"Legerdemain has been a long time in the making," says founding metallic member/chief experi-metal songwriter Jay Edward Van Muijen (ex-Seven Plagues, Grilled Cheese).

"The name means 'slight of hand.' The first time I saw the word I was reading an unauthorized biography about Hunter S. Thompson. A lot of inspiration for my songs comes from that guy.

"I spent a good year deciding how to write songs," continues Van Muijen (sounds like Myou-in).

The technically bewildering Legerdemain has been crafting this crazed skull krush tekgrind sound for two solid years.

"It'll go from death-metal techy stuff, then it'll go to grind," says exciting drummer/mad-metal gig promoter Cory Thomas (Putrescence). "It's like a grind-influenced Opeth."

"It's like a lazer-guided chainsaw rocket being fired into a tornado of broken glass," Van Muijen chuckles proudly.

The five-piece is a fresh face slap - in the metal sense - and it features three gore-grinding members of Putrescence: guitarist Jean Wittenger, bassist Sean on vocals, along with Thomas. Van Muijen plays shocking guitar and co-operative co-worker Charley Justice from War on Music plays emblematic bass.

"We're super-proud of our new demo. We've been giving it away at every show. We've given away about a hundred of them now," Thomas says.

U tech-metal streetbeaters can check out all this free demonic demo-metallic complexity when the slight-of-hand myth-makers hit it at the Zoo on May 15 with Derelict (Montreal), death metal perps Tyrant's Demise, and Mephisto.

The five-song gig giveaway disc was recorded in eight hours by Dennis Mutt at the blood-red Putrescence practice pad. Hell, the price is right, U streetists should def dive in. The demo includes the monsteriffic Sonambulist's Nightmare, which has a "Hunter S. Thompson sample" smack dab in the middle. The other out-there trax are Hybrince, Erstwhile Abstruce, Urpflanze, and A Summer For Your Lucifuge Rofocal.

"I consider it to be more art than music," Van Muijen says. "We play more on feeling. It is technical and it is tight. It took us a good year of jamming to get our ass-groove in this couch of metal."

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