BOOTLEG: EXCLUSIVE LAZARUS A.D. TRACK, "LAST BREATH (DEMO)"

In our never-ending quest to give you, the reader, the best music available, we present the Revolver Bootleg series. Throughout each month, we’ll post cool, new, and often-exclusive tracks right here for you to hear before anyone else.

This installment is an unreleased demo version of a track by thrashers Lazarus A.D. The studio version is available on their full-length debut, The Onslaught (Metal Blade), which is out now. We talked to bassist-vocalist Jeff Paulick about how it became one of the band's most identifiable songs.

REVOLVER First and foremost, what’s this song about?
JEFF PAULICK Being a bunch of pissed-off teenagers at the time we wrote the song, we wanted to describe what we thought Hell was going to be like. We wanted to give the listener a first-person perspective of what it is to be trapped in Hell and being tortured. The thought of being surrounded by all this evil and unable to escape made for a great song. The feeling of being absolutely helpless is a scary feeling if you ask me.

Was this an easy song to write?
This was one of those songs that just really came together quite quickly. When you’re a kid with a lot of free time on your hands, you come up with some pretty crazy shit. We just started jamming and playing riffs and the song just really fell into place. It’s not like we said, “OK, we need to write a killer song.” That’s not how we write songs. Some bands might be able to do that, but with us it’s all about getting together and jamming ’til our fucking fingers bleed.

When and where was this demo recorded?
We ended up recording the demo in Dan’s basement. Not the best place to record I might add. But when you’re a broke ass kid with a dream, you do what you have to and make it work. It was our first recording and I’m proud of the fact that we had the balls to do it. I know so many people who never follow their dreams.

What, in your opinion, changed most when compared to the album version?
The song is still the same as it was the first time we wrote it. We just had the money to record the music on better equipment. Once we heard the demo we knew that the production sucked balls and we needed to save our money so we could record in a real studio. When you record the guitars through an old effects processor it can’t be that good.

You recorded your demo in 2006 and self-released The Onslaught in 2007, and now Metal Blade has released the album. What do you think about when you listen to the demo version of “Last Breath”?
In the beginning, neither Dan nor I planned on singing but we couldn’t find a singer we all like. So we said, “Fuck it,” and I started singing lead and Dan took on the backup vocals. We really sucked at singing at the time and the demo really exposes that.

What sort of outside feedback have you gotten on this song so far?
Whenever we break out with “Last Breath,” the crowd goes fucking crazy. It’s a fan favorite. We all really love playing the song, which is cool since I have a feeling will be playing that song for the rest of our career.

Lazarus A.D.: "Last Breath (demo)"