At last, Draksen´s second official demo, "From Beyond" finally available on MP3 for you to download. It is probably our best known work, even more so than our debut album. We recorded it in December of 1989 and released it in early 1990, maybe February or March, I don't really remember. It was the last recording with original bass player Oscar Del Rio, now known as "Jobito Panteras", the frontman/guitarits of humor punks Garigoles. It was the only recording of Luiz Ahumada with Draksen. Luiz, who came to us from the band Crucified, is now the lead guitarist/keyboardist for the latest Hardware line up. About six months after the release of this demo, Martin Lugo also leaves the band to focus on college, leaving me as the sole original member. Oscar´s place was taken by the now controversial figure of Francisco "Frank" Uribe, currently one of the masked madmen in The Meatfückers, a retro thrash band that mixes Mentors style of humor with the early thrash of Venom. Martin´s place was taken by ex-Twitch basher and fellow school buddy Mike Moon. Luiz Ahumada would remain on board through out 1990, finally leaving in early 1990 to concentrate on the then new project Hardware.
"From Beyond" was considered by us in the band our first "real" demo. "Thrashcore", which was recorded in the summer of 1988, had and abyssmal sound quality, despite being recorded in a "pro" studio. Back then you had no internet to check on some recording techniques and we lacked the proper equipment to make our music sound as powerful as it could've been. Plus, we self produced it, knowing virtually zilch about how to "produce" or how to plan a studio recording. No one aided us, not even the inept house engineer, who suggested we just "plug in to the mixing board" and just thrash away. By the time we did "From Beyond", we were better at our instruments and had aquired some decent equipment. The house engineer, Paco Loco, was at least helpful in guiding us to get a more powerful sound. We were still off with some of the timing; guitars and drums not always locked in, but the overall sound was a monumental step in the right direction. Despite being all Metallica die hard fans, our music tended to be more European influenced: Kreator, Sodom, Deathrow, Vendetta, etc. were clearly influential. On the American side, apart of Metallica, there was always the Slayer influence. Testament, which were relatively new also had an impact on us, particularly with their blend of thrash and neo-classical guitar stylings. Wehrmacht were also huge. Little known band from Portland, Oregon, with whom we had some contact through the mail back in the day, had an impact for their blend of proto-grind and wild time changes, all condensed in a compact and unique style of thrash and hardcore punk.
All the guitars were recorded with my trusty Marshall JCM800, 50 watt head. What I'd give to have that amp back. What an awesome tone I could get from it. I was always a bit of an "anti-pedal" guy, using an Overdrive every now and then, and during the recording, a chorus pedal lent to me by Galo Ochoa from CUCA. What you hear is our guitars, plugged straight into the amp and that´s it. For Luiz´s sound, we put some overdrive effect AFTER his guitars were done. My guitar, my trusty Ibanez ST300, had an active pick up set up from factory. It featured a booster and made a passive guitar active, just like an EMG, so it was easy to get a nice distorted sound but punchy.
Well, enough writing. Download and enjoy "From Beyond". Be sure to leave your comments!!!
"From Beyond" was considered by us in the band our first "real" demo. "Thrashcore", which was recorded in the summer of 1988, had and abyssmal sound quality, despite being recorded in a "pro" studio. Back then you had no internet to check on some recording techniques and we lacked the proper equipment to make our music sound as powerful as it could've been. Plus, we self produced it, knowing virtually zilch about how to "produce" or how to plan a studio recording. No one aided us, not even the inept house engineer, who suggested we just "plug in to the mixing board" and just thrash away. By the time we did "From Beyond", we were better at our instruments and had aquired some decent equipment. The house engineer, Paco Loco, was at least helpful in guiding us to get a more powerful sound. We were still off with some of the timing; guitars and drums not always locked in, but the overall sound was a monumental step in the right direction. Despite being all Metallica die hard fans, our music tended to be more European influenced: Kreator, Sodom, Deathrow, Vendetta, etc. were clearly influential. On the American side, apart of Metallica, there was always the Slayer influence. Testament, which were relatively new also had an impact on us, particularly with their blend of thrash and neo-classical guitar stylings. Wehrmacht were also huge. Little known band from Portland, Oregon, with whom we had some contact through the mail back in the day, had an impact for their blend of proto-grind and wild time changes, all condensed in a compact and unique style of thrash and hardcore punk.
All the guitars were recorded with my trusty Marshall JCM800, 50 watt head. What I'd give to have that amp back. What an awesome tone I could get from it. I was always a bit of an "anti-pedal" guy, using an Overdrive every now and then, and during the recording, a chorus pedal lent to me by Galo Ochoa from CUCA. What you hear is our guitars, plugged straight into the amp and that´s it. For Luiz´s sound, we put some overdrive effect AFTER his guitars were done. My guitar, my trusty Ibanez ST300, had an active pick up set up from factory. It featured a booster and made a passive guitar active, just like an EMG, so it was easy to get a nice distorted sound but punchy.
Well, enough writing. Download and enjoy "From Beyond". Be sure to leave your comments!!!
