Papsmear – Music To Kill By

Papsmear - Music to Kill By Cover

Don’t be fooled (or grossed out) by their name. Papsmear are a virtually unknown Las Vegas-based thrash band from the mid-80’s. I got turned on to these guys by a member at Metal Archives several months ago. At that time it was near impossible to find any of their CDs or LPs online. That MA member sent me a CD-R of some the Papsmear tapes he had. The sound quality was absolute tripe, but the music was awesome.

Fast forward to December 2008, while doing a bit more research into these guys, I found a new metal label called M-THEORY started by Marco Barbieri, manager of Warbringer and ex-President of Century Media. And of course, I wouldn’t mention this unless it related to Papsmear, right? According to Barbieri (from the M-Theory MySpace page):

Upon my return to Las Vegas last year I started running into old friends, amongst these old band members. When I was a teenager PAPSMEAR was the closest thing we had to Slayer, Exodus or Kreator and many here were enamored with them. Despite some compilation appearances the group never broke out of the Vegas scene and eventually broke up. I always cherished their first two ‘80s demos and through conversations with the band I’ve agreed to release a limited 1000 copy CD collecting these demos, bonus live tracks (25 remastered songs = 80 minutes of music) and a DVD featuring 3 live shows. This release is done jointly with Metal War Productions, out of Pennsylvania, whose co-owner Spencer is also a big supporter of the band and shared the same vision of making the music available again and to a wider audience.

Needless to say, I contacted M-THEORY and ordered “Music to Kill By”. And let me tell you, it is not to be missed for any thrash fan. This stuff is aggressive, brutal, and fast as all hell! Don’t take my word for it, though. I’ve put a couple of tracks that you won’t find on either the Papsmear or M-Theory MySpace pages:

Strangler – Papsmear – Music to Kill By

Incorrigibly Wicked – Papsmear – Music to Kill By

What’s next up for M-THEORY? This is an e-mail exchange I had with Marco:

Hails, Marco! I just ordered the Papsmear album. It’s awesome that you are making that available, and I’m definitely going to spread the word. I heard that you are also going to re-issue “Product of a Sick Mind” by The Horde of Torment. Is that true? That would be sick. \m/

Yes, The Horde of Torment is the next reissue I’m working on. It will collect the band’s official three demos (remastered) with a bunch of extra goodies (that’s the part we’re trying to sort through and agree upon).

Thanks,
Marco Barbieri