What’s that thing hanging out in the middle of Cyclone’s logo – a bloody disembodied foxtail? As this speed metal thresher worked its way across the fields of Belgium during the mid-1980s, I guess a few small animals were bound to be hurt.
Cyclone were pretty obvious fans of tougher British bands like Blitzkrieg and Satan — until they got the Exodus bug. Unlike a lot of their Euro-peers, they had no problem shifting gears into high speed. This three-song gem bears plenty of resemblance to Razor and Show No Mercy-era Slayer, and landed the band a deal with Roadrunner Records, who released Cyclone’s speed metal cult classic Brutal Destruction the following year.
At some point the band befriended a young Christian Olde Wolbers (Fear Factory guitarist who once toured in Korn) and taught him the ways of well-brewed Belgian metal. “The guys who taught me were the guys from Cyclone,” he told Lords of Metal. “Those guys were from an older generation then I was. They where THE band from Belgium, you know.”
CYCLONE * “In the Grip of Evil” demo 1985 [23.6MB .rar]
There’s been a flood on YouTube recently of Cyclone live videos. The unofficial Cyclone MySpace page links to several of those.
In my opinion “Inferior to None” shits all over the first record. Though I’ve never been able to find “Inferior to None” on CD for a fair price, sadly. The production on that thing is just massive… 10 times better than that of “Brutal Destruction”, which I always thought was the album’s key downfall.
I agree with Andrew’s comment. “Inferior To None” musically and production-wise is far superior than “Brutal Destruction”. But for me…..the songs on “Brutal” are more catchy. Especially “Fighting The Fatal”, and “Take Thy Breath”.
Yeah..no kidding…finding a fair priced copy of “Inferior To None” is not going to happen. Found a copy of it online..and this guy wants $120.00 for it. NUTS!!!!!
seen the band numerous times, their live shows were killer always! this first demo is for me the best they did and it was very close to their live sound. The first album was plagued by a very dry production altough the songs live were incredible. By the time inferior to none was released thrash was already on the way back and the album didn’t sell at all. The production was in my opinion not representative at all for the later live shows they did… also check out Asphyxia as they were the other killer thrash band in Belgium…