The Tapes

Discography

Four demos between 1986 and 1990, recorded by four different lineups in three studios, two of them engineered by Vinnie Paul and one of them paid for with a boat. No album until 2025.

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Thrash in Pain or Die Insane cover art
2025

Thrash in Pain or Die Insane

Sixteen remastered tracks spanning all four original demos, released by vicRecords in the Netherlands — the first proper record in forty years.

Listen →  ·  Red vinyl →  ·  Splatter vinyl →  ·  Matching tee →
The Demos cover art, signed 2005 reunion compilation
2005

The Demos

All four tapes in order, remastered by Allen Crider and released on the band’s own F**k It Records. Hand-numbered and signed, capped at 100; 300 pressed in total, all of them gone.

1986–1990

The Four Demos

Who played on what, where it was cut, and what happened to it. Taken from the band’s own credit sheets.

1986

Demo One

Pantego Sound Studio, spring 1986 · engineered by Jerry Abbott, credited on the tape as “The Elder”

Walter Trachsler — guitar & bass · John Perez — lead guitar · Dave Gryder — drums · Jim “Moe” Mulqueen — vocals

  1. 1 Rotting Corpse
  2. 2 Evil Slaughter
  3. 3 War on Drugs

The one that got out. Mailed to fanzines on four continents and, by the band’s own account, never badly reviewed at home. Mulqueen’s vocal on it has been compared directly to Exodus’s Paul Baloff.

1987

F*ck It, It’s Only Thrash

Pantego Sound Studio, summer 1987 · engineered by Vinnie Paul

Walter Trachsler — guitars & vocals · Steve Murphy — bass · Louie Carrisalez — drums

  1. 4 Those Without Conscience
  2. 5 Evolvement
  3. 6 The Price of God
  4. 7 When It Rains, It Pours

Cut by a three-piece that had been playing together roughly a month, after the founding lineup came apart that spring. Trachsler sings from here on.

1988

Demo Three — “Walt’s Sinking Boat Tape”

Pantego Sound Studio, 1988 · engineered by Vinnie Paul · paid for with a boat

Walter Trachsler — guitars & vocals · Randy “Gribb” Cook — drums and bass · Luke Brewer — leads

  1. 8 Emotional Scars
  2. 9 Evolvement

About four hours in the room, never mixed, never intended for release. The band cut several other songs the same day — including AC/DC’s “Walk All Over You” — but only these two survived in usable shape, with fresh leads added later by Luke Brewer. The boat sank on a local lake.

1990

Neck Breaking Fury

Elephant Track Studios, San Antonio — January 13th–14th, 1990 · engineered by Eugene Ng

Walter Trachsler — guitars & vocals · Steve Murphy — bass · Dave Gryder — drums and howls · Scott Shelby (Gammacide) — guitar leads

  1. 10 Neck Breaking Fury
  2. 11 Progressing Insanity
  3. 12 Payment in Blood
  4. 13 Outro
  5. 14 War on Drugs
  6. 15 Evil Slaughter
  7. 16 Rotting Corpse

The longest the band ever spent in a studio and the one several members rate highest. Devastation’s Rodney Dunsmore planned to press 500 copies on vinyl; it never happened, and nobody involved can now remember why. Shelby played the leads without ever attending a practice or a show.

Read every lyric, tape by tape →

The Tapes Themselves

Full photo archive →
Back cover of The Demos listing all sixteen tracks
The back of The Demos — all four tapes, sixteen tracks, numbered to 100.
Rotting Corpse demo credits sheet
The credits sheet: who played on which demo, studio by studio.
1986 demo tape insert with lyric sheet and band photo
The 1986 demo insert — lyrics, credits, and a band photo.
Signed copy of The Demos CD, 2005
A signed copy of The Demos, 2005.
Original Rotting Corpse demo artwork and tape layouts
Original demo artwork and tape layouts.
Neck Breaking Fury 1990 demo tape
Neck Breaking Fury, 1990.
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Follow Along on Instagram

Show flyers, throwbacks, and the next date — posted straight from the band, first.

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