Here we go with one of the most legendary demos of all time. This is Armoured Angel Wings of Death, the home town hero’s from where I come from in Australia. Released back in 1989 this was not a particularly groundbreaking release but it was an immensely enjoyable one. I know these guys sold well for a band that only had released one demo previous to this. After the original lineup folded, they re-invented themselves as a thrash / death metal band featuring enigmatic band founder “Lucy” and brothers Joel and Matt Green, essentially starting again from scratch. This is also probably the first demo tape I ever purchased, and yes I still have it now over 30 years later!
What can one say? This is just glorious stuff. If there was a perfect thrash metal record for the underground this would be it, only it was just a demo tape. I also have a version of this that was released in England on record, so I’m guessing others saw the same potential in this band that we did back in the day. The first song “Crush Kill Destroy” rips in with some amazingly fast guitar that cuts like a buzzsaw, but in doing so never looses feel or coherency. This is old school 80’s thrash done better than almost anyone in the underground and can even punch with the big boys, like Metallica or Slayer. I seriously can’t imagine an 80s thrash head who liked Slayer, not liking this. yeah its a different style but it’s amazing. Next up “Madame Guillotine” keeps it going in the same fashion, this is relentless!
Time to flip the cassette over and check out side B, and in comes “Christian Slaughter”. Yeah the title is a little cheesy but meh, it doesn’t matter when the thrash is this good! It starts off a little more “Mid paced” than the others, but this gives the riffs a chance to shine. Guitar Player Matt is an amazing riff machine, and his brother Joel does an amazing job providing both the drums and the vocals on this release. It’s the only chance we have to breathe on this release as the last song “My Fist, Your Face” hits like the title suggests and leaves the listener feeling like they’ve been beaten around the head by a baseball bat.
While this is an almost perfect thrash release it was just a precursor to what would come next from this amazing Australian band, which will be discussed in further reviews.
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