Recently an LP version of Coroner’s Death Cult demo appeared on the market. It’s most certainly a bootleg, so I won’t link to it. But it’s a good excuse to discuss the 1986 demo, one of metal’s coolest historical artifacts. Death Cult’s four songs featured Tom G. Warrior on vocals. It’s Coroner’s first demo, so they hadn’t yet become a technical thrash juggernaut. Instead, they showed strong roots in traditional metal. With Warrior on the mic, the demo sounded a bit like Celtic Frost meets Mercyful Fate. It’s as cool as it sounds.
The Death Cult demo is all over the Internet. Normally, this would be good news for you. But I’ve downloaded at least four different versions of the demo, and it’s been a nightmare sorting them out. People are ripping from CD’s (bootlegs) and tapes, and not only is sound quality all over the place, the tape rips vary wildly in speed. (Avoid the MetalKult.com rip – it’s ridiculously sped up.) Someone needs to get the rights to this and do a proper reissue.
In the meantime, here are the two least-bad versions of the demo I’ve found. I’ve cleaned up the MP3 tags and included, along with the original tape cover, images of the CD and LP bootlegs.
MEDIAFIRE: Coroner – Death Cult (demo) [CD bootleg, 59.65MB .zip]
MEDIAFIRE: Coroner – Death Cult (demo) [Mastered tape, 28.99MB .zip]
The first version is a rip from a CD bootleg. It includes two bonus tracks from rare compilations; they have Coroner bassist/vocalist Ron Royce on vocals. The sound is tinny but clear. It reminds me of the sound of the first CD’s way back in the ’80s. The second version is a tape rip that must have undergone mastering. It sounds very modern, which is kind of wrong, but it also makes the music come alive in a way that the CD lacks. The sound is loud, bassy (it’s a pleasure to hear Royce’s fluid lines), and warm (the occasional tape dropouts are charming). Sanford Parker could have produced it. These two versions couldn’t be more different, yet they each have their own merits.
(You can compare tracks from them below.)
“Spiral Dream” (CD bootleg)
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“Spiral Dream” (Mastered tape)
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Coroner are reuniting to play next year’s Hellfest. They also might perhaps maybe could write new material. That would be interesting in today’s musical climate. At least one band today – Vektor – has a lot of Coroner in its DNA.
Wow, speaking of Vektor I started listening to their latest record last week and I was really impressed by them…I’ve always been recommended Coroner, so this sudden nexus between both bands may be the signal to start listening to them.
Coroner is a great band. R.I.P. is one of the greatest albums I’ve ever come across. Thank you for this…I’m curious to see what this is all about.
I can appreciate the retro authenticity of the tape version, but it’s the CD version I’d rather listen to
VERY cool. Thanks.
I’ve tried many times over the last 20 years to like Coroner, but they’ve yet to click with me. I don’t know why. Everything their fans say about ‘em creates the illusion that I’d really like ‘em, but… no dice. Same with Voivod, though I did finally start to appreciate a few Voivod albums after repeated listens scattered throughout the course of many years. Maybe I’ll give Coroner yet another try sometime soon.
Nice, I’ll definitely be downloading this when I get home. I’ve been trying to find a good quality version of this for quite a while, but of course everything I’ve been able to find on various janky MP3 blogs out there has sounded pretty terrible. Just about anything Tom Warrior touches is gold.
AVERSIONLINE, have you tried their earlier records first? “R.I.P” and “Punishment for Decadence” are mostly ripping thrash (with great chops, granted) and I think they’re easier to get into than the moody semi-psychedelic austere metal band they became. I think moving chronologically with a band like Coroner is really helpful to get into the mindset to appreciate their latter records. Also keep in mind the years the records were released and compare with what was happening in the rest of the metal world.
I love Coroner, and over the last ten years I’ve gone from feeling indifferent about ‘Mental Vortex’ and ‘Grin’ to loving them perhaps even more than the early stuff. Now my favorite Coroner record changes every week, surely the mark of a really formidable band.
Man, I’d like to see them live.
Much thanks for sharing these.
I know it’s still the morning, but does Coroner’s logo remind anyone else of Corona’s?
Favoritest metal band of mine fo EVA EVA EVA. I heard “Die By My Hand” and “Son of Lilith” in high school and fell head over heels in love. Have every record on vinyl except Mental Vortex (if someone has it with original inners and poster intact, name your price!) and lost out big time when I didn’t have the bucks to bid on an original tape of this masterful demo on eBay. Thanks for giving Ron Royce the respect he deserves– he’s up there with Roger Patterson as one of my biggest musical influences, but never gets any credit. That he could not only play that tightly but also SING never ceases to amaze. If you want your jaw dropped, scope the ‘89 Live in East Berlin footage– his technique looks substantially hamfisted, but everything is clear and cleanly executed…y’know, in addition to him keeping the vocals completely in time. Unreal.
I really, really hope they get booked for MDF, but if not I will make the journey to France. This band means the world to me and showed that technicality and good, catchy songwriting are anything but mutually exclusive. A lot of tech bands today would have you believing otherwise.
Great post.
also, psuedonymous– I’ve been asked numerous times about that when I wear my bootleg Coroner shirts…definitely a similar font.
Even in 2010, living inside the equivalent of a musical olive bar so vast is our ability to sample everything, it took just having the mp3s right in front of me to finally hear Coroner. Man, this shit is great. The riffs are amazing and indeed quite modern. The way those galloping harmonized fifths climb in the chorus would probably give me goosebumps live. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve always felt like AVERSIONLINE about those same two bands.
All hail Coroner, among the very few forward thinking and truly innovative thrash bands.
I was just listening to Punishment For Decadence, Grin, and No More Color this last weekend. Like Alee, I’ve been going back and investigating a lot of bands I slept on when they were originally around – besides this, I’ve also been finally getting into Death and Crowbar and Dissection lately.
Haved loved Coroner for a long time, particularly Punishment … and No More Colour. I think the production on their early releases did their music a huge disservice, particularly on Punishment. It would be appropriate for more straightforward simplistic thrashers, but the complexity in Coroner’s music really required better. I’d be interested to hear what new material they would come up with.
Coroner is a trip. I was the only person I knew who liked them, buying their Punishment For Decadence cassette after I saw a video blurb/interview in 1991 from the Hard N Heavy VHS series. To this day I don’t personally know anyone who likes them, much less has even heard of them. My favorite is No More Color, but I LOVE all their shit to date. Fucking phenomenal band.
ballener0 – Coroner are often described as “the Rush of thrash”, so, yes, you might dig them.
AVERSIONLINE – Given some of the quirky technical hardcore you like (especially Starkweather), I can see you liking Coroner.
Brett – Perhaps someone should get the rights to the entire Coroner catalogue and reissue the whole thing. That would be so exciting.
deflepplin – Perhaps we should resurrect Coroner’s Death Cult Lodge fan club!
Mr. Oranges, I simply haven’t the stomach for running a fan club, even if there would only be 10 members in it! In a way, I like that they are the undiscovered country.
The more I listen to “Mental Vortex,” the more I think it’s one of the best trash/post-thrash records ever written.
CORNER are one of my fav. 80’s Thrash metal bands.
I have been preaching about their tunes for decades. Can you imagine, being roadies for the great CELTIC FROST and then stepping up to the plate and putting out their own awesome brand of “technical” metal?! Wow…
I remember MTV’ Headbangers Ball even played their killer “Masked Jackal” song few times. Peep it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V0QeD2mQus
I still have my VHS comp. called: “Doomsday News”
Volume 2 (1990) from Noise/SPV Records Germany.
Thrash On…
Kinger
It’s nice to see a blog do an interesting write up about the stuff they post. As opposed to just throwing up a shitload of links. Nice.
The 5th track on the cd bootleg has an audio glitch/skipping sound at the 1:43 mark. Might want to actually check to make sure the mp3s work before posting them, morons.