| Demos 84 & 85 | |
|---|---|
| Tracks 1-4 - original "Emperor's Return" mixes Track 5 - from "Tragic Serenades" EP Tracks 6-13 - various rehearsals (tracks 6, 10, 11 possibly Hellhammer rehearsal) Tracks 14-17 - Live Jackie Robinson YMCA, San Diego, CA, June 15, 1986 | |
| From The Vaults Recs | |
| 68:32 | |
 |
1. Circle Of Tyrants [sic] |
| 2. Visual Aggressor [sic] | |
| 3. Suicidal Winds | |
| 4. Journey Into The Fear [sic] | |
| 5. Return To Eve [sic] | |
| 6. Celtic Thunder | |
| 7. Into They Crypt Of Rays [sic] | |
| 8. Nocturnal Fear | |
| 9. Procreation Of The Wicked | |
| 10. Messiah | |
| 11. The 3rd And Storm (partial) [sic] | |
| 12. Morbid Tales | |
| 13. Dethroned Emperor | |
| 14. Circle Of Tyrants [sic] | |
| 15. The Usurper | |
| 16. Jewel Throne | |
| 17. Dethroned Emperor | |
Ironically, all of the pictures used for the bootleg except for a photo of Reed St. Mark appear to be Hellhammer photos (although as you read further, this may end up making some sense). The pressing information on the underside inner ring of the CD has been marked over in permanent marker.
The title of the bootleg is misleading, as none of the included tracks are really demos, just rehearsals or different mixes. The bootleg lists tracks 1-5 as being a 1985 demo, 6-11 as a June 1984 demo, and 12-13 as "Demo II" July 1984.
Tracks 1-4 are actually the original mix recordings for "Emperor's Return." Tracks 1-3 appear on the remaster/reissue of "Morbid Tales." They're very similar to the final mLP versions, although a lot of the vocal effects are different. This original mix of "Journey Into Fear" is supposedly unreleased, though to me, it sounds very similar to the version that appeared on the "Parched With Thirst..." compilation (if so, then some--if not all--of the 1985 tracks were recorded in April). The source quality is a bit poorer and the trailing guitar noise at the end is cut off here. If they are completely different recordings, there's not much discernable difference, at least to me.
Track 5 is the "Tragic Serenades" version in low quality.
Tracks 6-13 are various Celtic Frost/Hellhammer rehearsals. At the very least, apparently tracks 6, 10, and 11 are sourced from the same rehearsal. If anyone can supply dates for any of these recordings, please let me know. Since Celtic Frost came into being so quickly after Hellhammer dissolved, it's a bit fuzzy if this is all really Frost stuff with some rehearsing of Hellhammer tracks, or whether there are some actual Hellhammer rehearsal tracks. It may be material from both bands.
Tracks 6, 7, 9, and 11 are vocalless.
Track 6 starts out as the very beginning of Hellhammer's "Aggressor," with an extended double bass intro. It's mostly just drumming, as almost immediately after the intro guitar it turns into an instrumental cover of Angel Witch's "Extermination Day." The "Celtic Thunder" title slapped on this track is just something the bootlegger made up.
Tracks 10 and 11 are of course the Hellhammer songs. Track 10 is possibly a poorer-quality version of the recording used as the b-side of the Hellhammer "Buried and Forgotten" bootleg 7", but I haven't compared them closely. Track 11 is not the complete "Third of the Storms;" the track begins with some random jamming (some claim part of AC/DC's "Hell's Bells" is in here, but it doesn't really sound all that close to me, and I've never seen Tom or anyone else answer definitively about it), then at about 1:29 into the track they start playing "Third of the Storms" for about 30 seconds, then start over from the beginning and play it for about a minute.
Track 13 begins to fade out at the end and is cut off before fully completed. There are sudden increases in background hiss at 2:32 of track 10, and 0:45 of track 13.
The San Diego tracks are taken from a gig with Voivod that ended early due to crowd violence. The show exists on video. There are edits/breaks between the live tracks. While the tracks are in the correct sequential order in which they were played, only "Circle of the Tyrants" and "The Usurper" were played back to back. For example, you can hear stage banter introducing "Visions of Mortality" at the end of track 15. The live tracks have a poor-quality, cavernous sound, although they're all recognizeable and the vocals come through pretty well.
| Live Weinheim 1-6-85 Split with Bathory, Emperor, and Hellhammer | |
|---|---|
| Tracks 2-8 - Live Südhessenhalle, Weinheim, Germany, June 1, 1985 Tracks 1, 10 - see Hellhammer page Track 9 - see Emperor page Tracks 11-16 - see Bathory page | |
| Label unknown | |
| 66:54 | |
 | |
| Given tracklisting: | Correct tracklisting: |
| 1. Triumph Of Death | 1. Triumph Of Death - Hellhammer |
| 2. Intro | 2. Intro (Danse Macabre) |
| 3. Into The Cryps Of Rays | 3. (Triumph Of Death intro riff)/Into The Crypts Of Rays |
| 4. Circle Of The Tyrants | 4. Circle Of The Tyrants |
| 5. Suicidal Wings | 5. Suicidal Winds |
| 6. Visions of Mortality | 6. Visions of Mortality |
| 7. Down Below | 7. Dawn Of Megiddo |
| 8. Dethroned Emperor | 8. Dethroned Emperor |
| 9. The Ursurper | 9. The Usurper (Celtic Frost cover) - Emperor |
| 10. Revelations Of Doom | 10. Revelations Of Doom - Hellhammer |
| 11. Sacrifice | 11. Sacrifice - Bathory |
| 12. The Return Of Darkness And Evil | 12. The Return Of Darkness And Evil - Bathory |
| 13. Intro | 13. "Conan the Barbarian" intro |
| 14. In Conspiracy With Satan | 14. In Conspiracy With Satan - Bathory |
| 15. Necromancy - Sacrifice | 15. Necromansy/Sacrifice - Bathory |
| 16. Raise The Dead | 16. Raise The Dead - Bathory |
The Frost material is easily the best part of the split CD. There are gaps between all tracks, and the show is incomplete.
Part of "Danse Macabre" in used for the intro--although it's hard to hear over the crowd, you can make out some of the chime and gong sounds.
Track 2 begins with the main riff from Hellhammer's "Triumph of Death," as was customary for Frost to start early live gigs with.
There is a split-second drop-out at 1:09 of "Circle of the Tyrants."
| Reign Of Steel | |
|---|---|
| Tracks 1-7 - Live Südhessenhalle, Weinheim, Germany, June 1, 1985 Tracks 8-11 - original "Emperor's Return" mixes Tracks 12, 14 - various rehearsals Track 13 - from "Tragic Serenades" EP | |
| Label unknown | |
| 59:58 | |
 | |
| Given tracklisting: | Correct tracklisting: |
| 1. Intro | 1. Intro (Danse Macabre) |
| 2. Into The Crypts Of Rays | 2. (Triumph Of Death intro riff)/ Into The Crypts Of Rays |
| 3. Circle Of The Tyrants | 3. Circle Of The Tyrants |
| 4. Suicidal Winds | 4. Suicidal Winds |
| 5. Down Below | 5. Dawn Of Megiddo |
| 6. Visions Of Mortality | 6. Visions Of Mortality |
| 7. Dethroned Emperor | 7. Dethroned Emperor |
| 8. Circle Of The Tyrants | 8. Circle Of The Tyrants |
| 9. Visual Aggression | 9. Visual Aggression |
| 10. Suicidal Winds | 10. Suicidal Winds |
| 11. Journey Into Fear | 11. Journey Into Fear |
| 12. Visions Of Mortality | 12. Visions Of Mortality |
| 13. Return To The Eve | 13. Return To The Eve |
| 14. Morbid Tales | 14. Morbid Tales |
| -- -- | + Circle Of The Tyrants videoclip |
| -- -- | + 1985 Swiss TV appearance videoclip |
The matrix info on the disc has been marked out from the top and the bottom with silver pen.
The Weinheim tracks are basically the same as on the Bathory split boot mentioned above, except the intro track is shorter, and the order of "Dawn of Megiddo" and "Visions..." has been switched (you can hear the beginning of Tom's introduction to "Dethroned Emperor" at the end of "Dawn of Megiddo").
Tracks 8-13 are listed on the back insert as "demo session 1983" and track 14 is listed as "demo session 1984." Tracks 8-11 are the same recordings mentioned above on the "Demos 84 & 85" bootleg. The guitar level isn't boosted as on that bootleg; here the tape hiss is a bit more prominent, but the tracks have a more even sound level. The sound falters a lot at the beginning of "Journey into Fear."
Tracks 12 and 14 are unknown rehearsals. "Morbid Tales" does not seem be be the same reh. version on the "Demos 84 & 85" bootleg, as the guitar noises at the end and some of Tom's vocal enunciations sound different.
The bootleg also contains 2 mpeg videos--the official "Circle of the Tyrants" video clip (the "To Mega Therion" version played over footage from a Mar. 16, 1986 Bochum gig) and an April 1985 Swiss TV appearance (consisting of an interview with Tom in German, and a playback performance of "Into the Crypts of Rays"). The videos have pretty shitty quality and are distorted because they're too wide; they're not hard to find elsewhere anyway.
Miscellaneous
"From the Vaults" is a CD-R (there's a bootleg 7" with that title as well).