The archives of SLUG (Salt Lake UnderGround) magazine that date back to 1989 are online, and include reviews of some very obscure Utah-based metal demos. Came across a new band addition quickly after checking out a review for a searched title of another band. There are searches for keywords within the site that can be used, as well.
https://www.slugmag.com/category/music/ ... /page/226/

Look of Argos: Still on the list, got added, can be removed

Bludfed: Still on the list, should be removed for no VR

Provoke Your Enemy: 4/7 tracks here on soundcloud, 1 live on yt, and some others not on the CD. Sounds like acceptable metalcore. Will submit.
https://soundcloud.com/provoke-your-enemy
https://www.youtube.com/@ProvokeTeVe/videos

Nothryon: 1 of the 2 tracks here. If it's enough to submit let me know. This was apparently on bandcamp but the page got nuked.
https://youtu.be/Bnpc8nws-GI?si=wu8B_CB_OX0M_McN

Megaton: can be removed. Submitted with samples

Nocturnal Melancholie: From the band itself, "Hello. I made these tapes a while back, this band is a raw black metal band of mine, inspired by such things as Abyssic Hate, Bilskirnir.
The 5 tapes did sell out, I still have one personal copy but that's about it. I sold the copies to friends of mine mainly." No VR?

Necropyosificated: Got samples, sounds like riffless guitars with occasional deathgrind riffing. Not very metal.
https://youtu.be/BI1shLc9ZXk?si=m7YTMou8_qF3DIlA

Mental Distortion: Someone sent me 4/13 tracks from the CD. The 4 tracks he sent are definitely heavy metal/punk, with metal being the predominant genre. I asked him about the rest of the songs, and he said, "It's definitely more metal than punk, but for example the first song is a punk song, and there is an instrumental that's more punk than metal. Some tracks are hard rock / metal ballads. In general I would say it fits in the metal genre."

He didn't give me the full album, in his words, "I probably should upload the full album on Youtube but I'd perhaps need to ask the people involved with the music if they're ok with that."

I think with these 4 tracks and the attestation of the person who provided them, it's enough to submit. If it gets rejected, we'll have to wait on more tracks.

Smokestack (UK) can be removed. Here is one of their songs (butt rock) -
https://soundcloud.com/hillfire_dol_400 ... ack-it1986

Schell Shock / SchellShock can be marked as having a Discogs page. They had a compilation appearance on the 1982 'Metal Fatigue' record, now linked in the original post. Song sounds good and promising, but could use more audio still.

Thanks.

Needs research. - Intake
Location: US - may have been from or near Seattle, Washington
Listed genre:Heavy Metal
Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/29998699-Intake-Intake (2 song CD-R, probably from the late '90s/early '00s)
- seeking audio.


Needs research. - Hunting Humans
Location: Seattle, Washington, US
Listed genre: Heavy Metal
Members: Abraham King (guitars), and 2 members that play(ed) in: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Ci ... ab_members
Discography: self-titled CD-R (1999)
Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/2999820 ... ing-Humans (members in photos)
- seeking audio.


Needs research. - Genuine Havoc
Location: Washington State, US
Listed genre: Heavy Metal
One member on the site: https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/ ... ila/248419 / https://facebook.com/profile.php/?id=1010878519
Another member on FB: https://www.facebook.com/scott.estes.54
(the others are in Discogs photo).
Discography: CD-R (2000)
Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/2999539 ... A3NzgxMzI1
- seeking audio.


Needs research. - Shades of Sanity
Location: Washington State, US (? - recorded in Bremerton)
Listed genre: Heavy Metal
Members in Discogs photo (one on the site - https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/ ... zey/279225 / https://www.facebook.com/skotty.heizey )
Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/2999249 ... A3NzY1ODA5
- seeking audio.


Not metal. - Others Eyes

Shiili: two singles out now. Will submit

Needs research. - Godvile
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Listed Genre: Death/Groove Metal/Grindcore(?)
Discography: ‘1st Demo of Godvile’ (Demo tape, 3 tracks, Pervert Records, 2000)
Discogs: None
Review in Kabbala zine #26: https://i.imgur.com/2eRELpk.jpg
Translation: An original Tokyo band that uniquely has an upper body drummer (!!!) who uses only both arms but not his legs + a drum machine. Judging from the odd words scattered throughout the index, I wonder if it's influenced by Porno Grind/Gore Grind, as the scurrilous phrases inserted when there's a spare moment in the songs seem to be an important element for this band. It creates a unique atmosphere that can hardly be called grind or death and also has a pretty groovy side. What is a bit disappointing is that the mix, which is surprisingly clean, feels like it has dropped the edge of aggressiveness. It may that rare species of sound that emerged as a derivative while searching for a new extreme form.
Seems a bit ambiguous to me, so looking for samples.

Ordered the Pier 6 Brawl cd.

Needs research. - Fast Eddy
Location: Troisdorf, Germany
Genre: Heavy Metal
Discography: "Hot Metal Nights" demo 7" (said to be from 1989)
https://www.musik-sammler.de/release/fa ... 7-1657237/
- write-up about the music from The Corroseum: "Musically, both trax "Hot Metal nights" and "Hell is breaking out" offer a strong NWOBHM sound, the latter even reminiscent of Crucifixion's "On the run"."
https://thecorroseum.org/features/germa ... char=F#res
- May be enough here to submit - but in case not, posting here.

Ageless Yard: Spoke with the band, EP never came out. No VR.

Sacrifice (1674): Another band where I'm not sure what needs VR proof. Looks fine to me. Am i missing something? If it's because the Eastern Bloc vid and cassette share the same art, the discogs listing predates the video. The tape was listed in 2021, and the samples were posted in 2022.
https://www.discogs.com/release/1800735 ... -Wasteland

It could be worth submitting Sacrifice as is. There aren't many owners on Discogs, and none sold - plus just the photo of the front of the tape case. At the time of posting, was probably thinking that it would be useful to get one other corroborating source because of that - but it would be a moderator's decision whether that's necessary.

Others Eyes can be removed - alternative rock.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2nHLzQvr6osSo9QcvHJM6Z

Sauron: Only recordings are the Mikseri ones with slapdash art. No VR.
https://imgur.com/a/soNNnvs

Spitfire (1819): No VR. No idea if the band intends to make them publicly distributed. They said they'd set up a drive download for all the tracks. Would this constitute VR? Most of the tracks have unique art.
https://imgur.com/a/E2GbzKu

Sacrifice got added, can be removed.

Needs research. - Rotten Grave
Location: Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Genre: Death Metal
- original name of https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Blessed/32018 . They released a 1993 demo tape, "Butchery and Terror": https://imgur.com/a/YVTkwU1 .
Some of the songs on it ended up on Blessed demos, like "Symphony of the Soul" and "Extinction Forever" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTucWA4ZvQo - re-recordings might be able to be used for the submission if the original versions can't be found.
Also, their drummer - who recently left a report on the page, still open, with his email address - might be able to help with samples: https://www.metal-archives.com/report/view/id/848919

Still waiting for the Gutrot CD to ship. It's been over a week now.

Altera: Think i've found enough samples to submit.

Sunki Vasara: Should probably be removed. Hard Rock, and there doesn't seem to be another release showing otherwise.
https://youtu.be/Yzq8TbhqWmE?si=xAgA3W7HrsCeH9s8

Needs research. - Hellriegel
Location: Belgium
Listed genre: Thrash Metal
Members: First names/nicknames listed in Discogs photos
Discography: "Thrashers Milk" rehearsal demo ('92, cassette)
Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/3002033 ... -Rehearsal
- seeking audio.

Skyborns: Got added.
https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Sk ... 3540527585

Needs research. - Ezzra
Location: US (telephone area code 517 of the band's manager, John Brenner Bonene, is for Lansing, Michigan and surrounding cities)
Described genre: Heavy Metal/Hard Rock
Members: Unknown
Discography: Demo tape (1993; track listing: Interlude/ Into Nothing/ Shades into Your Grave/ The Beast Within/ Dedication to Life)
eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/186330724446
- seeking audio, and additional verification of release wouldn't hurt.

Needs research. - Bad Toys
Location: Florence, Tuscany, Italy
Genre: Heavy Metal
Members: https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/ ... tta/395742 / https://www.facebook.com/domenico.palmiotta.92
https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/ ... ini/192878 / https://www.facebook.com/fabrizio.pieraccini.1
Luca Gardone / https://www.facebook.com/luca.gardone (guitars)
https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/ ... ini/421803 (vocals) - possibly not an original member, but was with them for the reunion gig(s)
Vito Damato (bass) - possibly not an original member, but was with them for the reunion gig(s)
Discography: Demo 1984 (cassette; track listing: Preghiera/ Un'altra terra un'altra luna/ Ad un amico/ Asfalto)
'84 demo track on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip2hXyDH0KU
They had a reunion in 2018 (2 songs here) - https://www.youtube.com/@sila2002/searc ... bad%20toys

Regarding Bad Toys, "We ( auashop.com ) are talking with the former band members for a possible official reissue of their stuff...let's see...". Check back note would be appropriate.

Needs research. - Nosey Road
Location: Gaborone, Botswana
Listed Genre: Various (from early funk pop to hard rock/metal)
Discography: see notes below

One of the most famous and at the same time most mysteriosu bands coming from Botswana. Formed by members of Sbrana family (italians living in Botswana since the 60's) they have released A LOT of albums as well as singles. No information at all, no samples or not even a decent discography listed.
First albums are obviously pop/funk/folk but I came across this - obviously not listed anywhere - and it sounds very interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4vrwl1vbYk

It would be nice to ask the guy to upload the full album

I am aware of AT LEAST 9 albums + an unknown amount of videos (VHS, DVD, VCD)... obviously with no proper or more detailed infos beside the few ones here below:

-Freeway Lp 1983
-Night lady / Kaya 7" 1984
-Live in Concert (year unknown. Format unknown: may be a record or a video)
-Botswana MCDr 1998
-Do you wanna rock CD 2006 (or "Do you want to rock" said to be from 2008)
-9 album are "cited" (well, "counted" is the proper word as they do not mention any album title) in their "biography" (?)

Discogs for Nosey Road:
https://www.discogs.com/release/2354855 ... magination

Soulside: Uploader of samples believes the demo was never officially released.
https://imgur.com/a/aNk9vfV

Преодоление / Preodoleniye: Found what looks like a tray insert for a CD. Waiting for additional confirmation of VR.
https://vk.com/wall-191419660_50?z=phot ... 1419660_50

I've been going through a lot of USSR bands and I'm curious about magnetic albums. Are these like reel-to-reels? Does the mention of a magnetic album imply the existence of VR, or is it a nebulous term like demo that needs more context and proof of VR?

Deeply incomplete, unfortunately. I know that their "Do you wanna rock" (or "Do you want to rock": even the exact title is uncertain) album is their 9th as I found a few information online years ago. Unfortunately I have further information at my home in Italy, and these are the few releases I could got at least the info for titles or release year:

Nosey Road: Freeway Lp 1983
Nosey Road: Night lady / Kaya 7" 1984
Nosey Road: Beyond your imagination Lp 19xx (also on CD?)
Nosey Road: Botswana MCDr 1998 (recorded in Rome, Italy)
Nosey Road: Live in Concert CD+DVD 2005 (selected live footage from their US Tour 2005)
Nosey Road: Do you wanna rock CD 2006 (recorded in Rome, Italy)

but they said "Do you wanna rock" (or "Do you want to rock" - even the exact title is uncertain) is their 9th album

Anyway, it seems the third generation of Sbranas (sons and nephews keep playing in the band) moved toward heavy metal in the 90's before forming their own side projects Remuda and Skinflint

Any other info is virtually unknown, but I guess this is one, "Beyond your imagination" of the earliest albums where they moved toward heavy metal

Thery were reels-to-reels, yes, and it was quite easy to find a way to record onto them at the time if you had enough money to buy the proper equipment for a home-made studio (in the majority of cases) or for going to a proper local music studio. There were several factories specialized in producing them.

The problem was that during the soviet times only government/censorship-approved recordings could be pressed onto vinyl or cassette by the only stale-company run label, Melodiya or its local branches in Estonia, Latvia, Georgia or whatsoever: it was impossible to establish an independent music label at that time beside the state controlled Melodiya who could release your approved recording in its entirely or with some omitted songs (deemed as "unappropriate") or just use a few of them to end up in some compilation. But no way to establish an independent music label: the first primitive and clandestine attempt started with Korrozia Metalla who were able to release their recordings on real demo cassettes but they were just the first pioneers in the late 80's. Then around 1989-1990 when the soviet regime started to collapse, there were a little bit more private enterprisers who tried to follow the same path with lot of problems and troubles in finding blank tapes, a way to spread them and - most of all - customers who had enough money to buy proper demo cassettes. It mostly started in the Baltic republics where the central government control was a little bit more loose and locals had a bit higher standard of life/salaries compared to the proper Russia. While in Caucasus or Central Asia until the second half of the 90's this opportunity was precluded to the majority of bands because of the most troublesome economical conditions and other facts.

So, due to the censorship board approvement during the soviet era, there was a high probability that most recordings could be rejected by the local censorship and so they remained unreleased. What to do, then?
Most of the underground bands didn't even attempted to submit their recordings to the local censorship board for an eventual vinyl or cassette release: they knew for sure they would have been rejected not only because of lyrics but also for poor quality of recordings of course. Or just because they choose to remain underground, as everywhere else in the world

So, in both cases, they just copied their reels-to-reels (many bands could manage to build their own home-made music studio) onto other reels-to-reels and spread them locally or throughout the country in a way or other in a more or less secret/clandestine way (by travelling, by car, by hand-to-hand, even in some local market selling cigarettes or liquors, in grocery stores... if the owners were trustworthy or friends... as it was risky to send them through postal services) : that was the only way to give them a sort of circulation. At the same time those who got their hands on such magnitoalbums also copied them to further friends in a sort of mutual chains, sometimes adding or removing songs. In some cases - expexially at the end of the 80's some magnitoalbums - previously totally anonymous on the cover - started to have a kind of glued artowrk on the cover: mostly a photo of the band or a logo or whatever but this could vary from place to place: where the police and censorship control was more rigid or strict (such as in Moscow or St. Peterburg or the biggest town in western SSSR) they kept anonymous. In those places quite far from the central government surveillance such as central or eastern Siberia, there was a little bit more freedom in creating a sort of "artowrk" to be glued on the cover. Sometimes - similar to the tape trading in every other country of the world - private buyers created their own artwork when they copied their magnitoalbums onto some other friends' magnitoalbums.... for most of the russian musicians who could not operate freely under the state-approved Melodiya company, the main purpose was to spread their music in a way or other rather than earning some music on it: it was quite easy to see their magnitoalbums spread into different forms in terms of tracklist, "bonus songs" or whatever, there was really free space for fantasy. Bands or even fans had quite free hand to combine or rearrange original recordings onto different "compilation" or adding/removing tracks upon initiative or request.

That's why still nowadays many recordings seem lost or have no VR: because at the time bands copied and spread them in a very limited quantity to local friends only or to those who made request: there was no free market due to the impossibility to spread them freely if not approved by local censorship board.

Plus, if you add the fact that russians - due to their economical conditions and culture - are used to move frequently from one corner to the other of their country in order to find a job or a new opportunity in life (and their whole life is a continuous travel from one city to the other), many recordings could have been left or lost somewhere: in fact there are still some old band members who make public announcements in order to ask some old friends if they still have a copied reel given by the band at that time. But even those who may have got such recording at the time may also have moved to some other parts or Russia or abroad and so it becomes very difficult to find such magnitoalbums anymore. Many of them could be easily considered definitively lost for good.

And that also explain while the same "demo" (or "magnitoalbum") may exist in different versions with more or less songs or more or less "bonus tracks": bands could add previous or new recordings to already existing magnitoalbums they already spreaded around, in order to please some old and new fan or old and new friends or in order to sell them again with additional bonus tracks.

It also explains why many magnitoalbums are comprised of a mix of different recordig sessions and live session made throughout the years and all compiled in an unique reel intended to be copied onto other magnitoalbums upon request to friends, fans, supporters or wherever: russians, due to the difficult conditions which they have always lived in, have always managed to find a clever or fantasious way to spread their products. we can not compare their production/circulation of music in terms of european/western standards just because they were forced to live into different political, economical and social conditions

Copying onto other magnitoalbums (reels) to spread among friends or upon request was also very cheap in terms of costs: I was told during my several trips to Russia that many bands did it even for free just to please their fans: anyway the selling cost of a magnitoalbum upon request was extremely low and easily affordable. The only problem was how to spread them being extremely dangerous to spread unauthorized music in a public way, even if in the Baltic republic or in the most remote areas of the country (Siberia) there was a little bit more "freedom". That's why most of these magnitoalbums nowadays seem lost or withour a valid VR: some bands at that time may had too few requests or friends in order to copy and spread them in huger quantity.

In the end, buying (in a legal or - mostly - illegal way through black market) huge stocks of unused reels-to-reels was the only option for the majority of bands at that time in order to spread their music.

And this continued also after the fall of the regime, until as far as 1993-1994 (and in some ex former soviet republic expecially from Central Asia until late 90's too) as it was very easy to find full stocks of reels-to-reels for a cheap price (as usual, mostly through the black market) and all the recording studios, from the shittiest ones to the best ones were still equipped for reel-to-reel recording process: during these turbulent years the cost of magnitoalbums even dropped because the opening to a free market created a lot of private enterprisers (or a new unemployed class who lost their job when there are such moments of economical transitions) who tried to round up their poor salary with private sales triying to put their hands on stocks of unused magnitoalbums found here and there in local pressing plants once chained to Melodiya only.

We also should not forget that finding blank music tapes after 1990-1991 was still nearly impossible, much more difficult than finding magnitoalbums: the cost of the blank cassettes was still prohibitive for many bands after 1990-1991, no matter how could you manage to find them after the end of the regime (through "friends" mainly). Only a few lucky people were able enough to start a proper cassette music label after 1991 and very few bands had the opportunity to release their recordings on proper demo tapes until 1992-1993 when things started to improve a little bit and the political/economical situation was less confused.
Obviously until mid 90's very few bands also had the opportunity to record on vinyl (for the same reason of high costs provided by factories who converted to the open market) and - even more obviously - nor on cd due to their insurmountable costs.

At least, this is what they told me during my trips in Russia in search of their good old staryi russkiy rok (old russian rock)

Needs research. - Feedback
Location: California, US
Listed genre: Hard Rock/Heavy Metal
Members: Nicholas Salvatore, Scott Seiler, Dan Horton, Tommy Miles
Discography: "The Inferno" (1998, CD)
Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/3005071 ... he-Inferno
May 1997 newspaper article: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/165381362/
- seeking audio.


Needs research. - T.A.I.
(pre- https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/T.M.K./83036 )
Location: Prenzlau, Brandenburg, Germany
Genre: Metal Archives lists Death Metal for T.M.K., the band that they became, but The Corroseum describes "Motörhead inspired Hardcore Metal with Speed Metal influences and Thrash parts."
Discography: "Sex, Drugs & Pittiplatsch" 1-song demo (1989)
Listed here / should be removed since it isn't a minor name change: https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/T ... sch/154157 . Have added to additional notes.
- Seeking audio. Verification of release would be useful, too.

Pier 6 Brawl: Submitted with samples.

The Opponent Process: VR confirmed. Uploader on discogs is behind the band and uploaded additional pictures. Will submit. *edit* didn't realize there was only one song on YT, that probably won't be enough to submit.

Steel Wizard: Has an ep on Apple Music. Will submit.

not metal
https://www.youtube.com/@myriver74/sear ... y=property

Thanks for finding the Lost Property songs.

Dweller (Canada) can be removed. Added to the site today. Thanks.

Prophacy: Ripped the tape. It's standard thrash/death metal. Will submit.

Sanskrit: VR confirmed. Will submit.
https://imgur.com/a/VaGcM49
https://imgur.com/a/fFCJf0o

The Wishess: Reverbnation with songs from their 2015 album. Sounds decently metal, will submit.
https://www.reverbnation.com/thewishess/songs

Feedback: Samples here.
https://youtu.be/Z3JnPEMMous?si=EPIS7p6CmR8LKfrV

More info for a band active in here, Intrepid Dissent (Wisconsin) - someone sent in the J-card for their 1991 demo. My friend in that area is asking around for the audio now that we know a release exists (and have a good lead on someone that has a copy).
https://imgur.com/a/Zj3AhRw

The Haunting of Leica: First ep was available for download apparently. Will submit. *edit* The band is currently blacklisted, seeking whitelist.
https://imgur.com/NDW4xWl
https://imgur.com/a/oQXKc1f

Skeptic (8980): Was released on tape. I asked if there were more tracks but got no response.
https://imgur.com/a/oLgFK27

Режим / Rezhim: According to the uploader it was on reel-to-reel.
https://imgur.com/a/7MrJUNf

Syncod: Was released on tape according to the uploader.
https://imgur.com/a/4t35O4y

Shine Dark: More concrete details here, to where I feel comfortable submitting.
https://imgur.com/a/H99q313

Alexis Machine: Live samples here. It's two tracks, one definitely from the tape (which has three unique tracks).
https://www.youtube.com/@tt6116/search? ... %20Machine

Skenb: Their 2007 demo was definitely on CD. Problem is that the music seems very borderline alternative metal. A more thorough look at their larger releases seems appropriate. For example, Diqqat was from the same post at this, full samples and not metal.
https://youtu.be/U8vbeyV3VtY?si=nm543BOEwYslDJzj
https://vk.com/albums-3608274?z=photo-3 ... os-3608274
Other releases: https://www.youtube.com/@BelchasBarn/search?query=Skenb

Доктор Фауст / Doktor Faust: "While looking through old CDs I came across the “Doctor Faustus” team with the 1989 album “The Snake on the Neck”.
This recording is a download from a Moscow friend of mine, the disc was purchased on Gorbushka in the 90s. As always, the songs are not signed, but simply numbered." Not sure if this enough proof of VR. What was the status of CDs in the USSR?
https://vk.com/wall-199123005_1115

Кондор / Kondor: Old material was released on CD by the guitarist. Will submit.
https://www.gruppasssr.ru/K/kondordisk.html
https://vk.com/id51983794?z=photo519837 ... ed51983794
https://vk.com/wall238378189_295?z=phot ... 5f12c1b0d5

"As ADEPT wrote above: “It seems that in 2006 all these recordings were brought to fruition and even published on one CD “Condor - 89, 91, 92””
Indeed, the demos were released on CD, here are their scans."
http://metalrus.ru/forum/index.php?topic=4063.0

Мираж студия / Mirazh studiya: 4 song recording on youtube was a magnetic album according to this site.
https://www.gruppasssr.ru/M/mirazcchdisk.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pvpo8zltx4

Follow the Hunt: Got added.
https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Fo ... 3540512921

Frown (Canada): Finally got a response back. Only one song recorded. No VR.