UMUR "We Are the Dead" is the first demo recording by Danish thrash metal act Artillery. The demo was independently released on cassette tape in December 1983. Artillery formed in 1982 and at this point featured lead vocalist Per Onink. It would be the only Artillery recordinng with Onink fronting the band as he was replaced by Carsten Lohmann before the recording of the August 1984 "Shellshock" demo.

Considering that this is a late 1983 Danish thrash metal demo it´s surprisingly well produced, featuring a clear, sharp, and powerful sounding production job. Artillery are very well playing too for such a young band and it´s obvious that they also have a firm grip on composing effective tunes. Stylistically this is less thrashy and more speed metal oriented than their later material, but that´s to be expected from a late 1983 demo. It´s artists like Venom and occasionally Mercyful Fate that I´m reminded of. Onink is the weak link here. He is a fairly diverse vocalist, but he doesn´t have the strongest or most interesting voice, and while it´s no catastrophy and you can still enjoy the music, it´s not a positive either.

Upon conclusion "We Are the Dead" is a strong first demo from Artillery and while it doesn´t represent what they would do later, there are many great riffs, performances (drummer Carsten Nielsen was already a beast of a drummer this early on), and songwriting ideas here to appreciate. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.