I am going to dedicate this topic to the obscure, forgotten gems of 80's style traditional heavy, speed or power metal. Anybody who wishes to discuss it are welcome to discuss it here. What this topic is for is introducing other people to the gems of these genres that they should own but probably haven't heard about. Samples are much appreciated, since simple namedropping will probably NOT make a lot of people check out the bands you mentioned. If there are no samples on youtube, or anywhere else, at least include some sort of description of the sound.

To start the thread, I am going to showcase some of my personal favourites. Some of these might be quite famous in their home countries, but they are practically unheard of outside of them.

The first band I am going to showcase is one of my peronal favourites: Aria from Russia.



This is really some excellent fucking heavy metal, sung in their mother toungue. People have called them a "Russian Iron Maiden" and some such, and to a certain extent this might apply, but it's not completely true either, since they have a very unique sound. IMO especially the debut album is excellent. I have also been told that the debut (Megalomania) was in fact the first metal album released in the Soviet Union, but since I have little knowledge of the early Russian underground scene, I cannot really comment on the authenticity of this statement. I know it predates Kruiz' metal releases (also fucking excellent speed metal) and Korrozia Metalla's releases (band used to be good thrash, but sucks now). Read reviews and listen to Aria:

http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=272
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U49yIOkFOlA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBeOx9VPjf4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZGpiOI-Siw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YdxEwNRawE

The second band I am going to showcase is Mindless Sinner from my own home country, Sweden.



This is some excellent rocking heavy metal part of what is sometimes referred to as the first wave of Swedish heavy metal (lots of great bands to be found, like Heavy Load, Axewitch, Hiroshima and so on). Really great riffs in a quite melodic but still riff driven 80's heavy metal style. Listen and read reviews:

http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=23990
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-OHTFzVwOw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCCDsqPWcto

The next band would be something that apparently a lot of South Americans have heard of, being the original band of a certain Paul Gillman (later in the band/solo project Gillman), being Arkangel from Venezuela.



This is a really good heavy metal band. MA labels them as Speed/Power, which is something I do not really understand, since to me, it is straight up heavy metal. It sounds a bit like Riot from the States sometimes, and there's a lot of Priest in there, but they also have this special vibe that's a bit hard to describe. Lyrics are in Spanish, but when it's this good, it doesn't matter if you can't understand a word they are saying. MA page (only one review for one album) and youtube links:

http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=2003
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaqUq1tKadg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EBGfbYEXqM

And finally in this opening post, I am going to showcase a speed metal band from Canada, being Assault from Vancouver.



This band which released only one album of completely awesome speed metal packed with great riffs might be somewhat heard of in Canada (I don't know really) or some Annihilator fans might know of them perhaps simply because of their ties to said band. This one album they released though,is something that should be a classic, And I'm nearly willing to bet that this band would have been huge had they continued. Right now the album is apparently quite rare, and this band is all but forgotten by most metalheads, which is a real shame.

http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=1925
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W90iWhpfFXI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fxDojhT_i0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w758JKif2s

All for now then. More to come later and please contribute with your own additions.

Im not shore but w ehave speed tread
http://www.metalstorm.net/forum/topic.php?topic_id=7155

I'm gonna say Deathrash. Classic '80s thrash which has barely received any attention yet is still active to this day.

Great idea! I hope this stays alive (that's one thing I like about the MA forum) because there are so many unknown, unheard of gems out there (95% of I'm sure I've never heard of, if not more) it's really quite a shame. I'll throw out a couple that come to mind.

Warlock - I'm sure most fans of Heavy Metal will have heard of them but this is the legendary HM band featuring Doro on vocals and boy does this music rock! I really loved their Burning the Witches album. Not super obscure, but definitely a name that doesn't appear enough on the forum.

Evil - Great Speed/HM from Denmark. Regardless of the King Diamond rumors, this band kicks major ass. A shame they only put out an EP (as far as I know) but you'll find many great bands put out very little. Highly recommended! It's up for download on their website too I believe.

Great recommendations too! I'll enjoy checking them out.

Maybe Icarus Witch. They're fairly modern, but I *think* they're an older sound. Not entirely positive they're what's wanted here, because I haven't listened to them that much (I intend to buy one of their CD's but my attention has been grabbed by Cryonic Temple more)

Edit - @Foreverdarkwoods: Maybe add obscure thrash to the title?

It's hard for me to decide which bands are obscure or not, and what's thrash and what's speed metal, but check these two out -

Gammacide - Victims of Science



Speed metal that's actually fast as fuck and really close to being thrash (if not completely thrash), but as I'm writing this I'm sad because I don't know where my CD is

Realm - Endless War



same as Gammacide, but not as intense and with clean vocals - reminds me a little of Toxik. oh and.. Slay! THE OPPRESSSSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

I don't have full access to YouTube at work, but this link should be right - Realm

Edit - I'm assuming everyone knows Exumer's Possessed by Fire. But if not, check that out immediately

Oh, and for fans of European-styled power metal, check out Persuader. I have no idea how big they are, but I don't see them mentioned much. I'm not that into them, but I'm sure you guys will like it - sounds like a more extreme version of Blind Guardian, I guess



Edit - I just checked and I guess they're here on MS with quite a few votes, so I guess you guys know them already. Way more votes than Exumer though... damn, how'd that happen?

Written by Clintagräm on 06.07.2010 at 02:09


Evil - Great Speed/HM from Denmark. Regardless of the King Diamond rumors, this band kicks major ass. A shame they only put out an EP (as far as I know) but you'll find many great bands put out very little. Highly recommended! It's up for download on their website too I believe.

Never understood where the King Diamond rumours came from. Maybe because Evil's Message was released by Rave On (a Dutch label) just like the Mercyful Fate mini? And both are Danish.
Btw, those King Diamond rumours have only started to surface a couple of years ago, probably due to the internet where people spout all sorts of nonesense.

Written by Clintagräm on 06.07.2010 at 02:09

Great idea! I hope this stays alive

Simple. If we keep it alive, then it stays alive. You want it to stay alive? Add to it, and encourage others to do the same. I would also encourage any discussion about the bands posted, or on old obscure metal in general to help with this. Maybe somebody who was "there" in the 80s could talk about his or her favourites?

Regarding Warlock, I gave Triumph and Agony a spin earlier today and suffice to say it was awesome this day as well.

Written by Dangerboner on 06.07.2010 at 07:22

Edit - @Foreverdarkwoods: Maybe add obscure thrash to the title?

Done as requested. This thread is now about thrash too, of the 80s variety.

Gammacide rules BTW.

Now, for some other bands. First, I would like to return to the first wave of Swedish HM and bring up Heavy Load, which is one of the world's best bands. It's basically Sweden's response to Manowar, and it turned out just as awesome. This band is an integral part of Swedish metal history, and should be mandatory for anyone with even a slight interest in Swedish metal.



Listen and read reviews.
http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=113
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc4Hz4WXD6M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8ukwlepDOM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4n7sUOp5q0

Since we're doing thrash now, I might as well get started, by bringing up two bands that never released any full length albums. We are talking about Sindrome and Ulysses Siren. Both were active in the eighties and got nothing more than demo releases under their belts. They both play fast, aggressive 80's thrash, and both are bloody brilliant.



Read reviews and listen:

http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=9079
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua8ciSaXKAI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFg9w--LUAc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mVlmReBvpo



Reviews and official downloads:

http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=1226
http://www.sindrome.net/

Well, that's it for today. I'll be away for a couple of days since I'm going to a festival with Motörhead, Overkill and Wolf among others. Behave and keep this topic alive while I'm gone.

BTW @ Vuvuzelas ftw: I love your avatar. Use that one for a backpatch myself.

Ulysses Siren and Sindrome are both fucking awesome.
Although Ulysses Siren have only released demos both demos have been combined on cd and vinyl officially.

Unfortunately Sindrome's demos have never been re-released.

Whoa, Gammacide really blew my socks off!

As for other bands, here's a blog with all sorts of heavy metal bands from the 80's! There's actually more punk and hardcore than HM on the site but if you look around a bit or just search for 'heavy metal' on the site, I'm sure you'll find something fucking great like I found CIRITH UNGOL in there! Thing is you'll have to download it and it requires winrar to open the files.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 06.07.2010 at 22:19

Ulysses Siren and Sindrome are both fucking awesome.
Although Ulysses Siren have only released demos both demos have been combined on cd and vinyl officially.

Unfortunately Sindrome's demos have never been re-released.

Sindromes demos have, on the other hand, been put up for free download oficially. This means their legacy hasn't been totally lost, even if not many know of them nowadays.

I would still, of course, prefer some kind of physical copy of something though, preferrably on LP. Hell, even a bootleg reissue of both demos on LP would be nice, so I could at least have something. Alas, I haven't found one.

Written by Don Martin on 06.07.2010 at 22:59

Whoa, Gammacide really blew my socks off!

As for other bands, here's a blog with all sorts of heavy metal bands from the 80's! There's actually more punk and hardcore than HM on the site but if you look around a bit or just search for 'heavy metal' on the site, I'm sure you'll find something fucking great like I found CIRITH UNGOL in there! Thing is you'll have to download it and it requires winrar to open the files.

Yes, a download blog, a form of internet piracy. There are basically countless of these things and I have used them for a few years to check out new bands. There comes a time when Limewire or Soulseek doesn't really provide you with what you want anymore, and then you're bound to find them sooner or later. I would be thankful if you don't get my thread locked by posting any of these links however, since it IS a form of internet piracy. In other words: please edit out the link. If you are to post downloads in this thread, make it only official ones.

As for that one, it seemed ok. First thing that came up was Liege Lord, which I intended to show off here at a later point due to them being awesome underground USPM.

Written by ForeverDarkWoods on 07.07.2010 at 00:47

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 06.07.2010 at 22:19

Ulysses Siren and Sindrome are both fucking awesome.
Although Ulysses Siren have only released demos both demos have been combined on cd and vinyl officially.

Unfortunately Sindrome's demos have never been re-released.

Sindromes demos have, on the other hand, been put up for free download oficially. This means their legacy hasn't been totally lost, even if not many know of them nowadays.

I would still, of course, prefer some kind of physical copy of something though, preferrably on LP. Hell, even a bootleg reissue of both demos on LP would be nice, so I could at least have something. Alas, I haven't found one.

I won the vinyl version of the Ulysses Siren re-release as well as on cd but the vinly one is totally awesome (other cover art plus other pictures etc)
Yeah I know the Sindrome demos can be downloaded officially. I did so myslef about five or six years ago. But I would love to have them on a physical copy as well (also preferably on vynil with a nice booklet and such)

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 07.07.2010 at 00:55

I won the vinyl version of the Ulysses Siren re-release as well as on cd but the vinly one is totally awesome (other cover art plus other pictures etc)
Yeah I know the Sindrome demos can be downloaded officially. I did so myslef about five or six years ago. But I would love to have them on a physical copy as well (also preferably on vynil with a nice booklet and such)

As far as I know, though, there aren't any plans for an official reissue anytime soon. The fact that you can download them for free further reinforces that position in my eyes. This is why I'm thinking that the best we can hope for is some kind of bootleg reissue, which will then hopefully be on vinyl and at least decent in it's execution. If such a thing wouldn't be too pricy, and look to be of a high quality, I'd probably buy one in the absence of anything official.

Written by ForeverDarkWoods on 07.07.2010 at 01:04

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 07.07.2010 at 00:55

I won the vinyl version of the Ulysses Siren re-release as well as on cd but the vinly one is totally awesome (other cover art plus other pictures etc)
Yeah I know the Sindrome demos can be downloaded officially. I did so myslef about five or six years ago. But I would love to have them on a physical copy as well (also preferably on vynil with a nice booklet and such)

As far as I know, though, there aren't any plans for an official reissue anytime soon. The fact that you can download them for free further reinforces that position in my eyes. This is why I'm thinking that the best we can hope for is some kind of bootleg reissue, which will then hopefully be on vinyl and at least decent in it's execution. If such a thing wouldn't be too pricy, and look to be of a high quality, I'd probably buy one in the absence of anything official.

I agree. I don't think it will happen either. And bootlegs can be very good quality as well. I just got hold of the Saint Vitus demo bootleg on vinyl and thaat one is great as well.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 07.07.2010 at 01:05

I agree. I don't think it will happen either. And bootlegs can be very good quality as well. I just got hold of the Saint Vitus demo bootleg on vinyl and thaat one is great as well.

I recently got ahold of one with the Nuclear Assault demos on it. That is also a very good one. Could have used some kind of insert though, maybe.

Aspid - Krovoizliyaniye (Extravasation)



I'm sure you guys know a bunch of thrash from Russia, right? Despite the horrible vocals, this album kicks ass. Speed, awesome riffs, aggressive drumming, awesome instrumentals, etc etc

Written by ForeverDarkWoods on 07.07.2010 at 00:47

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 06.07.2010 at 22:19

Ulysses Siren and Sindrome are both fucking awesome.
Although Ulysses Siren have only released demos both demos have been combined on cd and vinyl officially.

Unfortunately Sindrome's demos have never been re-released.

Sindromes demos have, on the other hand, been put up for free download oficially. This means their legacy hasn't been totally lost, even if not many know of them nowadays.

I would still, of course, prefer some kind of physical copy of something though, preferrably on LP. Hell, even a bootleg reissue of both demos on LP would be nice, so I could at least have something. Alas, I haven't found one.

Written by Don Martin on 06.07.2010 at 22:59

Whoa, Gammacide really blew my socks off!

As for other bands, here's a blog with all sorts of heavy metal bands from the 80's! There's actually more punk and hardcore than HM on the site but if you look around a bit or just search for 'heavy metal' on the site, I'm sure you'll find something fucking great like I found CIRITH UNGOL in there! Thing is you'll have to download it and it requires winrar to open the files.

Yes, a download blog, a form of internet piracy. There are basically countless of these things and I have used them for a few years to check out new bands. There comes a time when Limewire or Soulseek doesn't really provide you with what you want anymore, and then you're bound to find them sooner or later. I would be thankful if you don't get my thread locked by posting any of these links however, since it IS a form of internet piracy. In other words: please edit out the link. If you are to post downloads in this thread, make it only official ones.

As for that one, it seemed ok. First thing that came up was Liege Lord, which I intended to show off here at a later point due to them being awesome underground USPM.

Link deleted.

Mystik - The Plot Sickens

quality thrash/speed metal from the USA with a tiny bit of NWBHM, slightly similar maybe to early Flotsam and Jetsam



It's from 1992, but whatever

Yes, my topic is alive. And Mystik has been mentioned, which is always a plus. Will come back later with some first wave of Swedish HM type stuff.

Here's a little treat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBXut_Tb5YU

It's to show what's to come, so far the only bands I've talked about out of this movement is Mindless Sinner and Heavy Load.

Oh, and some USPM too...

Let's see if we can get this thread running for a long time and get some people to listen to some underground classic stuff instead of the usual Ensiferum bullshit. If this goes well, maybe we can make a topic about old extreme metal gems as well. You know, try to get people into Protector and stuff.

Check out Impulse. They're an old Bulgarian traditional metal band. Actually quite cheesy, but fun if you're into it. They kind of sound like Accept and Kiss.

Warlord been mentioned yet?



Classic.

Quartz - Quartz (1977); Stand Up and Fight (1980)

Both albums are pretty good slices of NWOBHM, quite varied, well polished, original and having that weird charm that makes you listen to them again. First album is hard rock with some occasional metallic moments. Fun fact: this album is produced by Tony Iommi. Second album is more metal than hard rock, although it retains the rock feel of the first album.

MA: http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=1687

Examples:
First album - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjvHtiU8hfg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgI4WzGOn-c&feature=related (this is a live version)
Second album - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T1VF505KAI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mItAxi0Vkwc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkPAGXcX3H0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhxMghbO39s&feature=related

High Power - High Power (Fra) (1983)

Excellent heavy metal in the vein of Judas Priest. Sometimes fast, sometimes aggressive, sometimes atmospheric, sometimes a combination of those.

MA: http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=1594

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVxOM_x6xUM

I just found out about a new thrash band called Diamond Plate. Even though they've only released a few songs so far, they sound very good.

good guitar, bad vocals



Edit - damn, I keep forgetting this is supposed to be 80's only. oh well

Written by DrStein on 02.08.2010 at 08:52

Razor are awesome, but I wouldn't call them that obscure.

Pentagram - Pentagram



Aggressive thrash from Turkey with plenty of tempo changes to keep things interesting - highly recommended!

Written by Dangerboner on 30.08.2010 at 14:36

Pentagram - Pentagram



Aggressive thrash from Turkey with plenty of tempo changes to keep things interesting - highly recommended!

Mezarkabul's pretty great, but not really obscure, IMO. Then again lots of people here probably have no idea who they are, so never mind, I guess.

Hmm, which reminds me of http://www.myspace.com/pentagramchileofficial

Morbid Saint anyone?

Polish band Turbo, released 2 thrashy albums in the 80's
Quite interesting, songs tend to change moods, tempos and motives quite often. I was totally in love with this band in the 80's...