The DEMO Thread

The thread where we can talk about, discover and perhaps trade copies of demos.

I have very few demos on cassette and CD, and a couple on vinyl. But I've obtained many demos over the years on mp3 from friends. Some have been phenomenal and should've been released as a regular album, others have been so shockingly horrible that I'd be embarrassed to be in the band.

What are some of YOUR favorite DEMO albums ?
Do bands even still make DEMOs ?
What DEMOs have you always wanted an original of ?
What DEMOs would you just like to hear ?
What are your rarest DEMOs you own ? Or perhaps you don't own one, but you're aware of a DEMO that is SUPER rare ?
What DEMOs do you think should be in every Christian music enthusiasts collection ?

Let's talk DEMOs 

The first ones that come to mind would be Paradox and Martyr. I have the first two albums from both bands. Self-produced and low budget. I would consider them demos.

Dynamo - Eyes To The Sky     Great 80's metal from Tennessee.  It was largely overlooked and is super rare to find.  Luckily, I have it on CD-R.

Plain Clothes - Long Way To Go    Also great 80s metal.  Could have been much bigger with the right connections.  I also have this on CD-R.  Both of these I transferred from original copies of the cassettes myself.

DuBiel......any of their demos.  Great female fronted 80's metal reminiscent of Ransom, but the singer has a bit more grit.

Follower

Any of the old Apostle or Matt Harding albums.


I have all of these.  I have a bootleg CD of some of DuBiel and the Follower CD.  The rest I have mentioned I transferred from cassette.

Oh I REALLY want Virgin Black's demo, as well as Anaemia's...  A couple of my favorites are:

Sawol
Sardis

And some relatively unknowns that are really good:

Of Withering Ashes (free to download) (female-fronted melodic doom/avant-garde)
Implacable (free to download)  (funeral doom with backing female vocals)

Kerrick,
If you're cool with mp3's, here's the Virgin Black demo.

Thanks dude.  I dunno, I try not to do the illegal download thing unless I get the band's explicit permission - even if it is of something that's otherwise just about impossible to attain.  Some day I hope to get ahold of the true demo (or even better, a re-release on CD!). 

I don't see demos as taking money out of the hands of the artists.  Demos are demos. Unless they are re-released by the artist and sold (ie Bride, Haven, and many others have released their demos as an album to sell for profit). Most demo albums are mega rare and even if you were lucky enough to find one, the artist wouldn't see any money from it.

kerrick wrote:

Thanks dude.  I dunno, I try not to do the illegal download thing unless I get the band's explicit permission - even if it is of something that's otherwise just about impossible to attain.  Some day I hope to get ahold of the true demo (or even better, a re-release on CD!). 

I hear ya. I'm on the fence... I see g/f's point below but at the same time... I don't know.

Well, good luck with finding it!

I made a thread about it so we don't hijack this one. 

http://www.christianhardmusic.com/t6279-illegal-downloading

I totally missed the boat when RETRO put out those Dubeel/Dubeil CDs... I would've LOVED to get those.

Most demos are of poor quality, but there's a certain charm to them - especially if you listened to the demo over and over when it first came out.  

One of my favorite demos is Crossection's - low quality, but the songs are great.

I've collected quite a few demos over the years including the Paradox demos, some Martyr demos and The Moshketeer demos.

I've got Bloodgood's Metal Missionaries demo on cassette.

Revelation - "Spiritual Wind"
Soldier - "Babylon"

Also, be sure to check out Rizer.  This is the pre-Tykkus band of guitarist Dale Burton that released a six song demo EP back in 1985.  You can listen to all six songs at: http://tykkus.bandcamp.com/album/hystorykk-s-maxim-s-1985-2007

The Rizer EP is included as part of the Tykkus Hystorykküs Maximüs compilation, which I recently reviewed.  Following are some of the things I wrote about Rizer:

"The Rizer EP dates to 1985 and reflects the musical influences of the time in taking a high-energy, melodic metal heading (Stryper, early Guardian, Soldier, Hero and Messiah Prophet come to mind).  Production stands out when factoring the era at hand (rhythm guitars are thick and weighty with leads cleanly mixed).  In my opinion, the sound outshines initial releases from contemporaries Saint (Warriors Of The Son), The Messiah Prophet Band (Rock The Flock), Philadelphia (Tell The Truth) and Emerald (“Armed For Battle”)."

"It is too bad Rizer did not garner greater acclaim and notoriety.  If better known, and its EP received proper distribution (it should have seen release on vinyl or at the very least re-issued at a later point in the decade), the group had the potential to be mentioned in the same sentence as Saint, Bloodgood, Barren Cross, Neon Cross, etc.  Hence, it was not a lack of musical ability that held Rizer back but rather a lack of promotion.  In the end, the Rizer EP proves an undiscovered gem that I would like to see professionally re-mastered and re-issued on a stand-alone basis."

There are a few re-releases of demo material, such as Crossforce, that I have, not to mention bonus tracks on re-releases. If it can be considered a demo, the Second Chance - Dear God I picked up some time ago is probably the only one I actually have.

Xid wrote:

I've got Bloodgood's Metal Missionaries demo on cassette.

Ooooh ! I bet that's worth a pretty penny ! An original demo of theirs must be rare and worth a lot.

It's definitely used so I don't know if it has any retail value or not.  I had a bootlegged copy for many moons and found this one at 2nd hand store.

Oh man, I've rummaged through countless CDs and cassettes at 2nd hand stores and found incredibly awesome titles that make you tear up from excitement... only to either:
1. Open it up and realize the album is trashed beyond repair.
Or
2. Open it up and realize there's no album inside the case (or it's the wrong album)

You just stand there, with a tear in your eye, and a cold feeling rushes over your body... it's an ugly sight for sure

Guilty/Forgiven wrote:

I totally missed the boat when RETRO put out those Dubeel/Dubeil CDs... I would've LOVED to get those.

Most demos are of poor quality, but there's a certain charm to them - especially if you listened to the demo over and over when it first came out.  

One of my favorite demos is Crossection's - low quality, but the songs are great.

Actually, Retrospect is still showing those Dubiel (and other spellings) as still in stock.  I am inquiring about the two Twenty Twenty CDs they have.  I can give you a list of what they have that is actually Christian in the list they are showing as I have ordered several.  I know they are bootlegs, but I don't really care since you cannot find most of these anywhere.  I am pretty sure that the Twenty Twenty (or 20 Twenty) are boots as they were never released on CD.  But, to have them on disc, I will take a chance.  Without knowing all the parties involved, you cannot know for sure.  I'd even settle for a boot of Ruscha if I could find it.

I'm also going to try to get Battlecry's 6 song EP and a full length by Canaan.

All you mentioned are on my want list. 
I visited Retrospect not long ago and could only find one Christian band they put on CD, but even it was OOS.
Give me a link if you have it, with all the Christian albums they've put on cd. When they first did those albums, I had no money, now I'd love to get CDs of many they re-did.  I own the self titled 20/twenty on vinyl, and I have a cassette of 20/twenty "Altered". Be cool to have professionally done CDs of those 2 great albums. 
Battlecry I'm gonna get on vinyl soon, but the female fronted Canaan and Dubeil are next to impossible to find originals of (and when I have seen originals, they want your firstborn, a pint of your blood, and 33% of each paycheck for the rest of your life). So I would settle for a boot from Retro... just can't find them on their site.

I bought some of the used CDs at Retrospect, but I don't see any of the Christian re-issued albums they had a couple years ago.

I just want to say that this thread is much better than what would be in:
"The EMO Thread"
Thank heavens for that "D" in the second word...

That is all, carry on.