Ok, guys and girls, I'll be keeping an open mind on this one until someone who was actually there can help us to clear the blanks once and for all. I have received furtive indications of a mysterious demo from Unter Den Linden since I first got serious on NWOBHM research, back in the early 2000's - and the fact that it was supposed to have featured the vocals of none other than Brian Ross made the whole thing way more intriguing, to say the least. I mean, the same guy from Blitzkrieg and Satan? How? Well, as our collective knowledge of the period grew stronger, the truth of the matter became (a little bit) clearer, and now there's zero doubt that not only good Mr. Ross was indeed there, but that it also recruited future NWOBHM stalwarts Mick Moore and Gary Young for a short while, Unter Den Linden being basically the starting line for the project that would later be known as Avenger. Yeah, all this while recording the completely unrelated "Wings of Night" and "Man at the Bottom" songs for the well-regarded "Roxcalibur" compilation in 1982!
Yeah, I know. Quite confusing, right? Well, I won't pretend to know all the facts in minute detail, but I guess at least some clarification can be made around here, until someone close to the matter can finally educate us all for good. Whatever the case, my current answer to the question I know you're all asking (is this an Unter Den Linden demo after all?) will have to be an honest, but somewhat frustrating "it COULD be, and I think it is, but I just don't know for sure".
Unter Den Linden (named, quite bizarrely, after a boulevard in Berlin) were originally formed in Newcastle Upon Tyne, most probably in the first half of 1981, and centered around brothers Bill (B) and Malcolm Midwood (G). The duo, augmented by Kelly Scott (V) and the aptly German-sounding drummer Dieter Roth (D), recorded the aforementioned tracks for "Roxcalibur", released by Guardian in the very early months of 1982 - two pretty decent songs that doesn't fare bad at all IMO in a mostly very good metal compilation. I can't make a firm statement on whether this 4-piece recorded any further songs or not, though I'm strongly inclined to believe they never did, as "Man at the Bottom" and "Wings of Night" are known to have been laid down on tape for the exclusive purposes of the LP, and credible mentions to any prior activities by them are close to zero, as long as I could find at least (this including virtually non-existant references to any gigs, before or ever since). Whatever the case, this line-up seemingly fell apart not long after "Roxcalibur" hit the shops, with all members quickly dispersing (and never reappearing in any other metal bands, I'm afraid) and only Malcolm Midwood opting to soldier on.
Here is where the story takes a strange turn. I'm not really sure how they all got together, but it seems that Brian Ross (V) and Mick Moore (B) were trying to get a new act together after the untimely original demise of Blitzkrieg, and somehow they crossed paths with Midwood, agreeing to work alongside him to get a revamped version of Unter Den Linden off of the ground (why they would insist to adopt such an uninteresting band name is beyond me, though). It probably didn't took them much time to recruit a very young (no pun intended) Gary Young (D, and then only 16-years old), and soon a functional line-up were working on new songs. It was all short lived, though, and soon the Ross-Moore-Young trio opted to move away from the whole enterprise, forming a new venture under the Avenger guise and taking away with them many of the songs written in the interim. Only those who have been there would be able to tell for sure what happened, but I was once told (by a pretty respectable, though far from infallible, source) that the falling out happened because Midwood refused to add another guitarist to beef up the band's sound, all such sugestions by his colleagues being flatly dismissed by the axeman.
The 5-track tape that has been doing the rounds for a few decades now (taken from a recording session that definitely comes from 1982) have been described as both a Unter Den Linden or Avenger recording, and there's no particular grounds to make a firm decision either way as yet, though I have the strong impression this is a Unter Den Linden demo after all. Two tracks that would soon be used by Avenger ("Hot 'n' Heavy Express" and "Too Wild to Tame") are here featured in nearly identical arrangements, alongside "Space Traveller" (a leftover from Blitzkrieg's early days) and raw, still formative versions of "Hunt You Down" (later to be used by Satan) and "Love's Too Late" (that found its definitive recording in Blitzkrieg's "The Mists of Avalon" CD). The repertoire makes a lot of sense as an Avenger offering, that's for sure, and the lack of songs that would undoubtedly belong to a different band is a bit suspicious, but I have a number of reasons to believe this one came from Unter Den Linden anyway.
There's no evidence that Avenger have ever played "Space Traveller" live, for instance, and though a demo version of "Love's Too Late" (dated as from 1982) do appear as a bonus in a few reissues of their "Blood Sports" LP, it's undoubtedly a different cut from the one here featured, with significant differences on both guitar arrangements and vocal delivery. The exact same thing happens with "Hunt You Down", with a definitely different demo (also dating from 1982) appearing as a bonus on Avenger's "Steel on Steel" compilation from 2024. I personally don't believe Avenger would record two different demo sessions with the exact same songs in the space of mere months, unless they were trying such songs with a different guitarist (original Avenger axeman Steve Bird, if my guessing is correct). Besides, the fact that no songs from this mysterious demo were ever reissued either for Avenger or Blitzkrieg (both known for making extensive use of archive material throughout their discography) is something of a giveaway that none of the bands have the full rights on this particular recording, which comes as strong indication of a Unter Den Linden origin.
There's not much reason to delve too deep on the demo's contents, as most songs are common knowledge for everyone that follows the fortunes of Avenger and/or Brian Ross. "Hunt You Down" comes without the memorable, gang-shouting chorus that makes the final version on Satan's "Court in the Act" so enjoyable (and I guess it justifies Russ Tippins, that had no connection with this demo whatsoever, receiving songwriting credits on Satan's LP), whereas "Love's Too Late" have a markedly different vocal melody from the rendition on "The Mists of Avalon", though the instrumental arrangements are mostly the same. "Space Traveller" is a decent song, but was never too hot when compared to the sterling material Blitzkrieg penned on their early days, and this particular recording doesn't enhance it in any significant level. As for "Too Wild to Tame" and "Hot 'n' Heavy Express", there's nothing out of the ordinary going on, but both are truly nice numbers in their own right, and those who love NWOBHM with a passion will sure delight on the prospect of listening to such early versions of these tracks. All things considered, this 5-track tape is quite a curio for NWOBHM collectors, and fills an important gap on the timeline of some acts we all came to love and respect, but you shouldn't waste any sleeping nights on it unless you're an obsessive completist, and most metalheads out there will surely be better served by the canonical versions of such songs.
I have no idea of what happened to Malcolm Midwood after he found himself alone for a second time, though I think it's safe to assume no Mark III of Unter Den Linden ever surfaced, the guitarist possibly concluding that the whole stress of keeping a band together was simply not worth the effort. Curiously, it transpires that the axeman reappeared in the 1990's in a classic rock covers band named Witchkraft, that seems to have been active for at least the early 2020's and once featured the vocal services of none other than Tony Liddle (singer for Strangeways, Sergeant, Tygers of Pan Tang etc). Efforts are being made to locate him, and if we're all lucky enough I hopefully will soon be able to ask him a few questions and shed light on the whole Unter Den Linden / Avenger scenario once and for all. Fingers crossed!
Brian Ross (V), Mick Moore (B), Gary Young (D). Guitars probably recorded by Malcolm Midwood (though it's also possible that it was done by Steve Bird)
01. Hot 'n' Heavy Express
02. Hunt You Down
03. Space Traveller
04. Love's Too Late
05. Too Wild to Tame
Have you been involved with any of the bands mentioned here? Have any extra info and/or corrections? Please e-mail me (drequon@gmail.com) and let me know!
