Restless Breed | No Walls Can Hold – The Demo Anthology

by Justin Gaines
– News Editor —

When you consider the way the American heavy metal scene exploded in the mid ‘80s and then the thrash explosion of the late ‘80s, it’s obvious how some bands could be overlooked entirely by the larger metal scene, only to be rediscovered decades later. Ohio-based Restless Breed was one of those bands. With their combination of traditional heavy metal and speed/thrash styles, Restless Breed fell into the Vicious Rumors/Helstar/Metal Church mold, though they had a rougher, grittier vibe overall. They made some waves in the local scene and even scored a record deal, but like so many bands from that era Restless Breed never broke through to the next level, and their music went largely unnoticed… until now.

No Walls Can Hold – The Demo Anthology collects the various Restless Breed demo recordings on one disc. Since there were some overlapping songs on the band’s three demo releases (1987’s After the Holocaust, 1989’s No Walls Can Hold and 1989’s All Did Fall), No Walls Can Hold doesn’t have all of the recordings, but they do have all the Restless Breed songs. As to those songs, expect a lot of speed metal riffing, heavy rhythms, raw, gruff vocals (with a few highs) and angry lyrics. It’s not always pretty, and some of these songs sound extremely dated now, but there’s a great energy here, and plenty of material for old school headbanging.

Like the rest of the releases in Stormspell’s “Red, White and Heavy” demo series, the sound quality on No Walls Can Hold is a bit rough, and not up to the typical Stormspell quality level. It has been cleaned up as much as the source material allows, and honestly the raw feel tends to match the style of music and make it sound that much more authentic.

Restless Breed isn’t going to appeal to everyone, but the ones that do get it are going to love it. No Walls Can Hold is for the die-hards, the serious collectors of cult heavy metal who don’t mind a few rough diamonds.

Genre: Heavy Metal, Speed Metal

Band:
Sam DelGreco (b)
Bill Boyle (d)
Mike Ulery (g)
Mike Tonn (g)
Dave Cowgill (v)
Art Taylor (g)
Mike Fournier (d)

Track Listing:
1. Metamorphosis/No Walls Can Hold
2. In Sanity (You Suffer)
3. Outside In
4. All Did Fall
5. Matter Over Mind
6. Seven Seals of Fate/The River Runs Red
7. Those That Never Were
8. Unleash the Beast
9. One Final Scream
10. The Real World
11. After the Holocaust
12. Don’t Let the Night Fall
13. War Child

Label: Stormspell

Website: http://www.sumthinfierce.com/RestlessBreed.html

Hardrock Haven rating: 7.75/10