Demented Ted was a fairly short-lived band from Chicago during the early-90's, releasing two demos and one album, "Promises Impure", which came out in 1993 on Pavement Music. It's funny that I dig this album so much now, at damn near 32 years old, because I very specifically remember refusing to listen to these guys when I was a kid because I thought the band name was so stupid. And make no mistake, I still feel that "Demented Ted" is a bit of a problematic designation, not to mention incredibly misleading in this case, so I bet that's why this album remains underappreciated to this day. Despite that, this is a very concise offering of extremely solid death/thrash through eight tracks in 36 minutes (including re-recorded versions of most of their early demo material). Even though it came out right during the height of the death metal boom, there's definitely a little more of a thrash thing going on musically—which suits me just fuckin' fine—so it's probably the lower and more aggressive vocal approach that really throws this material towards the death metal realm. The thickness of the guitar tone definitely lends a little more of a death metal churn to the rhythms, however, and the occasional spurts of eerie dissonance or subtle technicality amidst the chugging midpaced poundings certainly don't hurt, either. Original? Not exactly, but I've always been a huge fan of both early 90's thrash and early 90's death metal, and this album really is like the perfect fusion of the two.
Demented Ted "Existence Lies Beneath"
Three former members of Demented Ted ended up in a band called Beyond shortly afterwards that also released their lone album on Pavement Music in 1995. It's comparable on some level, but certainly more stripped down and what you could probably cite as being more Machine Head-ish overall (which is unsurprising given the time period). Another solid effort, but "Promises Impure" is clearly the better of the two.
I'm not sure why this album's not available digitally beyond eMusic, but that's where I grabbed it, and you can easily find used copies of the CD on Amazon.com and such for very reasonable prices. I definitely wish I had been a little less stubborn as a kid so that I could've been jammin' this shit since '93! Ha...
Get It
Amazon.com (CD)
Half.com (CD)
eMusic (mp3)
Comments
not sure if i’ve heard this band, or if i did i just don’t remember but i think they used to get a Believer comparison quite often, no?
2.27.2009 | By jim fuckin winters
I think I read somewhere that their name was in reference to Ted Bundy, but that doesn’t really make it any better. And I remember Beyond as being more early industrial metal influenced but I could be wrong. I never got around to buying that one, but I might just do that right now since it’s available for next to nothing on Amazon. Thanks for the reminder.
2.27.2009 | By gordeth
I heard this album at a friend’s place when I was first getting into death metal. I was like 12 or 13 at the time and had no means of procuring albums without having my mother take me to the store, and I remember thinking these guys’ name was so stupid that it might escape her vetoes more easily than Cannibal Corpse or Deicide ... hah. But I never did track it down. Thanks for reminding me ... I forgot how good this album was.
2.28.2009 | By zg
Yes, DEMENTED TED is a silly band name. Sounds more like the title of a TED NUGENT song. “Promises Impure” is not a bad record though. I just find the BEYOND album a little more interesting.
2.28.2009 | By Wolfhammer
I have not listened to this track but I remember these guys being fairly decent from back in the day.
More Pavement lost “treasures”—Skeletal Earth, Stressball and the racist Malevolent Creation album!
3.2.2009 | By Justin
[...] own), that I actually heard Demented Ted; and WOW… did I ever judge the book by the cover. I know I am not alone in thinking that the band probably would’ve done a lot better for themselves with a name that [...]
7.13.2010 | By ReviewsResist » Blog Archive » Midwest