Tag Archives: drumsticks

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INFESTER, Darkness Unveiled (1992, demo)

The skull:
The badly drawn demon skull (named Lester the Infester, I hope) is certainly big and dumb, but I’m especially amused by the six pointed turkey leg star behind the skull. I mean, that’s what those things are, right? Giant drumsticks? I know that Lester is supposed to scare me away, but I can’t help it; I’m hungry for poultry now.

The music:
Friar Wagner was sent by The Council on some kind of secret mission, so it will fall to me to cover his skulls for a bit, but it’s too bad he’s missing out on Infester, because this is the kind of old school death metal that he, well, likes slightly more than I do. They don’t exactly sound like Blasphemy (a favorite touchstone for the other Friar) but they’re in the same ballpark, maybe also reminding of early Incantation or Deeds of Flesh. Basically, they’re a better version of Rottrevore. The vocals are far gurglier than I like in my death metal, and some of the riffing is a too rudimentary, but when they slow it down and kick it Bolt Thrower style, I can dig it, and when they dance near the fringes of thrash, they recall other borderline bands of the time like my beloved Thanatos. I certainly wasn’t collecting death metal demos in 1992, and if I had been, I probably would have been put off by the murky sound here, but in retrospect, this sounds pretty good for an early 90s death metal demo, and looking back, it’s only because there were so many better bands that Infester (and their ilk) never went anywhere. It’s not that they were terrible, or even below average; it’s just that there were more great bands than anyone really knew what to do with.
— Friar Johnsen

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MARK EDWARDS, Code of Honor (1985, Metal Blade)

The skull:
“Warning: Drums Ahead”

The music:
It’s hard to imagine a less-essential release from 1985 than this four track instrumental EP from the drummer in Steeler. It’s not that it’s bad — it’s perfectly serviceable Shrapnel Records style shred stuff (like the filler tracks from Tony MacAlpine or Vinnie Moore) — but really, what’s the point? At least all those guitar hero albums were full of noodly solos, which hold their own appeal (I guess). It’s not like Code of Honor is a showcase for mindblowing drumming, and Edwards only claims a couple of songwriting credits, to boot. His playing is capable, maybe better than most metal dudes in 1985, but nothing more. He even ropes in another drummer (session dude Greg Bissonette) to play some ludicrously dated electronic drums on two tunes, the second being a cover of Cozy Powell’s “Dance With the Devil,” which is itself basically just a drum-centric rewrite of Hendrix’s “Third Stone from the Sun”. Edwards would later enjoy some hairy success in Lion (and in fact, the only CD release of Code of Honor is a 2-for-1 with Lion’s debut EP), but he peaked artistically on Riot’s Thundersteel; Edward tracked four songs for that album before Bobby Jarzombek joined the band. And actually, the 3rd Stage Alert EP released in 1984 is pretty good, too. So, I suppose you could say that Mark Edwards is the Drummer King of half albums, but that’s really not saying much, is it? And of his half albums, this one is maybe the fourth best? Praise comes no fainter.
— Friar Johnsen