Savage Garden #2

Savage Garden 'zine, issue 2
Interviews:
Dimmu Borgir
Mithotyn
Eisenwinter
Sad Entheus
Darkstyle
Die Verbannten Kinder Evas
Lycia
...The Soil Bleeds Black
Lunar Aurora
Necromicon
Therion
Draconian (swe)
Forgotten Silence
Blazing Eternity
Bishop Of Hexen
Mussorgski
Blut Aus Nord
Exhumer (fra)
Your Shapeless Beauty
Arkham
Prophecy (fra)
Stille Volk
Asyndess
Elend
Vladimir
Falange Amata
December's Fire
Funereal Moon
Equitant
Nox Mortis

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9th February is my birthday. To celebrate the event I decided to get off my lazy (old) ass & finish scanning this 'zine. I started already like a month ago but it's really thick (90 pages) and put together in such a fashion that scanning Meathooked#2 (which I thought was a tedious task) was like a walk in the park with free beer and dancing girls. Anyways, I finally got it done so here you go. This is ... I guess I should call it dark metal/dark music 'zine as it covers bands from black metal to atmospheric synth music to dark metal to medieval folk and whatnot. Most interviews date to late 1996 and the 'zine itself was released in March 1997.

Besides the interviews listed above, there are a few articles (bands Sentenced, Seth, Darken and a piece about art and alchemy) and reviews, besides the usual albums & demos they also have two separate pages for books and classical music. How fancy. Written in English (surprisingly good English too) and with a simple, clear lay-out it's quite easy to read, if a bit annoying. The editors are very enamoured with everything artsy and/or keyboard-drenched. You might notice it from their pick of interviewees. It's also very reflective of the time of it's release. I get a little sick at times browsing through it but I'm sure there's plenty to read for most of you, for reasons varying from interest in bands involved to reminiscing years gone by to historical study. I recommend you to download it & check it out if you're even remotely interested in the bands/genres involved.

Desire - Advance Tracks 95, promo 1995

Desire (Portugal) - "Advance Tracks 95" promo 1995
1) The Purest Dreamer
2) (Leaving) This Land of the Eternal Desires

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Previous post was the band's 1993 promo track and now here we've their 2 song promo from 1995, released under the new name. The music has evolved, song structures being more complicated, synth is more prominent and vocals varied but they're still the same band at heart, playing death/doom. The songs were recorded during rehearsal sessions in March 1995, in S.T.S. studios so I'm not sure if this should be tagged as rehearsal or not as it hardly sounds like rehersal tapes I'm used to.

Both of these two (long! 8:15 & 12:50) tracks appear also on their debut album "Infinity..." but these versions sound different enough to merit a download and a listen. I don't think "Infinity..." has been re-released so I'm not certain of its availability, I know the label Skyfall Records has been dead for years, so I might rip & post the debut album later as well.

Incarnated (prt) - Death Blessed By A God promo 1993

Incarnated (Portugal) - Death Blessed By A God promo 1993
1) Death Blessed By A God

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Death/doom from down south by Incarnated, who changed their name after this release to Desire and released two albums and EPs. This promo consists, as the most observant have already noticed, of only one track but it's a lenghty one at 8 minutes and I guess it's better to have one good song to promote your band than 3 mediocre. Heavy and gloomy music with deeply growling vocals and sprinklings of synth.

I got this promo & Desire's 1995 advance tracks (well, promo 1995 in other words) from the band back in 1995 and the tape was still in decent shape so the rip is ok. Sound is early 90s demo sound, a little muddled maybe but otherwise very good. Give it a shot if you like death/doom.

Wings - Live in Lappeenranta 20.11.1995

Wings - Live in Lappeenranta, Finland 20th November 1995
1) Cast Asunder
2) Equidistant
3) Unwind
4) Sunburnt
5) Deus Ex Machina
6) Refuse/Resist (Sepultura cover)

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Here's a live tape from Finland's Wings, familiar from a few other posts and main man Gabriel's involvement with Enochian Crescent as Victor. I was going to post this sooner but I had cleverly hidden this recording from myself and it took this long for me to see through my cunning ploys.

This gig was recorded at an unknown (for me, or maybe I just didn't write it on the tape) venue in Lappeenranta and features songs from the album "Diatribe" plus Refuse/Resist as encore. I'm not sure if this is the complete set, it could be missing a song or two ("Thus Far" and "Austere" come to mind) and he does say "The next song is Cast Asunder" in the beginning. Or on the other hand it could've been just that and the person started recording the gig after intros and such. Who cares, what we've here are 6 complete songs with a quite good sound. Dig into them already if you like Wings or technical and atmospheric metal.

Pazuzu - Advance Rehearsal Tracks, Late 1995

Pazuzu (USA) - Advance Rehearsal Tracks Late 1995
1) Hellhorde Reigning
2) Infernal Iron Legion
3) Trendkill
4) Blue Skies Of Falseness - cuts! -

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More black metal, this time from USA, this band (also known as Infernal Horde for a while) released a bunch of tapes in the mid & late 90's and involved members of Ember, Ezurate, Iron Legion, Usurper and Wind Of The Black Mountains. Their style was much influenced by proto-black metal of the Germanic bands such as Sodom, Destruction, Hellhammer/Celtic Frost etc.

This tape is an unofficial one, an advance tape with some rehearsal tracks recorded in late 1995. I got it from one of my German friends and unfortunately my dub cuts right in the middle of the 4th track (well I don't know if it's in the middle of it, I've never heard it in full). So you've been warned. You might also have to be warned that the contents of the recording are simple and primal, rough but clear rehearsal recordings with vocals that sound at times improvised, as if there were no lyrics yet made. Despite or maybe partly because of the things I just wrote, it is quite an entertaining listen. Old school maniacs, curio collectors and raw black metal enthusiasts should try this.

Сивер - Сивер demo 1998

Сивер - Сивер demo 1998 Siver - Siver demo 1998
1) Пролог Prolog
2) Пламя гнева Plamya gnewa
3) Предсмертие (сонеты) Predsmertye (Sonety)
1. Плач звездного неба
2. Агония
4) Сивер Siver
5) Тишина Tishina

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Слава России! Russian black metal from Murmansk is the offering today. Those who are allergic to Cyrillic may see the transliterated titles on small after the proper ones above, but be warned the .rar contents are also Cyrillic. Here might be a good time to point out I can't speak Russian so don't post comments in the language, m'kay?

Back to topic: this is (as far as I know) the only demo of the band Сивер (Siver) and they play atmospheric and melodic black metal with raw & cold sound. They have accordion too. WARNING: I have an original demo tape (well, it's a normal cassette with 2 sided xerox covers, bought from one of the distros in 1999) and don't know if anyone else has the same problem, but there's annoying disturbance in the end of the 3rd track, as caused by a mobile phone. I don't know if it was the distros fault (presuming he dubbed from a master tape onto blanks and sold them) or the band themselves. I know for sure I didn't cause that. Fortunately it's very brief but still annoying.

Notice that the aforementioned 3rd track Предсмертие (сонеты) is divided into two parts Плач звездного неба & Агония with a noticeable break in between. However I did not divide it into two tracks as it is listed as one on the covers (cover scans included in the download) as one song. That's quite enough writing for now, even with the flaw at the end of the 3rd song this is a recommendable demo.

Helwetti - Demo 1 '98

Helwetti - Demo I 1998
1) The Black Tempest
2) Disciples Twelve Are Dead
3) Satan Reigns Supreme
4) Mountain Of The Everburning Evil Fires

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I guess it's about time I posted some proper black metal so here's Helwetti from Finland who play here on their debut demo raw and Satanic black metal which might remind you of fellow Finns Warloghe (these guys would actually perform as live musicians for Warloghe & Lord Leppänen would replace Morath Worlock as drummer). The tape has a good rehearsal sound which suits this kind of music rather well. The sound is actually better than on the 2nd demo released by Drakkar.

I had a scruffy old dub of this and their second demo until I recently came across a copy of this which I picked up and ripped. There are other rips of this tape around, but as I was quite pleased with this I decided to post it anyways. Recommended for Warloghe fans, collectors of black metal demos and Finnish (raw) black metal enthusiasts.