Before Kalas took the name Kalas, the band was called Scum Angel. This group of 4 songs were written by Andy Branton, Brad Reynolds, and Scott Plumb, Paul Kott had joined and written the dual lead guitar parts and a few changes, but the bulk of his major contributions to the band's songwriting came with later songs like Monuments to Ruins and Frozen Sun, songs that weren't written until after the demos were released. Paul had actually left the band during the singer search, mainly because of time commitments with High Tone Son of a Bitch and a spate of Cruevo reunion shows around that time. Matt Pike, Paul Kott, and Scott Plumb were roommates at the time, and when Matt joined Scum Angel on vocals, Paul also jumped back in. The band recorded the Scum Angel demos shortly after the lineup was solidified, and started playing live frequently in the Bay Area. The band made a small number of physical copies of the demo and put together traditional press kits and one sheets to send to labels, but Paul, who was running a now-defunct record label called Unknown Controller at the time, convinced the band to release the demo at no cost digitally. Digital distribution was something Paul had experimented with as a promotional tool for his label, using early platforms like mp3.com, and the most widely used platform in the pre-Facebook days of the Scum Angel demo was Myspace. The band released the demo on Myspace as free streaming content, and tens of thousands of listens quickly racked up, based on the buzz that started spreading about this new Bay Area underground metal "supergroup", which featured members of a number of popular underground bands. A lot of the music industry industry interest the band's demo started to generate was due to Matt Pike's involvement as vocalist. Everyone in the band knew that it was likely that Matt Pike's involvement in the project would be a double edged sword, and that the band might be looked at as a "Matt Pike side project" and that the overall vision stood a pretty good chance of being misunderstood. High on Fire was touring on 2005's "Blessed Black Wings" album when the Scum Angel demo was recorded, and Sleep's legend was growing to greater proportions than they'd ever experienced while they were an active band. As a result, Matt's profile as an underground icon was steadily growing during this time. The complicated part was that of course Matt was growing in recognition mainly as the legendary guitar player for Sleep and now High On Fire, and he didn't sing at all in Sleep, and his vocals were up to that point almost an afterthought on the High On Fire records. Scum Angel wanted to blend the mid-tempo melodic crust punk sensibilities of Andy Branton's efforts in El Dopa with the doom metal, obscure 70s prog, sludge, hardcore, and psychedelic rock influences Paul Kott brought to the table from his time in Medication Time, Cruevo, and High Tone Son of a Bitch, which meant vocals were important to the band. The goal with Scum Angel was to focus on solid songwriting, vocals and lyrics, and cool dynamics rather than just ripping people's heads off live with volume and heaviness as lots of the members previous bands had done. That meant a conscious effort to back off on heading in the direction of the guitar theatrics and raging thrash of High On Fire, and to avoid falling into the trap of becoming a full-on stoner group, given that Sleep is pretty much the quintessential stoner metal band. There was an active effort put into building the dual guitar leads over the framework of the songs on the demo, and to work with the vocal arrangements and really allow Matt to present himself as a singer and front man. The effort worked, and the demo was well received by fans of all the members' previous bands. Later on, once the full length, self-titled debut came out under the name Kalas, High On Fire fans and critics did end up divided about what the band was doing. Many people were confused and disappointed by Matt's shift away from the guitar player role, and some questioned why you'd have a guy who's celebrated internationally as one of the most interesting and unique guitar players of his time do anything BUT play guitar. Others came down a lot closer to the kinds of responses the demo got, with one fan, Andrew Sternick, summing it up in a 5 star review on Amazon by saying, "of the Matt Pike chain of bands, this album is on the level of 'Holy Mountain' by Sleep". The goal for Scum Angel was to give Matt a chance to really shine as a vocalist, and he stepped up to the plate. The impact of this experience on Matt's later output is really obvious, the High On Fire album recorded after the Scum Angel demo and Kalas' debut was 2007's "Death Is This Communion", and his vocals are far more confident and melodic than any previous HoF effort. The Scum Angel demos, and later the Kalas full length, gave Matt a chance to really step into the idea of being a vocalist, and the band backed him up completely with great song structures, dynamics, and soulful dual guitar harmonies. The production on the demo recordings is a little more immediate and much more raw than the full length album, the tempos are a little rushed compared to the versions of these songs on the full length, and the complete recording, from tracking to mixing, took place in just a few days. Overall, the Scum Angel demos are worth picking up and listening to if you're a fan of Kalas, or of any of the members' other projects.