Bent Peg "Vuja De: That Incredible Sense of Never Having Been There Before" - 1996 CD

The ever quirky Bent Peg were a huge part of the local music scene in the Cortland / Ithaca area in the mid-90's. Hard to quite describe their sound, bits of Faith No More and maybe The Offspring, Punk, Rock, Oddness. Super energetic live. After a few demos, they went into Penguin Studios in Syracuse and recorded this masterpiece. They had it mastered at Pyramid Sound Studios by Alex Perialis and Jason Arnold, and it still sounds great almost 20 years later. I do have some, if not all, of the demos, which I will get up sooner or later, as well as some live videos. Matt Barnes, the frontman of the band, is currently in Genitor, as well as a host of other bands. 

Download the CD and Artwork

Pigmaster and Windbreed Live at Vertex, Rochester - April 12, 1995

So, in connection with the previous post of Lethargy's video, here are the other two bands that played that night. First Windbreed, from Rochester, NY, featuring Chris Dalcin, who has been in a ton of bands, including ...And Here I Lie, Fledgling Death, Burnt Church, and Elusive Travel.Go Here to download the video from Vimeo.


Second up, also from Rochester, is Pigmaster. This was their first show. I don't know what any of the members are doing now, but feel free to leave comments if you have some info...Go HERE to download the video from Vimeo,

Groovy Seeds - 1993 Demo

I don't think Groovy Seeds lasted very long. I could be wrong about that, but it seems like they weren't together more than a few years at most. The vocalist, Ted Kelly, and drummer, Bob Gaylo, were both in Saint Chaos, whose demo is posted here back a couple months. The sound is similar, but with more of a Groove to it. Go figure. I don't know a lot about this band, really. They were based in Auburn, NY, and this is a pretty damned good demo. And their little mascot was neat looking, not that you can see it well in this scan, but it's one of those twirling seeds that spin down from a certain tree, giving the thumbs up...

Download: Groovy Seeds - 1993 Demo

Twilight Kingdom "The Guardian" - 1995 Demo

The first time I heard this, I was blown away. The fact that this was basically a new band, and this was their first recording... Wow. This holds it's ground with most progressive Metal bands. You can hear elements of Dream Theater throughout, a touch of Fates Warning here and there, but at no point do they sound like either band. Heavy and melodic at the same time, Twilight Kingdom may very well be the best Progressive Metal band from Central New York, ever. And you can download this remastered version of their 1995 Demo and hear that for yourself.

A powerful opening track, March of the Guardian, couple of long, powerful songs, Shadow Troops and Awakening, following, and an almost New Age flavored instrumental, Winter Dreams, ends off the first side. The second side begins with an awesome song, Forever Sacred, inspired by the movie Thunderheart, another New Age-ish piece, Living on Borrowed Time, and then the Epic Angel to No One. Finally, tagged onto the end is The Ticket. A silly little song.

I also included their post Guardian demo tracks, bands members switched around a bit, but Chris Bedell and Thomas Rice were always the foundation of the band. They later signed to a small prog label, Siegen Records, who managed to destroy their recordings and relase something with possibly the worst production ever. The songs were great, but it almost seemed like the label and studio were sabotaging them for some reason. The resulting CD is FAR inferior to these recordings. The post Guardian tracks include all the songs from their 1997 Demo, which include Bell, Adze, Angel to No One rerecorded, Saviour, and Escape. And finally, Chris and Thomas recorded a couple of songs under the name Ex Nihilo, first as Twilight Kingdom, and then as a side project. Two of those tracks are on here, Ex Nihilo and Bleeding Son's Admonition. Unlike Twilight Kingdom, these tracks are ambient and gothic.

Twilight Kingdom broke up after Adze. They never played a show live, Chris being the drummer and vocalist had trouble pulling both off live. The band minus Chris went on to form Full Circle, who released one CD, Matter of Time. In the vein of Twilight Kingdom, but not quite as dynamic. That also has broken up. Meanwhile, Chris and longtime friend Pat Ward formed Lotus Project, which was more of a brutal, yet still progressive, type of band. They did perform live, with Chris doing both the drums and vocals. Currently, they are on hiatus, and a studio band. I may be adding their demo to this eventually at Chris' request. Chris and Pat are currently in the band Castle Bravo, more Hard Rock / Alternative than anything they have done before, but still an exceptional band. AND, Chris, Thomas, and Steve from TK, are working on yet another project, this time with Pat from Lotus Project and Castle Bravo, and Shane, who drummed for Full Circle. This project is called Death of Centuries.

Bascially, what you have is an amazing amount of musical talent, and it all tracks back to The Guardian.

Download: Twilight Kingdom "The Guardian"

Jealous Bitch - FourPlay (2002)

This band came from Auburn, NY. Basically it was a 2 piece, with guest vocalist. Paris and Tilly Hanson did all the song writing and such, and came up with 3 pretty awesome songs, and one, ok, song. Cody, Just a Touch Away, and Too Good to Sacrifice are all awesome, old school Metal songs. Bordering on Power Metal. Smile, is kind of a ballad. It's not bad, but pales in comparison to the other songs. Unfortunately, they were never able to put together a full band, and just kind of gave up. This was recorded at Loft Audio Recording in Lansing, NY, and I mastered it just a bit in 2009.

Download: Jealous Bitch "FourPlay"

Evil Twin - The Silence Soiled

There is no good way to classify the music that Evil Twin made. They were from the Binghamton, NY, area back around 1995. We had them up to the radio show a whole of once, and I don't think I ever got to see them live. This demo I really love. I like stuff like this, catchy, and strikingly original. Karen Mittelstadt provides some interesting vocals, far deeper than usual for most female vocalists, as well as playing cello on all the songs. Burt Mueller provides the guitars and programming, and the guitars are secondary to the cello in a lot of cases. Finally, Generic Mike covers the drums and synths. Overall, you have something strange and unique. They changed their name near the end to Vitriola, and then shortly later broke up. What you have in this download is their only demo that I am aware of. Quite well recorded, all it needed was a little cleaning and mastering. Also included was a song called Down, which they recorded right after the demo was released. And finally, the last 5 songs are from their incarnation as Vitriola, all released on two compilation CD's. Enjoy.

Download: Evil Twin "The Silence Soiled"

Saint Chaos - Total Chaos - 1991 Demos

Myself and Joe at The Metallic Onslaught get asked for copies of these I think more than any other demo band from the Upstate New York area. So I went and grabbed the three tapes I have and cleaned and mastered them into this compilation. The majority of these songs were recorded in the latter half of 1991, with a couple from the very beginning of 1992. They did well in this area for quite a while, opening for various national acts and winning various area awards. No idea why they broke up, but the vocalist, Justin Sane, went on to sing for various bands in the area (Groovy Seeds, MT Web), none of which achieved the local notoriety that Saint Chaos did. Last I knew he was still doing various musical projects. Guitarist John Farley went on to join Rochester based Diamond Tyr causing their name change to ONE. He remained with them when Andre left the band (to join Dope and become Virus), and ONE became Bully and moved to NYC. For the life of me, I can't remember what the other two members of the band, Steve Blaisdell and Bob Gaylo, did after this. Anyway, these recordings are not of the highest quality, but I managed to make them quite listenable and enjoyable considering the source materials. For those who no nothing of this band, they were a Power Metal band, with some damned catchy songs. The opener, Nothing is Forever, is by far the best song they ever had. Other standouts are Die for You, Godsong, Pressure, and Hellfire.

Download: Saint Chaos "Total Chaos"

Scarlet Bride - 1987 Demo

So I forgot this ever existed. These guys were from Atlanta, GA. I have no real information about them or whether they did anything after this. However, I do remember hearing this on a radio show called The Rock Shop back in the 80's which was out of Seneca Falls. Well, not so much remember, but a couple of the songs are familiar and I assume that is where I heard them. So basically you have 5 songs, pure Metal. "Hideaway" and "Play to Win" are the standouts here. Extremely catchy and powerful songs. The other three are ok, but nothing as remarkable. Download and hear for yourself. I mastered this so it sounds a bit louder and fuller than the original tape. Enjoy, and if you know anything about this band, please feel free to contribute information...

Download: Scarlet Bride - 1987 Demo