Beneath The Remains - Self Destruction demo

Beneath The Remains from Montgomery, NY was sometimes referred to as All Out War's little brother by me and this one crew of people I used to go to shows with. While not sounding like a complete copycat their sounds do have similarities. The first time I heard this 1997 demo (and BTR in general) was when we were driving back home after a show, where I picked up this demo from the R.P.P. distro. When this demo played we were all like 'Mike Score has a little brother?!'... The vocals of singer Cesar Bobadilla are quite similar, albeit a bit rougher and deeper, and musically it's also pretty similar. We didn't mind however, as we quite dug All Out War and the demo. I can't speak for the rest of the people in the car, but I still do. On one of All Out War's European tours, Mike Score couldn't make it out here for part of the tour for whatever reason, and Cesar BTR did vocals for All Out War, so you know I'm not kidding here...

Either way, this demo is pretty good, although the sound-quality sucks and the levels are weird as fuck, especially when there's just one guitar playing the volume's way low compared to when the entire band is playing. The stand-out track is 'Last Breath' which is heavy as fuck and has very personal lyrics dealing with the loss of a loved one and seeking forgiveness. It also shows this band was more than just another band going for the All Out War sound. It has a build up in the second half of the track that still gets me all worked up, intense stuff. I remember on that car ride we uttered a collective 'fuck' after this track ended, and rewound the tape to play it again. I still love it loads. Incidentally, this track, and opening track 'Mutilation Of The Mind' were re-recorded for the 'Quest For The Lost Souls' MCD On R.P.P. Records.

As far as releases go, they did another demo, a split 7" with Punch The Klown (on Back Ta Basics) and the aforementioned 'Quest For The Lost Souls' MCD, both of which I can rip if wanted (ripped, check here). They also appear on a number of compilations. Based on their myspace, there are also some unreleased recordings. While the BTR myspace mentions trying to get these recordings released one way or another, it hasn't happened yet... Make it happen!

Beneath The Remains - Self Destruction demo
Beneath The Remains myspace