Aftermath [Crossover/Chicago]

It's not too often that a band pops up on Napalms page with a demo of music that wasn't written and recorded in the small time that we've been running. But just last week one band from Chicago posted a demo straight from their tape released in '87... That's right, Nineteen eighty fucking seven! If there's ever bands that like to pretend to be old school, Aftermath are not one of them. Because they are just about as integrated with the Crossover Thrash scene as Mike Muirs love for Pepsi.

Formed in the pivotal 80's decade that spawned Thrash and Crossover, Aftermath are no strangers to the scene, and even played a good role in pioneering the genre. Being one of the first bands to embrace the clash of Metal and Punk, and chuck their own mix of hybrid sound out to the public. Now reformed in 2014 the band are once again looking to gig and write material that pay decadence to their now well defined sound. Although dates for this year are yet to surface, the band have two hometown shows in Chicago, as well as an outing to Germany planned for 2015. Here they'll be playing tracks not heard in live form since the dusk of the '80's, and Thrashing once again!



1987's 'Killing The Future' demo was one of the first releases I heard by the band, and for good reason. Searching for material by them is a damn hard prospect. Even in todays internet flooded society, only a hand full of tracks have been uploaded to the tube of you's, and 'Killing The Future' happens to be the only full release. Kicking straight in with all the in your face brashness you'd expect from Crossover, the old school elements and warm raw feeling are all in place as expected. Tempos quickly reach blistering pace, but are greatly split by really cool melodic interludes which introduce a more technical edge, not something often heard in the gung-ho styling of the genre. The touches on tracks like 'When Will You Die' certainly give the band a really cool technical edge, reminiscent of the likes of early Coroner who were growing around the same time, only over the other side of the Atlantic. For a second demo, it really sounds like Aftermath had developed a sound embracing their influences extremely well.

The bands recent re-forming has also had them embrace the world of social media, and they can now be found loitering the all familiar realm of facebook, as they look to spread their music on a format that was never around when it was wrote. Hopefully rekindling their old audience, and growing to introduce it to a younger one, that may have not heard them before. Whichever you may be, you can find the band here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aftermath/166697546694163 The band are yet to announce the details on their booked dates, but I should imagine all will be coming soon enough on their 2015 run of shows. If you happen to live in or around Chicago, or some undisclosed area of Germany, you may well be in luck! Either way, give that page a like, and help support old veterans looking to rise once again.

Aftermath is:

Kyriakos "Charlie" Tsiolis - Vocals
Steve Sacco - Guitar
John Lovette - Guitar
Ray Schmidt - Drums
Adam - Bass