Z-Axis - Equations of Dementia (demo 1990)
Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2015 5:21 pm
This is a demo from 1990 about which I've not been able to find any information. I've had this literally since the moment it came out, though, and I finally got around to digitizing the music and scanning the cover for the benefit of The Internet, and of course, this seems like the place to post it!
Back in 1990, like most good Americans, I spent a fair amount of my leisure time at the mall, often in the company of my bandmate from our shitty high school thrash band. In late 1990, a couple dudes showed up at the mall running a kiosk to sell big styrofoam toy airplanes. One of the guys (at least - it's a little hard to remember the details) had long hair, as did my friend and I, so of course, we got to talking about music. The two guys were the drummer and singer in a band from somewhere in the midwest. I want to say it was Michigan or possibly Wisconsin, but new information leads me to believe it may have been Iowa. They said they just recorded their first demo, but when I asked for a copy, they said the tapes were still being manufactured. Before they went back home, their pockets no doubt stuffed with all the cash they made selling styrofoam planes, they got their copies of the demo and I dutifully purchased one. It's... okay. Kinda on the fine line between glam and proper metal. Think early Leatherwolf or Fifth Angel, only not as good. The singer is solid, and the recording is good, but the songs are a little dull. Not bad, though.
Last night, while I was digitizing the tape, I decided to put a little more effort into learning about the band, but my Google-fu mostly came up short. There's not a lot of info on the cassette itself (not even a full list of the band members, let alone an address) but the two songwriters are listed (not the drummer or singer, which I only know because those guys autographed the inside of the j-card when I bought it, and neither name matches) along with the studio and engineers. The studio is listed as SR Audio Productions, and the engineers are Dave Albert and Mike Lawyer. I eventually learned that the studio's full name was SR Audio & Cinemedia,in Indianola Iowa, and that Mike Lawyer was the owner. From this thread:
http://cyclonefanatic.com/forum/archive ... 73369.html
I learned that Lawyer died in 2003, but also that he produced Slipknot's demo/debut Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat. I haven't made any further effort to track down any band members, but here's what I know:
Rick Wood (guitar or bass, I presume - listed as a songwriter)
Dave Watson (bass or guitar - also listed as a songwriter)
Jeffrey Lee [Suplee?] (I'm guessing a bit on Suplee, based on his signature. Probably drums, because he drew a snare under his name)
Brian [?] (vocals)
So that's it. If anyone by chance knows anything about these guys, then by all means share it! In the meantime, check out the demo!
http://mattjohnsen.com/Corroseum/Z-Axis.zip
I'm going through my cassette archives (which are moderately vast) and digitizing the interesting stuff, so look for more posts like this. Up next, some band called Mace from MA, whose self-titled two track cassette released in 1992 is good Queensryche worship. They're also not on Metal Archives, although the cover of this demo is erroneously assigned to the demo by the WA Mace, who were on Metal Massacre V.