recorded during the Born Again sessions). Some songs have different guitar bits here and there, different lyrics, and missing vocal parts. "Trashed" has a neat extended bit after the solo, but the coolest thing about Born Again Unmixed is the 9+ minute version of "Zero The Hero"!!! The end of the track is just the main riff over and over again for about 3 minutes... that damned riff could go on for 20 minutes and I'd be happier than a pig in shit. Anyways, Born Again rules, and this is a very cool alternate version of that obnoxiously heavy, and downright scary, record.
DOWNLOAD: BlackSabbath-BornAgainUnmixed.rar (80.37 MB)
PS: Here's a cool link to loads of info about Born Again, including the original picture of the baby used on the cover. Awesome!

DISMEMBER • Complete Demos LP

Bootleg 2008 (I'm guessing)
I'm a bit tipsy right now, so it could just be the booze, but this record is fucking killing me! Three of DISMEMBER's early demos are compiled on this gorgeous coloured vinyl bootleg. 1988's Dismembered demo starts off with the magnificent "Deathevokation" (as heard on the Hymns Of The Dead cassette) and carries on in much the same vein - dingy recording, kinda sloppy playing, and heavily affected and effected vocals. Fucking awesome! DISMEMBER's second demo from '89 is better and even heavier. Finally the Reborn In Blasphemy demo (1991) is heavier still, and kills everything. It's got the full-on Sunlight treatment, and it crushes! Really really great stuff! My only complaint about this record is that they've included an '89 rehearsal in the track listing that's not on the record - a sneaky way to make ya think you're getting more tracks than you really are. A small gripe considering how great what you do get is. Decision: not the booze - this record really is as good as I think it is... hammered or not.
DOWNLOAD: Dismember-CompleteDemos.rar (74.42 MB)

MOTORHEAD • BBC Sessions LP

Bootleg
I usually ignore MOTORHEAD bootlegs cuz they either contain songs that I have countless versions of on re-issue and rarity CDs, or cuz they're live shows that I couldn't care less about. This one, however, caught my eye cuz it's made up of BBC recordings (as the title suggests!?!) that I knew I didn't have copies of, and had never heard before. The sound quality is so good that it makes me think that these are probably available on CD, maybe even officially, but who knows (keeping up with every "new" MOTORHEAD release is something that I gave up on years ago). The '78 John Peel tracks are fantastic and on their own make this worth downloading, but add to that some Ace Of Spades era tracks (not sure if these are from '81 or '82 - the info is misleading) and a couple from the mid-80's Orgasmatron line-up and it all makes for a top notch collection.
DOWNLOAD: Motorhead-BBCSessions.rar (88.02 MB)

SODOM • Pretenders To The Throne LP

Big Scrotum Records 2008
If you can listen to this record... and actually enjoy it, then you are one seriously hardcore motherfucker. Much more hardcore than me that's for damn sure. This near unlistenable bootleg erroneously states that this is an unreleased EP from '84... when really it's a rehearsal, or maybe a demo... I'm not exactly sure, but whatever it is, the quality is abysmal. Now I'm not one to shy away from shitty production values, or even inadequate musicianship, but you gotta draw the line somewhere... and this is where I draw mine. I love early SODOM but I will never listen to this record again... I'll leave that to you more hardcore muthas.
DOWNLOAD: Sodom-PretendersToTheThrone.rar (43.26 MB)

TUNES FOR FUCKER Vol. 2 LP

Tunes For Fucker Records 2007
Like a lot of people outside of Japan, and particularly in North America, my only exposure to Japanese Hardcore was through compilations. Meaning I was familiar with all the same bands you probably were (G.I.S.M., LIP CREAM, KURO, THE STALIN, etc.). Through mp3 blogs, and SYPHILITIC VAGINAS, I recently discovered the greatness of ZOUO, so when I saw TUNES FOR FUCKER Vol. 2 I had to grab it. Along with ZOUO's "The Final Agony" 7", TFF2 contains a TRANQUILIZER flexi, a MANBIKI CHOCOLATE 8", and G-SPOT's "Radical & Shout" 7". I really know nothing about any of these bands, but ZOUO sound very similar to G.I.S.M. (especially the vocals), and judging by the song titles have a Satanic lyrical direction. The 6 TRANQUILIZER tracks are blazingly fast walls of sheer distortion (lots of info re: TRANQUILIZER here). G-SPOT are kinda crappy Punk Rock that doesn't do much for me, but MANBIKI CHOCOLATE are killer, and easily my favourite of the 4 bands on TFF2. I'm gonna assume that all of these records are extremely rare, making TUNES FOR FUCKER Vol. 2 a pretty cool package.
DOWNLOAD: TunesForFuckerVol2.rar (77.45 MB)