Triton Warrior Premiere “Sealed in a Grave” from Tatsi Sound Acetate
Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on April 27th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
On May 7, the original 1972 acetate demo of Triton Warrior‘s Satan’s Train / Sealed in a Grave single will be released digitally via Supreme Echo. The Tatsi Sound Acetate goes back to the early ’70s in Canada, when a relatively obscure young band from Ontario became early adopters of Sabbathian heaviness and thereby distinguished themselves from regional peers. They had two songs put to tape in 1973 that the British Columbia-based Supreme Echo reissued a few years back, unveiling them as prime slabs of proto-heavy. Formed out of members of high school acts The Cast and Mama Moose — bonus points to the first band who takes the name Mama Moose; make it happen — they embarked on a years-long career of revolving membership and evolving sound, starting off raw and gradually shifting into a progressive aesthetic as did many bands of the era. What made Triton Warrior different was their geography, of course, their youth — guitarist/vocalist David Fromstein was 17, as was bassist Alex Simon, while guitarist Keith Syrett was 16 and Ken “Old Man Buys the Beer” Ambrose was 18 — and the surefire delivery of their sonic heft.
So again, the Satan’s Train / Sealed in a Grave single was originally recorded and released in 1973. What you’ll hear in the premiere below is not that. Sure enough, it’s the B-side track, but an earlier version of the song, recorded in 1972. It’s never before been issued publically, and if I read the comment below from
Ambrose correctly, it kind of seems like the band forgot it existed.
Fair enough. 46 years is a long time to keep track of an earlier acetate of a single you released 45 years ago, but the older versions of “Satan’s Train” and “Sealed in a Grave” being unearthed is a boon to those who’d chase down bits of lost and/or previously unappreciated ’70s heavy. The chugging build of “Satan’s Train,” the drum solo there and the bluesy hook are presented in barebones and shuffling fashion — a sound prime for some retro band to try to capture directly — and “Sealed in a Grave,” which is even more malevolent in its title, runs through its lead guitar opening and weighted, fuzzy rhythmic push with a quick pace backed by frenetic tom runs and crashes with melodic vocals overlaid, telling ahead-of-their-time tales of murder. A standout guitar solo in the second half is short but comes through crisply, and harmonies in the guitar and bass emerge to bring the track full circle as it heads into its final verse.
As with many of the style and era, Triton Warrior went largely unnoticed at the time, but for my money, the demo versions of the songs sound even better than their finished counterparts — the raw energy of the band cutting through a harsh recording that’s clearly been cleaned up some, but maintains the spirit of its initial analog hiss and classic, reverb-soaked vibe.
The release of Tatsi Sound Acetate — again, May 7, digitally — brings these elements into focus as they’ve never been before, and of course it’s a limited pressing. Info on that follows word from Ambrose on the song, which you’ll find beneath the player below.
Please enjoy:
Ken Ambrose on “Sealed in a Grave”:
Okay. At this time we had no singer and Dave and I sang most of our songs. I sang on some Mott the Hoople songs, Lou Reed, Sweet Jane, “Sealed in a Grave.” Joel Cohen was a friend of mine in school and came over to audition to sing, but the boys didn’t like what they heard. He wanted to be part of the band and we let him do the sound and lighting after this. It was quite primitive at that period.
The recording was basically just the four of us — Dave, Keith, Alex Simon and me. It was a older house on a lot of property. It was the guy’s house and a homemade studio in the basement. I do recall they did have a small drum booth. I had a hard time fitting in, it was very tight. It was very exciting, we were very well rehearsed and had the two songs really ready to go. It was everyone’s first time in a studio so none of us had any experience.
We were pretty serious on the recording and knew the time constrictions so we didn’t fool around. This was all new to us having to lay individual tracks, so it was a bit scary being under the microscope. We had always played these songs live as a unit, but it was more critical laying down your individual track with everyone listening to you behind the glass in the control room. I felt the pressure as a drummer, because everything was just so magnified, like if I hit a rim with my drum sticks or my seat or bass pedal would squeak.
My memory says we did “Satan’s Train” first. So we laid tracks, played together with headphones Dave on guitar and Alex on bass; my drums were recorded first, then added guitars and bass, and then vocals. I was supposed to sing “Sealed in a Grave” on this demo, but now in a studio situation heard how awful I really sounded. So not expecting to sing it, Dave sung it. Yes, lots of reverb, haha .
The mood of the band was excellent, we were confident and probably a bit cocky, you can see we had laughs taking the pictures outside. This was a good time were everyone liked each other, no arguments all just cool. Band was very happy and tight with each other.
It was a miracle I found the demo, as you remember I had no idea that I even still had it!
TRITON WARRIOR – “Tatsi Sound Acetate“ 7″ 45 (1972) Ltd 550 copies. PRE-ORDER
One of the earliest dark / heavy rock recordings of the Canadian 1970s. From the rediscovered one-copy-in-existence acetate of the original quartet recorded prior to vocalist Joel Cohen joining. Guitarist David Fromstein sings lead vocals on this haunting and eerie heavy rock smoker!! Proto-heavy metal all the way. Professionally transferred and digitally restored audio. Includes replica original logo cover, generous booklet with bio & images. 550 copies. First 100 with a button.
