ARCANUM – “The Book Of Onyx” album available on CD for the first time, remastered plus bonus tracks #arcanum

• First time on CD
• Remastered from best available sources
• Including 3 bonus tracks from ‘92 demo
• 16-page booklet
• Complete lyrics & photos
• Band history essay by Tony ‘Dio’ Lenoard
• Limited to 500 copies worldwide

ARCANUM – Arcanum HHR096

01.       The Attic                     

02.       The Pit and the Pendulum                   

03.       Holy Hypocrites                      

04.       Overture                     

05.       The Killing Machine                

06.       Jekyll and Hyde                      

07.       Into the Inferno           

08.       The Temptress           

09.       Warrior            

10.       Immortal

 ArcanuBonus Tracks from 1992 recordings
11. NightBreed
12. A.L.I.T.F.
13. The Rising Dead

All songs written & arranged by Arcanum except where noted.
*“Jekyll & Hyde” features an excerpt of “The Barber of Seville Overture” by Gioachino Rossini

**“Overture” features short excerpts from “Toccata in D minor” (Bach),
“A Night on Bald Mountain”(Mussorgsy), “Poet and Peasant Overture” (Suppe’), “William Tell Overture” (Rossini), “The Thieving Magpie” (Rossini)
Arranged by Tyner

Robert “Whiz” Tyner : Lead Guitar
“Venge” Helton : Rhythm Guitar
David “Rock Unit” May : Bass
Donnie “Thumper” Hill : Drums
John “Speedy” Rudisill : Vocals

The band thanks the following for support over the years: Our wives & families, Tony Dio, Phillip Sain, Greg Gay, Kirk Mathews, Ozzy Bobbitt and to all of the friends & fans we made along the way.

This album is dedicated to the memory of our brother Venge Helton.

m/ Onyx

The roots of the Arcanum date back to the year 1986 in a rural area of North Carolina called Rocky Mount. A group of young musicians started up a band there. They titled the group Onyx.

Onyx was comprised of Jeff “Venge” Helton on guitar, Ricky “Hellion” Proctor on Vocals, John “Ozzy” Bobbitt on drums, James Cash on bass. They would regularly rehearse at their friend Fish’s house. Eventually they persuaded Robert “Whiz” Tyner to join them as lead guitarist. From the start they were already writing their own material as well as learning songs by popular metal bands like Judas Priest, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. This lineup played backyard parties and redneck biker bars around the area.  It was tough for a heavy metal band to get a gig at these places so the band had to learn some rock n’ roll and southern rock tunes. It wasn’t odd to hear “Hold On Loosely”, “Cocaine” “Breakin’ The Law” and “For Whom The Bell Tolls” all in the same set. They enjoyed playing cover songs but they really prided themselves on performing their own original material. In the spring of 1987 they went to a local studio and recorded the 5-song “Keys To Oblivion ” demo.

Not long after Cash would be the first to leave the camp and the search to find a new bassist was on. I recommended my friend David May to the Onyx guys. As it turned out he was exactly the man they had been looking for. The band members each had a nickname and since the license plate on May’s Volkswagen Scirocco read “ROCK U” he was christened “Rock Unit”.

It’s around this time when I stepped into the picture and started hanging with these guys on a permanent level. I helped with roadie work and running lights at shows as well as contributing my art skills to design flyers and T-shirts.

The band continued to rehearse and write lots of new material.  They were heavily influenced by the newer wave of metal of the mid to late 80s. Bands like King Diamond &=and Mercyful Fate, Savatage and Fates Warning. The band began to have a cult following around our area of Eastern NC. Band practices sometimes turned into performances with twenty or more fans showing up at the practice location to watch the guys. The “in thing” for young metalheads around our area was sporting an Onyx T-shirt.

Eventually the band had a falling out with Ricky and he quit. David stepped up to the mic as lead singer and bassist though the search to find a permanent lead singer and frontman would continue.

Local gigs were sporadic as there were hardly any bars or clubs in the general area that would book a metal band. We did find places whether it was at a game room, teen club, or a backyard party. A biker bar at Atlantic Beach called Lisa’s who welcomed metal bands so that was always a great spot to play. These were the days when shows most likely featured only one or maybe two bands. When Onyx was the headlining band they would play up to three sets consisting of their own originals mixed in with cover tunes. Thanks to the crafty work of fan turned stage designer Greg Gay, the band started incorporating some theatrical flair into the shows with stage props, special lighting and pyrotechnics (exploding tombstones). Even their mascot, the faceless hooded figure featured on their T-shirts and flyers would make an appearance on stage.

By the end of 1989 drummer Ozzy Bobbitt had left putting the band on ice for months as they set out to find another drummer. We put up flyers in the local music stores in search of a drummer. Donnie “Thumper” Hill answered the ad. The band relocated their band practice to Hill’s studio in a little area near Raleigh called Stem, NC. They had been trying to break into the Raleigh music scene and Hill already had the connections to. He also recommended the singer of his former band X-IT to fill the vocalist slot. John “Speedy” Rudisill had a very unique vocal sound. I’ve always thought he sounded like a cross between Rush’s Geddy Lee and Tim Baker from Cirith Ungol. I remember hearing him casually singing the opening lines to Rush’s “Red Barchetta” at practice one day and the hairs on my arm were standing up. John gave the band the sound they’d been looking for. They started playing more shows and gaining new fans.

In early 1991 they rented some recording gear and recorded a demo tape themselves. The self-titled home-made “Onyx” cassette sold well among friends and fans, it was their only official release. The gigs were picking up and the band was now playing Raleigh clubs like The Switch and Snookers as well as traveling to Charlotte, Greensboro, Fayetteville and even back “home” to Rocky Mount opening a show there for Black Oak Arkansas. In September of 1991 they would headline the very first Summer Jam at the Wilson County Fairgrounds, an event that I would take over promoting in the following years and rebrand the NC Metalfest. In the summer of 1992 Onyx went into the famed CMC Studios in Zebulon, NC (Alias Mangler, Overlorde, Nantucket) to record 9-songs. This recording was only released to close friends and was sent out to record labels to try and get the band a recording contract. Nothing happened on that front but the guys continued to write new songs and perform whenever they could.

By spring of 1993 hardcore hip-hop group ONYX was having a lot of success in the US and abroad with their debut album “Bacdafucup” that would chart high on US Billboard 200, win several awards and by that fall be certified platinum.

Not wanting to contest, as if they even had a chance against the established hip hop group, over a possible trademark dispute, the guys in North Carolina Onyx decided if they were going to continue with hopes of getting a record deal, they would have to change their name.

The name ARCANUM was decided on and the band quickly began performing as much as possible under their new moniker. They would then return to CMC Studios in September of 1994 to record new material. The first 10- songs on this set are from that recording session. After the recording was finished they sent out demo tapes to various record companies. A possible deal with CMC Studios owner Bill Cain’s newly formed CMC Records loomed but nothing was agreed on. Plus, CMC seemed to only be signing bands that were “old news”. The climate in metal music had once again changed. grunge, death metal and nu-metal had become extremely popular and bands like Pantera and Sepultura were the top dogs in the heavy music world. Bands with “high pitched” vocalists or singers that had any vocal range were not “in style” at this period.

After having some personal issues with him the band decided to part with John Rudisill. The band members decided on taking turns handling the vocals on the new material they were writing. One more recording would be done in 1996 at Sonic Wave Studios in Raleigh. The new material was more aggressive, bordering death and thrash metal. With this new sound the band decided to change their name to Lost Cauze . They went on performing for a few more years before disbanding in 1998. Several of the band members stayed active into the next decade Rudisill returned fronting the band Predestination. David May played bass and recorded a CD with Strychnine Soul featuring former members of NC’s Nocturnal Fear.

Drummer Donnie Hill seems to have stayed the busiest of the bunch. He played in several other NC area bands after Lost Cauze busted up. In 2001 he traveled to South Florida to audition as touring drummer for Yngwie Malmsteen. He actually got the job but couldn’t get his passport in time for the European tour that was just days away from beginning so the job was given to another drummer. Donnie befriended Malmsteen keyboardist Mats Olausson and the two discussed working together after Mats returned from touring. Back in NC the following year the two formed the band Sumosha who released the album “Signs Of Solace” in 2003. Donnie now resides in Jacksonville, FL and has performed with the bands Fallen Empire, Moshe’ and most recently Swedish neo-classical guitarist Sammy Berell.

At the 2011 NC Metalfest Tyner, May and Ozzy Bobbitt performed as ONYX once more as a tribute to their fallen brother Venge Helton who sadly had passed away in 2007. Five years later, original Onyx singer Rick Proctor also passed away in 2012.

In my opinion Arcanum/Onyx had material just as good as a lot of the bands that were on many of the indie record labels of the 80s such as Metal Blade and Roadrunner. After listening to these recordings I think many will agree.  They created some really great material.

Whiz Tyner should’ve been a guitar hero! The album showcases his blazing fretwork and neoclassical style of  playing throughout. Just listen to the instrumental track, “Overture” where he assembles pieces from some of his favorite classical composers, Bach, Mussorgsky, Suppe’ and Rossini. In my opinion Whiz could hang with the likes of Malmsteen and Vai. Collectively these guys wrote some incredible music. Venge Helton was one of the best rhythm guitarists I’ve ever known. He had this unique style of picking like no one I’d ever heard before until years later when I first heard Jon Shafer of Iced Earth. Venge along with the dynamic rhythm section of May and Hill were the driving force of the band. Add in the Whiz’s blistering leads and Rudisill’s soaring vocals, you had a metal force to be reckoned with.

So why didn’t they achieve success? I guess location was a big factor. There have been a lot of really great bands from out of North Carolina that never made it to the next level. In Arcanum’s case there were other factors like not touring out of the region enough to get the hype exposure needed to generate some label interest. Their demo tapes made rounds in the tape trading circuit but never enough to get them the recognition they deserved. They never found the right connections and were just never in the right place at the right time. By the time the band had solidified a lineup the 1990s were upon us and as mentioned earlier, big changes were happening in the world of heavy music. Onyx/Arcanum did leave us with some stellar and true heavy metal. It was great to go back and listen to these recordings again and reminisce as we put this CD project together.

Tony “Dio” Leonard