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INVICTA - Axeman's Altar CD
Vol.5 from Beyond the Arcane series

INVICTA were my homies from San Jose, California, delivering classic heavy metal with an epic flare. Founded back in 1988, it took them a good decade to release a debut album. During that time they released two demo tapes: We Trust 1992, and The Unconquerable 1994.

Some of you are familiar with some of the songs from those two demos, which were released on vinyl in 2004 on Doomed Planet Records under the name of "We Live For Heavy Metal." Now we will have the entire recordings, this time taken from the original master tapes (14 tracks) plus some extra bonuses for a complete early works anthology.

It is still in the works, so no release date yet. For now you can check the new coverart Yannick Bouchard just finished. If you like bands such as RELLIK or early LORD WEIRD SLOUGH FEG, you may want to keep following this.

Stormspell wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2023 3:18 am
Regarding INVICTA, it will be remastered from the DAT tapes, so it should sound as best as possible. Vernon told me the LPs were made from a lesser source (not sure why), so for once I'll have the confidence to say the CD would be superior to the wax.

That is a very good question to ask Vern. Because the first source he provided me was a unplayable cd-r. Then he had to borrow the tapes from his father since he told me nothing else existed. So the fact all these years he can provide DAT's, well that is 100% news to me. I'm not complaining, it is what it is.

Will this release be including the 3 track 1990 "Food For Thought" demo? I got that in 1991 when I saw them for the first time. I forget where at the moment but probably at a bill of mostly local bands at One Step Beyond, but possibly elsewhere.

doomedplanet wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2023 4:59 pm That is a very good question to ask Vern. Because the first source he provided me was a unplayable cd-r. Then he had to borrow the tapes from his father since he told me nothing else existed. So the fact all these years he can provide DAT's, well that is 100% news to me. I'm not complaining, it is what it is.

Will this release be including the 3 track 1990 "Food For Thought" demo? I got that in 1991 when I saw them for the first time. I forget where at the moment but probably at a bill of mostly local bands at One Step Beyond, but possibly elsewhere.

Apparently the DAT tapes were found at some point. So far I have been given "We Trust" 10-track demo 1992, 5 tracks from a session that was recorded shorly after "The Unconquerable," and I'm waiting on Vernon to transfer "the Unconquerable" DAT tape which apparently was unearthed last and has not been bounced down yet. My DAT machine is a portable one and does not have digital/optical output, and he wants a direct digital transfer. So I'm waiting on that.

So all in all, there are 19 tracks, which go over 80 minutes, so few may be left to be used as bonuses on potential 1998 album re-release. We'll see.

Vernon did mention that there were recordings prior to "We Trust" but apparently there arent good sources for those. I'll ask.

Invicta @ Invicta-thread for tidyness/aDmiN

Soooo many decades-old demo-reissue releases in the collection that for some reason seldom gets a replay. How come...?

Really glad I put on Rob's Invicta LP because this band is Ace. Heavy & aggressive yet really catchy US Steel that doesn't deserve to be buried in oblivion. Looking forward to hear these newly unearthed recordings!

Stormspell wrote: ↑Sat Jul 15, 2023 11:14 am
Apparently the DAT tapes were found at some point. So far I have been given "We Trust" 10-track demo 1992, 5 tracks from a session that was recorded shorly after "The Unconquerable," and I'm waiting on Vernon to transfer "the Unconquerable" DAT tape which apparently was unearthed last and has not been bounced down yet. My DAT machine is a portable one and does not have digital/optical output, and he wants a direct digital transfer. So I'm waiting on that.

Vernon did mention that there were recordings prior to "We Trust" but apparently there arent good sources for those. I'll ask.

You've got PM.

Concerning DAT, I have an old studio deck, it does not have an optical out but it does have S/PDIF out. I have not messed with that lately but fairly sure with my setup I can capture S/PDIF in.

DaN wrote: ↑Sat Jul 15, 2023 9:48 pm Invicta @ Invicta-thread for tidyness/aDmiN

Soooo many decades-old demo-reissue releases in the collection that for some reason seldom gets a replay. How come...?

Really glad I put on Rob's Invicta LP because this band is Ace. Heavy & aggressive yet really catchy US Steel that doesn't deserve to be buried in oblivion. Looking forward to hear these newly unearthed recordings!

Glad you like it. I chose what I considered the best songs available to me (from their material pre-1998 S/T cd) to fit on the ~40 time constraint of an lp.

Their 2 cd only albums are also pretty good, though Invicta has always been a metal band that mixes great heavy metal done the olde way and also some hardrockin' party tunes. If you ever saw these guys in their element (which pretty much only happened if you could find the local bar they played often in San Jose back in the day) you would understand why this makes perfect sense.

I have been a fan of theirs since that day I saw them and bought the 1990 Demo. Feels like a lifetime ago.

What Rob said: even the early demos have some hardrocking party tunes thrown in, Still worth a complete anthology for the die-hard fans, I hope.

Vern's new band is actually more consisntent, albeit I'm yet to hear a complete song with vocals. But from the instrumentals I've heard, it is quite decent oldschool heavy/power metal, with some doom influences.