Description

Black vinyl with insert and OBI-strip. Limited 150 numbered copies. This is number 1

Orions Sword saw the light of day in November 1981. The very first line-up was Leif Strömqvist (vocals), Åke Möller (guitar), Ingemar Söderlund (bass), Morgan Gustavsson (drums) and a second guitarist who didn’t last very long in the band as he felt the others played too loud and decided to sell his equipment. In February 1982 Peter Holgersson took his place. With Peter in the band they started to rehearse more seriously. In October they entered a local rock band competition which they eventually won. Not so stranger perhaps when their opponents in the final never showed up. They weren’t as lucky on the next couple of competitions they where in though as Leif and Ingemar got too drunk and screwed up both for themselves and the band. Ingermar got kicked out and Leif decided to quit. In order to keep the band going Åke switched to bass and Peter also did the vocals. Orions Sword were a three-piece for a while before they entered another competition called Talang 83. Leif got another chance as a vocalist. The gig turned out to be another fiasco and Leif left the band for good this time. Also Morgan was kicked out after this. In August 1983 Janne Gustavsson joined Åke and Peter as the new drummer. Janne had played with Peter in a previous band for a couple of years. In September, Orions Sword recorded six songs for their first demo which was called Charge. With this tape they got featured in several fan and magazines. In November Ralle Johansson joined the band as keyboard player. In July 1984 the band recorded another demo called Volume II. Several of the songs later ended up on the third demo, Send Out Of Orion, that was recorded some six months later on. In 1985 things started to get moving for the band, they did plenty of gigs, got good reviews, recorded a promo video and was asked as the only unsigned band to appear on the Swedish Metal Aid project (much thanks to Stefan Johansson who founded the project being from Västervik. Probably the same reason that got the band the spot Band Of The Month in the Okej magazine in March of 1985). During the winter 1985-86 the band recorded a fourth demo, Part IV. The new songs were more commercial which led to conflicts within the band. In order to play some heavier music Åke joined the band Raving Mad as well, and after a few months he decided to leave Orions Sword to fully concentrate on Raving Mad. Ralle left the band shortly thereafter as well. Peter and Janne decided to continue with new members and under a new name, Violet Rose. For the first time ever, material from these demos of this cult early to mid 80s Swedish metal band are available on vinyl, in a killer limited edition. Fans of epic metal as well as classic Swedish bands such as Heavy Load, Onyx etc should grab this one.

Track list:
1. Behind The Glad Walls-Charge demo 1983
2. Changing Fortunes-Charge demo 1983
3. Crusade Of Heavy Metal-Volume II demo 1984
4. Charge-Volume II demo 1984
5. You Got To Be Strong-Volume II demo 1984
6. Blizzard In Mind-Volume II demo 1984
7. Breakdown-Sent Out Of Orion demo 1985
8. Atomic War-Sent Out Of Orion demo 1985
9. Why Fight-Sent Out Of Orion demo 1985
10. Rock N Roll Lady-Sent Out Of Orion demo 1985