Gettin' Bratty

First things first - this blog hasn't bit the dust but I have been working on other things and trying to sort out everyday life junk since last time. But I have a bunch of backlogged posts and ideas for posts one of which is  this.

In punk and metal there's several bands with "Brats" in their name - so I'm gonna sort 'em out for ya.

Let's start in Denmark with the short-lived but tremendously underrated Brats. These Danish Brats started in 1977 not long after the UK & US punk explosion. Their releases span just 2 years but in this time they moved from raw punk, to a combination of punk & hard rock to heavy metal.

Their line up originally had just 1 future Mercyful Fate member - Hank Sherman known then under his "nom du punk", Hank De Wank. The rest also had punkoid names: Franz De Zaster on vocals, Mikey Rat on bass and Eddie Haircut on drums. Between the these first two line-ups they released: 1 LP, a split 7" and had an LP worth of material from the early days that thankfully was released in 2008.

The Brats first official release is 3 tracks on the Dane punk comp. Pære Punk (Pear Punk? not 100% sure about this translation). Their 3 tracks on the comp: "Dreams", "I Do What I Wanna Do" and "Magazine" are all filled with great riffs, raw Ramones-y/Rotten-y vocals and super catchy parts. Much of this proves that punk didn't die after 1978 as it was plenty alive int the rest of Europe and of course continued in the US & UK if you just looked beyond the generic history (i.e, "Sex Pistols break up = punk is dead").

Other early songs showed up later on several 1990s punk compilations such as: 1997's Bloodstains Across Denmark and  1998's Springtime In Belsen. Of course being an obscure punk act they show up on Hell, Norway's finest compilation(s): Killed By Death - in this case #007. This KBD comp also features The Cleavers from Portland who I wrote about on my other blog.

The line up changed in 1980 with Hank playing guitar alongside Michael Denner, (Lars) Monroe on drums (plus the occasional synth and piano) as well as new vocalist Yenz (Leonhardt) on lead vocals.

The 1980 Brats album is much light years ahead in production and song structure. In part this had to do with being on a major label, CBS. CBS who would also sign fellow Danes, Pretty Maids several years later. During their  time with CBS  (which was really the Dutch division which unfortunately didn't expand into the UK or US) - Brats released a split 7" with the short-lived act, Tyrantz. There's at least 3 different versions of that split 7" shown here. The band sold a good amount of record (I dunno the exact number) in France and also got some radio play in The Netherlands. The Dutch CBS also put out the Brats 1980 LP. (Collector nerd note: first pressings came with a sticker.)

The 1980 songs mix the original punk energy with often longer songs - the shortest being the excellent "Punk Fashion" clocking in 1:34. The mellow intro into fast and bombastic riffing of the 2nd track "Tame Me (Insomniac)" has a chord progression that's foreshadows build up on Mercyful Fate's "Come to the Sabbath". The poppier mid-paced "B-Brains" recalls the Damned crossed with the NY Dolls - especially in Yenz's vocals. Other things that reference their Fate-ful future are the church bells in the  long, semi-ballad "Complex (Don't Destroy Me)" and the lyric "you are the future/the next decade is yours/there'll be 1000's of maniacs/and they won't find no cure."

The short-lived and very appropriately named Danish label, Diamond Records released 1980 Brats on CD. I luckily was able to score a copy of this around 2002 at Rasputin's in Campbell, CA. Prior to this Brats were a band I knew of and every once awhile you'd see bootleg tapes of theirs at the original Berkeley Rasputin's Records (Telegraph Ave location next to Bank of America) but paying $8-$10 for 1 tape was out of my range then - even if it was filled with killer Denner/Sherman riffage.

The last Brats line up had new vocalist King Diamond from short-lived hard rockin' proggers, Black Rose. The band also saw Michael Denner placed by new 6-stringer Carsten Van Der Volsing. They recorded an album-length demo in January 1981 which wound up on bootlegged tapes that got traded around a bit as Mercyful Fate's popularity grew in the early 80's. As for the change to a more metal focus sound Hank said in an interview with Snakepit magazine:

It was specially my progression into the heavier stuff and of course King's vocals so it was a very natural transition. Also remember IRON MAIDEN and other band started to hit the scene and of course that also inspired us. 

More metallic 2nd-era line up

King-era Brats or super early Fate (note the cross is right-side up)?

1981 Flyer from Denmark (I wonder if this is the Swedish Overdrive on the bill)

Several of the demo tracks became Fate songs. The neat thing about these changes between Brats and Mercyful Fate is how many different versions there are. In some cases, there's 2 different versions of what later became an album track on Return of the Vampire, Melissa and Don't Break the Oath.

Brats 1981-era songs and their various "Fate-ful" incarnations:

Some Day = On a Night of Full Moon  ->  Desecration of Souls

Death Kiss = Walking Back to Hell   - >  A Dangerous Meeting

Love Criminals -> Into the Coven

Nightriders  -&gt ;  Curse of the Pharaohs

Powers of Darkness -> Return of the Vampire. 

Few metal bands aside from Hellhammer had a similar song writing process. For more see/hear Hellhammer's - Demon Entrails of the band's 1983 recordings and the Celtic Frost's - Demos '84 & '85.

Yenz later showed up in all sorts of bands. First with the chee-zee Geisha.Their song "Shock Rock School" is a "should been in a B-movie" soundtrack. Other members of Geisha had connections with King Diamond's solo band and Motörhead as Mickey Dee was once the drummer. Geisha comes off like the Danish version of Helix for what that's worth (3 kroner?). Dumb & slightly rockin' and at least sometimes fun. Later Yenz was in power metallers, Iron Saviour, and goth-cheese meisters, Lacrimosa. 

In 1973 Hollywood had the rather good proto-punkers Berlin Brats. Berlin Brats' sound is a rawer mix of the dirtiest side of the Stones and NY Dolls. They were called by Rodney Bingeheimer "The West Coast's first Punk Band". Their song "(I'm) Psychotic" uses a similar call out chorus as The Sonics' "Strychnine" and the spelled out bit 'ala W.A.S.P. "L.O.V.E. Machine".

Their last show was headlining S.F.'s Mabuhay Gardens with the Avengers. Their break up lead to another rather good and also overlooked West Coast punk act, The Mau-Maus.

Hollywood Brats - Pretty boys with an ugly rep. 

'Round the same time of the Berlin Brats, Tinseltown had the Hollywood Brats who had the incredible "punk as fuck before punk" tune "Sick on You".   Hollywood Brats were underground shock-rockers who according to RiffRaff.net:

were banned for like for puking in the drinks and throwing an ashtray at Bryan Ferry's head

 The (Hollywood) Brats showed nothing but contempt for the audience. Men wanted to fight them. Crowds tried to beat them. 

Hollywood Brats' mayhem continued with a load more of controversy on the local scene. I wonder if their crazy antics would continued had they crossed paths with the Berlin Brats? Or any of these other Bratty bands.

Over in Detroit there was the glam punk of the Trash Brats. The Trash Brats started in 1986 and ran 'til 2002 (with a few reunion shows in 2010). Trash Brats mixed the catchy chorus of Hanoi Rocks and the riffing of the classics like NY Dolls/The Heartbreakers and at times overlapped with mid-paced pop-punk with actually pretty good results. Weirdly they opened for Kid Rock in one of the bigger venues in Detroit and appeared on a garage rock comp back in '86  under the name Brat. There's a good interview with at the Detroit Metro Times. This one's below is a killer pure punk tune.

Going back to Denmark and the modern-era we have Scavenger Brats who have a tune of rather rippin' thrash metal that mixes (proper-era) Slayer, Dr. Know, Sacrifice (Canada) and The Accüsed. Scavenger Brats have also been named checked in the "new wave of whatever the fuck it is" scene in Kopenhavn.

During coke n' spandex-era Hollywood were the "not quite from Flatbush", Brookyln Brats - Their sound was the bog-standard "American" hard rock/lite metal. Lots of groggy mid-paced tunes with the mechanical echoing drums and really dumb, uninspired choruses - 'ala every KISS record in the 80's. Swimming somewhere between a dull ocean of early 80's KISS, Quiet Riot and Whitesnake. There's a few "almost" moments on "We Live to Rock" but it's way too stuck on the chorus repeating 8000 times.

What in Hades? Marvel Comics, Tony Danza AND Brookyln Brats!?!? 

I used to see this picture disc taking up space at Dublin, CA's The Record Factory between the Bathory and  Black n' Blue LPs. The only one who championed these guys was Metal Forces, not-too-metal writer, Kelv Hellrazer Regardless of how far he's on the "false-o-meter" - I do admire that Kelv dug deep into the treacherously fluffy, Aqua-netted, tight trousered ditch that was 1980's hair farmer rock and A.O.R.  Now more information than you require about Brookyln Brats.

If you still need cheese there's always New York's Battle Brat. Not only were these guys were cursed with an incredibly generic sound that floated somewhere between Icon/Dokken/Keel - they also had some of the worst album covers this side of Nuclear Blast's department of photoshop horrors. That said, they did have some OK speed metal tunes early on that come off like a discount Agent Steel.

  

Lastly, metal-archives has an entry for a circa: 2004 umlauted Chicago thrash act, The Bräts. While on  the surface this isn't anything special check their lyric topics: Clones, Blood, Killing, Death, Rocking Out. Now the question is did they ever cover Alice Cooper's "Clones"? 

Endnotes: 

1) Denmark's Brats info from the liner notes of 1980 Brats CD, The Lost Tapes - Copenhaven 1979 LP and Snakepit magazine No.14 - Hank Sherman interview. I have yet to hear or see anything on the other pre-Mercyful Fate-connected bands like Starchaser and King's other early band, Brainstorm. However, I can't forget the post-Brats/pre-Mercyful Fate band, Danger Zone. Danger Zone was Michael Denner's project after he left Brats. He decided to play with King, Hank, drummer "Old" Nick Smith & Timi "Grabber" Hansen. As the metal-archives entry says: 

Michael Denner, Timi Hansen and (Ol') Nick Smith joined Hank Sherman & King Diamond in their new band Mercyful Fate.The rest is history... 

2) Much more detail about the Brats vs. Mercyful Fate versions can be found in the massive Mercyful Fate/King Diamond article and interview in Chips & Beer magazine #2.

3) Carsten Van der Volsing - played with Mercyful Fate on their first two demos: March 1981 (where he played bass and guitars), April 1981 and Burning the Cross June 1981 demo). Benny Petersen (of early 80's speedsters, Evil who did a killer EP featuring a great advice tune called "Take Good Care of Your Balls") showed up on demo #3 and "Burning the Cross". We don't hear from 'ol Hank zee Wank again until the first s/t EP in September 1982.

4) Some of Brats (DK) images from: http://www.myspace.com/brats1980/photos

5) Berlin Brats info from line notes to their CD, Believe it or Rot (1973-1976) via Rachet Blade Records.

6) Discogs mixes up the info for the Hollywood Brats & (Danish) Brats on their page for the The Whiplash Tapes comp and links the (Danish) Brats as the artist to "Be A Man".

7) "American" style production/sound was used as a generic catch all for "making a shitty, super-polished record" usually with a with full of bad ideas U.S.-producer: Michael Wagner's work with Motley Crue and Raven. Or when Krokus went from being a pretty good Swiss heavy rock/metal act (on Headhunter) to doing naff tunes exactly like every fluff rocker on the Strip.

8) Metal bands named Brat in it's single form also show up in metal-archives. One of which was from Largo, Florida between 1981-84 and sound like a mix between Armored Saint, early Jag Panzer & GWAR! (Well the occasionally the vocalist & the backing chorus reminds me of  them). Check 'em out.  The second Brat were from Philly and were ex-members the even more generic named The End.

9) No, I'm not gonna write about Da Brat. She's not exactly underrated. Same goes for the Lower Class Brats.

For David B.

David (left) with my friend and my parent's friend, Jim

That's Borowy not Bowie

I’m really hating to find out about more and more people I care about either people whose music & art I’ve loved or people I’ve known dying in the last several months. The latter part of this came up this yesterday afternoon – when I got an e-mail from my dad about his friend from way back, David who was found dead in Golden Gate Park on July 8th. The story however, just got into the news via the Bay Area Reporter. http://www.cpanel.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=67894

   

The tragic way he died mentioned in this article was in some ways how he lived but that’s not really the person I knew and and not really the person my family was friends with.

I first met David around age 12 – he was part of the circle of gay guys my dad would go out drinking with in S.F. and in Oakland. Their S.F. haunt was Sutter’s Mill on (Sutter Street in the Financial District not far from where I worked in the mid-2000s). In Oakland they went to the White Horse (at 66th and Telegraph). Funny thing was David’s full name sounded a LOT like David Bowie. So, my sister and I at first joked that our dad was now friends with the Thin White Duke. Turned out that David had a few Bowie records in his collection as did my sister (she had recently saw him play at the Day on the Green) so they instantly connected. 

  Darci, Darci!

David was from Chicago but oddly enough talked with a NYC accent. He worked for many years at an ad agency called Darci. Anytime we would pass a billboard on Highway 80 going on or off the Bay Bridge he could point out and say “Darci!”. Darci also did radio ads – namely the one for Oxy zit pads. Those ads were run a lot on David’s favorite station, KQAK (“The Quake”) which was the “Rock of the 80’s”/new wave spot on the dial.  The other funny thing was he had his own slang or at least used terms I never heard anyone else say. If he hadn't seen or done something in awhile it was "I haven't watched that show in days!" which meant years & years.  Or "I haven't had this ice cream in days!”

He was 24 when I first met him and was balding, which made me think he was more in his mid-30’s. (Then again I thought that 24 was “hella old” then). From 1982-84 he was a close friend of my dad’s and eventually got to know my mom pretty well.  Eventually he met my uncle, aunt, cousins and even my crazy grandma (Oy!).  He was there for both my sister and I’s high school graduations, and he was there when my sister married her first husband.

                                               

Familiar Values not "Family Values"

During those years that David and my dad were good friends -  my Dad was part of an organization in the Bay Area called Gay Fathers which was just that - a gay fellers support group who were dealing with issues of divorce, family, and life in general. While this sounds very normal nowadays - in the shadow of the iron fist(s) of Reagan and the religious right it was all too necessary. This group was VERY needed for kids like my sister & I. The group would meet on Sunday nights in various churches. You gotta love that about S.F. – even in the era of thickheaded televampires like Jerry Faldwell  - these churches had no issues with gay organizations. 

Another thing about the Father’s group meetings was how truly nice everyone was, how many friends and acquaintances my dad had there. (Also, the tons of food was nice). Additionally the meetings had a group for the real young kids (ages 0-12) and the 12 & up group which my sister & I were in. These youth groups were where we made several friends. Namely, my friend Zack who I played video games with (at Oakland’s “Gametown USA”) and watched a lot of football with. Whereas, my sister was friends with an older, late high school aged guy named Aaron, who had a bad-ass record collection and also friends with some nice girls from Foster City – one who was a year younger than me & the other was a year older than my sister.  All of us kids participated in the Gay Freedom Day Parade (now the GLBT Pride Parade) but I had to keep it a secret 'cause I didn't want anyone to know I was in any way associated "with a bunch of faggots!" as the braintrust of Pleasanton would often say. 

    Heavy Discussions

The youth group meetings were run by a 40-something former New Yorker named Marty. There were some heavy issues discussed in the group. The main topic was “have you told any of your friends about your dad?” I let everyone else go before me. I believe my sister said she was able to tell a few friends and they were OK with it. I think in part her friends having a positive reaction was due to her being part of the New Wave and Punk scenes. The fact that those scenes were OK with everyone from Bowie to Marc Almond of Soft Cell to Gary Floyd of The Dicks* was impressive. However, in my closed minded group of rocker dudes, I may as well have been in the Joe McCarthy-era and said my dad’s a friggin’ commie. This was still the time when I was getting in a lot of fights and I didn’t wanna give those shitbags at school another reason to taunt me. Sure this is now ironic ‘cause these dillrods loved Motley Crue, Judas Priest, and Aerosmith. But long story short, I had to live a “double-life” when it came to my dad’s post-divorce relations.

Anyway, David was friends with several people in the father’s group and hung out and partied with a few of them. Along with my dad (and my uncle’s) friend from way back in high school – Cliff. Now, David was more on the for lack of a better term, “femme” whereas Cliff was pretty “butch”. For some silly reason I had a hard time thinking people like Cliff were actually gay. I think TV and movie stereotypes really wrecked my brain. But moreso it didn’t help that I played baseball on my street with this older kid named Jimmy that would get mad and shout “arrgh, you faggot!” anytime I’d get a good hit. Or equally dumb, he would make a limp wrist gesture and say “Miracle on Polk Street!”  when one of us would hit a homer. (“Jeez, if they’re really ‘in the know’ how come they don’t say ‘Miracle on Castro Street?!” I would say in my head). Though, overall my dad had friends that were a wide spectrum of personalities and so on. Among the many progressions that GLBT Rights movement has made, I have to say I’m VERY glad the “limp wrist = queer = wrong” nonsense has gone the way of Ollie North’s career.  ("Who"? Exactly!)

A Yellow House in Alameda 

David also liked weed a lot and bought some of the last batch of primo stuff that my uncle was growing on his property in the Sierra Foothills (the stalks got nearly 5 ft high!). When my uncle stopped growing “the hoon” (as he called it), David grew his own. From his Alameda house you could see the pointy leaves not-so-slyly shadowed by an overlapping fern. 

David’s place was a neat little yellow stone, 1 bedroom cottage in Alameda – on (or near?) Lincoln – which was a short trip from my Dad’s place on Broadway Terrace in Oakland. I really liked the drive over since we went through the futuristic looking Posey Tunnel which often went well with the synth-based tunes on KQAK. He also lived near a market called Ralph’s (not the L.A. one) where I’d got on errands buying bananas and milk for him (presumably while he made either phone calls to guys he wanted to connect with or something else more “adult” or clandestine? Other times when he was hanging out at my dad's place he wanted me to go down to "'da Oriental rug place and lemme know 'da price of the Persians" I had little clue what he meant - so I just stuck to running food errands for him. For these Alameda-based errands, it's usually get $5 (which usually went into my candy/soda/rock n' roll tape budget). 


I spent several Saturday afternoons at David’s eating food (lots of Sara Lee cakes and sandwiches), listening to Grace Jones and Kraftwerk records.  I wasn’t much into Ms. Jones' and Kraftwerk was then a "too weird" - those were some of his fave artists and hell, at least it wasn’t Quiet Riot!  As for the Sara Lee cakes he bought at least 3 of every few days yet he seemed to eat these in moderation and never got fat off of them. Plus, I did a lot of reading (comics, zines and the occasional E.A. Poe or fantasy novel). I also remember a simple, albeit pretty sleazy looking print he had up in the living room that was simply titled “Wet”. However, it was much more suggestive and wasn’t exactly pornographic. This was mixed in with in with several Patrick Nagel prints and a really neat poster he got when visiting his mom in Tucson that featured all the hot peppers of the Southwest. 

The summer of ’83 we went to the beach few times. The first trip was the Father’s group’s summer party thingy on Stinson Beach in Marin County. I hadn’t ventured out that part of the Bay before (unless I was on a road trip as a wee lad). On the drive over – David asked me some basic questions – if there were any girls I liked at school – I said “yes, but I’m too shy to ever really talk to them”. Just the fact that I had someone else that I could talk to about these things made me feel comfortable. Plus, we talked about some of the b.s. I was dealing with in school – being bullied and feeling out of place, etc. David also told me if I ever get offered weed to “just try it”. I told him, “I dunno – it might mess me up”. He said – “if you just do a little off a joint it won’t kill you”. (Granted, I tried it a year later and got into it for the following 2 years. But I eventually just, uh, “burned out” on it). This was’nt long after the kids in the Father's group were talking discussing drug experiences: mushrooms, acid and speed - so the talk about drugs and use of drugs was becoming more common among people I knew. 

June '83 at the Gay Freedom Day Parade with David, my sister and my dad. Zack (left) and I are on (plastic) horns

Strangeness 

Sometime around ’85 my dad wasn’t talking to or seeing much of David – apparently he had been hanging out with strange men in strange situations. Since A.I.D.S. was really big in the news then my dad and his friends got tested. Luckily none of them came up positive. However, David refused to get tested. Prior to that it seemed like he was just with various guys that were “just a little weird”. His refusal to get test was really scary – especially knowing that In the around ’87 (when I was 17) asking my dad “hey, what happened to_____” from the Father’s group? 9 times out of 10 the answer was “he died of A.I.D.S.” Meanwhile, I was feeling uncomfortable hearing A.I.D.S. jokes from comedians (i.e. Sam Kinison) and metal bands (i.e. - Metallica's “Master of Puppets” liner notes and the song “Anally Infected Death Sentence” from knuckledragging thrash act, M.O.D.).

Also, around this time, David getting into what my dad called “nose candy”. While I had heard about drugs in the gay scene such as weed and amyl nitrate (or as I heard them called “poppers” which sounded like something they’d get out of a vending machine at Lucky’s). But I never heard much about anyone getting into coke until then. I associated it with warmed over hippie-era bores like Jefferson Starship and closer to home - one of my former BMX racer friends who I knew around the time I met David. I saw him a few more times around age 15 when I suppose he had been bouncing back & forth with drug issues. Though, he seemed OK a few years later when I was 16 and didn’t show signs of an addict but my dad and his friends were more privy to these adult matters.

Out in the (Northern) California Sun

Going back to the trip to Stinson Beach - when I asked David about how he knew he was gay – he told me this really interesting story about being attracted to seeing the boys in high school in the swimming area. His school had a glass bottom swimming area that was apparently built over one of the hallways. So, he often would go over to the hallways and check out the guys swimming in their Speedos and Hang Ten trunks.

Later that same summer, David, my sister and I took a few trips to the Crown Beach on the Bay side of the Isle of Alameda. The Beach was fun although we more waded in the water than swam. It was here I discovered the strange jellies – not full-on jellyfish that were scattered by the thousands along the shores. When I realized they weren’t poisonous I immediately checked them out and soon enough began throwing them at my sister and David because that’s what dopey 14 year old boys do. 

The Power of Bea Arthur

The following summer of ’84 –  David was over my dad’s place quite a few times. My dad would make cheeseburgers like a beefed up (pun intended) version of our favorite junk food dive in Dublin, CA (Fandango’s). The one time we got to watch TV during dinner was when David was over and we got to watch his favorite shows: The Jeffersons and Maude. Regarding the latter show – he David would say of Bea Arthur “Maude gives great attitude and dishes it out!”

The funny thing was anytime we would watch TV with David, he’d make an “oooh-ooh” sounds anytime some hot guy was on screen. One time particularly he did this while the Atlanta Falcons’ lineman Bill Fralic walked to the ring when we were watching battle royale during Wrestlemania II on Showtime (I was watching for the storylines and I think he was watching it for the oily dudes).

In summary, David was one of those people who come into your life that is simply unforgettable. He was often a very welcoming presence when times were not good. Certainly he lived a very complicated but interesting life and I thank him for being such a good friend to myself and to my family.

ENDNOTES: Contrary to what anti-gay obsessive’s would have you think – every gay guy my sister & I met NEVER did anything weird or creepy to us. Occasionally I’d hear at the Father’s group someone say to my dad “you have really good looking kids” or “your son is gonna look really good when he gets older”. But nothing was ever insinuated and I always felt safe in that environment. Later in life, it was great to be able to talk with these issues with my friends who’ weren’t ANYTHING like those dickweeds by my high school who were always frothing with rage at anything “gay” or “faggy”. Again, even though I did have to live a “double life” whenever I got the question “hey, what’s up with your dad – is he meeting any women?” - I do feel like I gained a lot of experience from people like David and the Father’s Group.

*= Rather good early 80’s punk group from S.F. (via Texas) who’s openly gay singer. I’m pretty sure my sister saw them a few times at The Mab. Vocalist Gary Floyd wrote great classic & sarcastic tunes such as “I Hope You Get Drafted”, “Hate the Police”. In recent years got back together and played gay bars such as The Eagle and have had their early records reissued.

New/newish bands worth your time

1) Demona - Chile via Montreal 'bangers & speed ragers with really great vocals. Admittedly, I rarely discover newer Metal bands that I'm 100% into on YouTube. YET early this spring I stumbled across their name after checking out a bunch of stuff on HeavyMetaller1978's incredible list of clips of HM/NWOBHM rarities. More on point, Demona are led by Tanza on vocals and guitar. Although, I believe she did all the instruments on her earlier releases. She has a really great guitar tone and lead playing that reaches back to a variety of sounds (hell, some "metal through time" acts I've barely even heard! But definitely check out their site for more info on Poltergeist, Wardance [Germany] and the REAL Warrant). Interestingly, Tanza's a second generation metaller as her father Mauricio "Jackie" was in the Vina del Mar thrash acts Distorsion and D.O.D. The latter band released a demo in 1989. Other than Metal-Archives, information seems to be hard to find on this band.

Demona's "The Assassin" - conjures up everything from Iron Angel to early Kreator (in the riffs) to Sentinel Beast to Destruction in the solos. Yet there's something very punk the way Tanza sings - very raw and straight ahead. Yet there's many wild changes that again conjure everything that's great with '85-'86 Speed Metal. I love how she throws in a very Germanic thrash style emphasis on the end of phrases:  "No one knows what's go-ing ONNNN!" Add to this the phonetic parts "Thee Ass-azz-siiin! which makes like an early Metallica slogan of the Young Metal Attack. Lastly they just released their excellent debut LP, Metal Through The Time which you can get from Germany's Heavy Forces Records.

  

2) Acid Evil - One woman possessed Thrashin' Black Metal Attack from Quito, Ecuador. I had been schooled a bit on Ecuadorian Metal via KZSU DJ Your Imaginary's friend visit there a few years ago. On his trip he scored me a CD-R comp of local Metal/Punk/HC bands from the national museum (erg, I forget the name of the comp and it's likely in the dark catacombs of my collection at the mo', but trust me, it's good!). Acid Evil's recording is pretty raw to the point you can hear her changing chords that are in the mix too often (and weirdly sound like a cat sneeze after awhile) down the neck but that adds to the charm. I would be curious how she would sound with a slightly better recording. That aside, "Baphomets Command" is fierce and challenges me enough to seek out more. The second version of this is a lot clearer (yet still quite raw and uncompromising) If you're dismissing this as "just another Destruction rip off" you're brain's er, cracked. At the 2:35 mark she pulls off the always impressive "fast now faster" bit.

Their myspace  features 2 more songs "Toxic Mind" that has yet another Goblin sample along with a great build up in the chorus and a neat mix of repetition and variation in the riffing."Noctrum Polaris" is feels a bit longer and uses a similar formula as "Toxic Mind" but in the chorus does a "1 riff/pull back" approach. Then they layer a bunch more notes immediately after. You can get the (very limited) split tape between Acid Evil and Demona was available on their site but check their Facebook for further updates/availability.

3) Heavy Cross - Not to be confused with the Georgian band of the same name or this Black Metal/Punk band. Anyway, THIS Heavy (as in fuckin' traditional/Heavy Metal) Cross will be soon releasing (on 31st of May)  their debut 7" on Hells Headbangers. The A-side."Street Wolf" is an fantastic, classic FWOSHM styled number that doesn't come off obvious and clunky like say, Priestess or some shit. The flip, "Red Light Woman" is a sleazy (but not stupid)* mix of 70's Alice Cooper, a lost Brats (Denmark) demo and NWOBHM acts like Nightime Flyer.  Sure these riffs/solos have been done before but it's the spirit of the thing that makes it stand out. Dig it: http://hellsheadbangers.bandcamp.com/album/street-wolf

* sleazy (but not stupid) = Venom's "Poison", Mercyful Fate's "Nuns Have No Fun", Nasty Savage's "XXX" and "Dungeon of Pleasure". Sleazy AND stupid = Motley Crue, Posin', Steel Panther

4) Gouge - Yet another upcoming release by Hells Headbanger's. Dirty, filthy Death/Grind with a strong Repulsion/Master/Slaughter (Canada, of course!) influence. Punishing riffs and wild, wailing solos from outta nowhere. Lately, I've not been nutsy about "regressive Death/Grind Metal" but this hits all the right spots and has all the right amount of grit, grime and gnarl. It was hard to find other info on them other than this but go forth or forever pose!  http://hellsheadbangers.bandcamp.com/album/doomed-to-death