Thursday, June 18, 2026

RECOMMENDED LISTENING: WITCH "THE HEX IS ON" [EP] (1984)

The band were infamous in the early sleaze/glam scene of L.A. The band concentrated much effort into their stage shows, which included excessive use of pyrotechnics. They were regarded as leading lights of the glam scene, along with bands such as Motley Crue and W.A.S.P. The band played their very first show as Witch on June 11, 1983 at The Woodstock in Anaheim, CA.

The band broke up in early 1989. They reformed for one show on November 1st, 1991.

Founding member Punky Peru was married to Tommy Lee's sister, Athena Bass, and they divorced in 1986. She had Punky arrested for domestic abuse, and he served six months in the Orange County Jail in 1987. Before going to jail he met and moved in with Lita Ford, and he co-wrote the song "Fatal Passion" on Ford's platinum-selling "Lita" album. Lita Ford would also jam with the band on stage occasionally during this period. David Ezrin Is son of famed producer Bob Ezrin.


Label: O.T.T. Records (US) / Axe Killer Records (Europe)
Year: 1984

TRACKLIST
Side A:
Damnation
Bewitched
Cinderella (In Black Leather)
Side B:
Nervous Wreck
Wet & Wild

Please report dead links!

Wednesday, June 17, 2026

FATES WARNING (AMPLIFIED ASSAULT #2, 1988)


 

ANAL VOMIT (PER) (AQUELLARE #5, 1998) < TRANSLATED TO ENGLISH

Aquellare was a metal magazine from Peru written in Spanish. Here's an interview translated to English for you.

Anal Vomit

Despite constant lineup changes, ANAL VOMIT has managed to remain active. After releasing their third demo, "Into The Eternal Agony," they recorded a split CD with two other bands on an Argentinian label. They are now a five-piece band, as after the addition of Roy (guitar) and Manfred (vocals), Milo (bass) and Omar (guitar) have joined, and together with Toñin (drums), they will be one of the most representative bands on the current scene.

Aq: Now that you have five members, what are the new songs and the new production like?

Toñin: Two weeks ago, our new guitarist, Omar Suarez, joined. Together with Milo (who also recently joined), we are now complete and ready to continue creating our music.

Roy: Our new production will be a split CD with the Argentinian band Camarium. They play doom, black, and gothic metal. This should be released around January 1999 at Hurling Metal in Argentina. The songs are: Escaping, Into the Eternal Agony, Slaved Minds, Ripping Corpses (new version), Rotten Vomit (new version), Kingdom of the Cruelty, Temple of the Sacrifice.

Aq: From what I see, there are new versions of songs from the previous demos. These have changed a lot, for example, in "Rotten Vomit"?

Toñin: They're completely different; these are longer.

Roy: "Rotten Vomit" sounds different; this one lasts about 5 minutes. It's more technical and faster.

Aq: How's the new guitarist? Are you much better now?

Roy: There's more emphasis on the guitars. Omar and I will be the lead guitarists. Omar is basically a heavy metal guitarist, but this makes us better.

Manfred: We're more professional.

Aq: Always with the same style? 

Toñin: Always death metal, with various metal parts.

Aq: Will the songs always be in English?

Manfred: Yes, but I think live it could be a song in Spanish. Aq: Are you satisfied with "Into The Eternal Agony"? How has it been received?

Toñin: This one was really created quickly; it should have had more tracks. "Into The Eternal Agony" was very well received. Roy: Better mastered and longer.

Aq: Is it because of a lack of tracks that you included a cover of HADEZ's "Avern's Goddess"?

Toñin: The thing is, this song is a death metal anthem, and HADEZ was just reinventing themselves when we released it.

Aq: What do you show the most in concert?

Toñin: We want to show that we're healthy. Musically and visually. We also want better sound.

Roy: We play very professionally, but the sound sometimes doesn't help us.

Aq: Isn't it the sound the same for all groups? 

Toñin: I publicly accuse everyone who organizes concerts: XTREME audio & professional sound sabotages new groups; there's a kind of clique. If XTREME continues like this with the new groups, the scene will never improve. They don't support bands like: Agresion Extrema, Impalement, Black Angel, Hadez, Hecofraga, and other new bands like the group PACIFICO used to.

Milo: I'm not interested in playing at those kinds of concerts when that kind of clique exists. I don't care where I play.

Manfred: It's not because they're my friends, but XTREME isn't going to take on a concert where the groups don't know them; they're not going to invest to lose money.

Aq: But at least they compensate for this by giving them a certain amount of money for the group's expenses. 

Toñin: At this last concert we played, they didn't give us anything. 

Roy: What happens is that they don't realize that the group sometimes has setbacks, expenses, and we need to travel to play.

Toñin: But we would play for 100 soles. From now on, we're not going to play at any concert that doesn't meet our requirements, besides, these aren't very excessive.

Aq: Speaking of another topic, Omar, what musical experiences do you have? How did you join ANAL VOMITT? 

Omar: I played in the group Marve. Two weeks ago, I joined Anal Vomit. Roy and Toñin suggested it to me while we were drunk. Basically, I'm a heavy metal guitarist, but I like to explore new styles.

Aq: What are the lyrics based on, or what will they continue to be based on? 

Manfred: Existential themes,

Toñin and Roy: Pagan stories, sexual degeneration, lust and temptation, and also the bad side of everyone

Aq: Do you think you've reached a high level now, and what are your hopes for the future?

Manfred: I think we need to play more, be more consistent.

Roy: Play more concerts and create new songs, wait for the release of the special CD to continue promoting the band so people get to know the new Anal Vomit.

Toñin: We still have more to do, now it's another stage, there are 3 different stages and 3 different demos.

Aq: So the line-up is stable now?

Milo: From May '98 onwards, the group is different, I think it finds its group stability.

Roy: I think they're problems like any group, but trying to excel with our own possibilities.

Aq: To finish, any message you'd like to say?

Toñin: Greetings to all the headbangers at Aquelarre Magazine, have orgies and get drunk.

Milo: Keep supporting the bands and the scene. Greetings to the people who know me.

Roy: Look forward to our new work which will be released soon and I hope your magazine continues to support the band. And to everyone: do what you want.

Write to:
Antonio Amador Laiz Jirón
Pachitea 286 Lima 1 Peru

For concerts:
Tel: 4810602 (Milo).

SURRENDER OF DIVINITY (THA)


BLACK SABBATH

With Dave Spitz, Geoff Nicholls and Glenn Hughes. Glenn was a member between 1985-1986, but only did 5 concerts before he was out!



DEATH (US) (METAL HAMMER VOL.3 #22, 1988)


Tuesday, June 16, 2026

DONNERBLITZ (SWE)

Heavy Metal band from Östersund, Sweden. They were active between 1980-1986. Formed in 1980 by Tomas Karlsson. After seeing Donnerblitz perform the song "Crazy World" live on August 7th, 1982, Christer Åsell and Mats Karlsson were inspired to write the song "Sauron", which would later appear on the first 220 Volt single (with artwork done by Tomas Karlsson). Christer Åsell would later join Donnerblitz as the lead singer, in April of 1983. He would appear on 2 demo tapes (1984 and 1985).

Down below you can listen to their demo tapes!


Radio FM (1982)
This is a live recording from Swedish Radio.
1. I'm Dying 03:12  
2. Super Fluoss 04:19  
3. Move Your Ass 04:27  
4. I'm on the Road Again 03:18  
5. Crazy World 04:37  
6. It's Easy to Dream 04:19  
7. I Got the Key to the Key 04:50   


Demo 1984 [TAPE] (1984) 
1. Fight to Live 04:07  
2. The King 05:31  
3. Paris Rocker 04:54  
4. Get Away 06:40   


Demo 1985 [TAPE] (1985) 
1. Nuclear War 03:47  
2. Triple Man 04:17  
3. Bring Out the Dead 03:06  
4. Nightlife 03:26  
5. Lady of Love 03:43  
6. Devil's Angels 04:23  
7. Makin' Love 03:45  
8. Beast of Evil 04:33     



PATREON MEMBERS
As a support Patreon member you can download these 3
tapes as mp3 files, by clicking the logo down below.

M.O.D. (AMPLIFIED ASSAULT #2, 1988)


 

FIMBUL (NOR)


 

METAL BLADE RECORDS AD (1984)


 

POSSESSED


 

BLACK COFFEE (CHORNY KOFE/ЧЁРНЫЙ КОФЕ)


 

Monday, June 15, 2026

LE BARON BOYS (AKA EUROPE)

During this 1989–1990 period, Europe recorded demo tracks (such as "Rainbow Warrior" and "Sweet Love Child"). Because these sessions were never officially released by their record label at the time, bootleg recordings of these demos began heavily circulating among fans—and the unreleased sessions have been known in the fandom as the Le Baron Boys demos ever since.

The story behind "Le Baron Boys" dates back to September 1989, when Europe played a secret, unannounced gig at the famous Whisky a Go Go club in West Hollywood, California. Because the band was in the Los Angeles area writing and demoing material for their upcoming album Prisoners in Paradise, the Chrysler Corporation sponsored them by providing Chrysler LeBaron cars. To keep the L.A. show a secret and avoid their massive arena-band crowds, they adopted the pseudonym.

/ The source for this music and most of the text comes from the number #1 YouTube channel for Europe fans, SteinVidarEUROPE

TRACKLIST
Bad Blood
Blame It on Me
Break Free
Don't Know How to Love No More
Here Comes the Night
Homeland
Little Bit of Lovin'
Long Time Coming
Rainbow Warrior
Seventh Sign
Stranded
Sweet Love Child
Talk to Me
Wanted Man
Wild Child
Yesterday's News



As written in "Set The Prisoners Free!" by Anders Tegner from OKEJ - No.19, 1991 and later translated to English by Stein-Vidar:

"... The "thinking" powers of the American record company suddenly thought it missed hit songs, something they obviously couldn't decide upon after listening through the extremely well recorded demo tapes that they had available for a long time, which the choice of songs for the album had been based on. The release was cancelled and Joey went back to writing songs, both on his own and together with Eric Martin from Mr.Big and Jim Vallance, known from Aerosmith and Scorpions circles. During the time most people involved with Europe were uncertain. Now no one knew when the album would come, when the marketing could start or the tours could be started.


We, who at an early stage had heard both the demo tapes and the finished album, asked ourselves. What was so wrong? Europe had made a great album! And sure it had singles. Still, new songs were brought forward, and just in time for the earlier release date, Europe went back to the studio to record four new songs and remix the rest. Here they encountered a new dilemma. Suddenly they had too many songs, so the next problem was picking out the songs that would finally go on the LP. In the beginning the result was approved. Four songs from the original album had to go, among others highlights like "Sweet Love Child", a fantastic ballad, "Here Comes the Night" and "Mr. Government Man". But the best ones were still left: "Yesterday's News" - one of the most impressive compositions Europe ever recorded, "Break Free" and "Girl from Lebanon". Advance tapes were made, the title was decided to be "Prisoners in Paradise", named after the best of the newly recorded songs, and finally everything seemed to be ready.


... Then the bomb hit! The American record company made yet another decision that should be rewarded with whipping, if not strangling! With the explanation that the album would be too long (barely an hour, not at all unusual in these CD days), both "Yesterday's News" and "Break Free" were quite simply removed from the international version. "Yesterday's News" is only left on the Japanese edition... "Yesterday's News", now a well-known title that I have mentioned as the best Europe has ever done in earlier articles, has already made good PR for the band. It was played during the concert at the Milton Keynes festival in 1989 and made the big rock magazines "Kerrang!" and "Raw" for the first time appraise Europe as a serious rock band, not pretty boys with synth fanfares. The bootleg tape with the song from Milton Keynes made it all the way to Japan, where the editor of Japan's biggest rock magazine "Burrn!" put it up on his "Best right now" list. An indication, if anything, but it was obviously only enough to let Japan get the masterpiece. "Break Free", on the other hand, was the only fast song among EUROPE's new material..."


Some songs have high quality audio because they were actually recorded in the studio. Others are taken from demo sessions.

EUROPE DURING THEIR 1986 TOUR


METALLICA AT MONSTER OF ROCK, TAMPA STADIUM (JUNE 5, 1988)


 

OPERA IX (ITA) (FOR YOUR SOUL #3, 1995)


 

MERCYFUL FATE AT THE HEAVY SOUND FESTIVAL (1984)


 

NOCTURNUS (US)


 

MAX PANIC (US) (HEAVY METAL DEMOLITION #34, 1990)