Roxx Records is very proud to announce that they have unearthed another RARE Christian Metal Gem for the world to enjoy! We have signed an exclusive deal to be able to bring to you in a strictly Limited Edition format the long lost ‘Cassette’ only demo from one of San Francisco’s premiere Christian Metal bands… Crossforce!
Crossforce were a vastly underrated Metal Band from the San Francisco Bay Area. Melodic but heavy with simply GREAT songs and GREAT melodies! The band was led by a very young, energetic and very charismatic front man named Tony Krider who also played rhythm guitar and piano for the band and was a very versatile and talented musician. Unfortunately Tony would leave this world way to early in 2002, leaving us with his music to help fill the void.
Crossforce was also led musically by the fierce guitar playing of a young guitar virtuoso named Phil Castillo who would go on to play in many instrumental Christian Metal bands like Mercy and Krush! Tony would also become a part of Mercy alongside of Phil briefly after Crossforce had run it’s course, they would put out one more cassette only demo tape out under this name. The band was rounded out by Jeff Scott on bass, Mark Wrapley on keyboards and Mark Cassettari on drums and together they were Crossforce.
The band would play a couple of very seminal Christian Metal festivals in Southern California. They would play the first annual ‘His Festival’ and they would also be invited to play the very first Sanctuary sponsored Christian Metal Festival called ‘Metal Mardi Gras’. They would go on to print and sell 500 copies of their original demo tape in 1986, 25 years ago this year! Unfortunately despite a lot of buzz and interest in the band from several labels the band would never quite break out of the local scene and would never officially record or put out any other releases.
The bands demo tape would become a much sought after collectible reaching easily in to the $100 mark for an original copy on sites like eBay. The tape itself would never be reproduced or see the light of day again until now, despite the fact that the demo would be widely traded amongst collectors all over the world for years to come.
We are very excited to finally make this classic title available to the general public for the very first time EVER on CD. But not only are we releasing the very first six track demo but after working with Phil Castillo from Crossforce as well as some close friends of the band from the bay area like former White Throne magazine cohorts Dave Johnson and Keven Crothers, we have unearthed an extremely rare demo tape that the band recorded live and in the studio to send exclusively to Frontline Records main man Jimmy Kempner. This audition tape has never been released and has never been heard outside of the close circle of friends and the band.
This collection is a true piece of Christian Metal history and you will get the chance to hear this demo for the very first time completely remastered and uncut with haunting intros and discussions from front man Tony Krider and the rest of the band as they sought their first record deal.
But if that still is not enough for you then you will want to get in early on the pre-order where the first 100 copies will come with an exclusive bonus disc featuring tracks from an unreleased Crossforce show and the original Mercy demo tape which has also never been released on CD!
Stay tuned to the Roxx Productions site at www.roxxproductions.com or the Roxx Productions facebook page at www.facebook.com/roxxproductions as we begin to unveil more details of this classic release piece by piece!
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