Sacrilegeous - Nordic Landscapes of Hessdalen EP 1996

Sacrilegeous - Nordic Landscapes of Hessdalen CDEP 1996
1) Hessdalen
2) Message from Another Dimension
3) V / Mystery of Iniquity
4) Dreamlands
5) T.F.A (Bonus track)

Reuploaded!

It's Friday and to provide soundtrack to the crazy partying of the Coven's flock I give you more Sacrilegeous! Rejoice! This one comes from my own stock again and it is the only CD release from 1996, self-released by Necrodesecrator from whom I got my copy as late as a few years ago. Cover scan is included.

Ok, by now some of you must be worried "a CD release by Sacrilegeous, surely it has to be ruined by overproduction and be totally commercial and sell out and woe is me" but cast aside your doubts and trouble, it is still the same ol' stuff we love and cherish. Sure, the production is slightly cleaner and maybe the song writing isn't as extreme as before but one look at the cover art should have already told you this is still very much in DIY-spirit, uncommercial and underground. The songs are longer than on the old releases and a bit less random. Vocals are the same and general instrumentation too. But enough text, some of us have to work even if it is Friday, download this if you enjoyed the previous items and if you didn't, listen to this anyways and keep on hating!

Embodiment - The Forgotten Gates demo 1994

Embodiment (ita) - The Forgotten Gates demo I 1994
1) Dark Aeon
2) Dreaming of the Forgotten Gates
3) Override of the Overture (Dismember cover)
4) Rotting Graves / Deformed Creation

Yandex / RGhost

This month is coming to an end soon and this has been a slow period for the Coven. Next month should be more active again. Anyways, today's post is death metal for change and a rather random choice which I asked brother Grev to dub for me. Thanks bro! Picking a demo based on its name and being vague enough not to be recognized brings back memories for sure. No covers as Grev had a dub too so a Metal Archives image was used.

The content is quite simple and direct old fashioned death metal, no frills stuff. Sound is a bit on the poor side as it sounds like it was recorded in a barrel or something though this probably is partially due this being ripped from a dub of unknown generation. The vocals bellow on top of everything else. After a while you either get used to the sound and it doesn't bother you anymore, you might actually enjoy the cavernous, subterranean feel or you've had enough and put something else on. Nothing new really here but if you like your death metal barbaric, crude and lo-fi you might want to check this out.

Golden Dawn / Apeiron - Split demo 1995

Golden Dawn / Apeiron - Split demo 1995
Golden Dawn:
1) The Spirit Lives One
2) Until We Meet Again
3) Leben in Nebel
4) The Revelation
5) The Seven Gates of Dreaming
6) Enigma
7) As Above so Below (Act I)
Apeiron:
8) Where Mountains Touch the Sky
9) My Realm Is Not of This World
10) Hymn to the Glorious Dead

Bandcamp

I haven't had much time to attend to the Coven recently so here's a bit bigger post to make up, the 1995 split demo by Austrian projects Golden Dawn and Apeiron mentioned in this post here. Soon after the post I actually got two separate rips of this and I decided to post the one brother Grev's acquaintance had made for him. Thanks to all involved! A scan of the cover sheet is included.

I said a bigger post and this sure is quite a lot for one sitting, the demo takes up a whole 90 minute tape (children, back when we used cassette tapes the most common ones sold in shops were either 60 or 90 minute ones) with GD on side A and the three Apeiron tracks filling side B. And yes, two of them are very long while the third one narrowly missing three minute mark. No, it's not a radio friendly pop song. Golden Dawn continues pretty much from "Lullaby" though with less viking black metal tendencies and lyrics as well as a generic feel closer to the debut album's esoteric black and dark metal experiments. Production is slightly better than on the debut demo, if you've heard the tracks on the A.B.M.S. compilation it's comparable to that. The third track "Leben in Nebel" sounds somewhat awkward compared to others around it, possibly having to do with the vocal style chosen as well as the songwriting. "The Revelation" picks things up again and the GD part maintains a reasonable momentum to its end, even if there are some odd side steps in every other track none stumble as much again.

Apeiron's part opens up sounding very much like an intro to Golden Dawn song would except that it just goes on and on. Ambient y'know. "Where Mountains Touch the Sky" has a running time of almost 19 minutes and sounds for much of its duration more spacey, cosmic and astral sort of ambient than dark, ritualistic or occult. Keyboards and some sound effects are the main components but some electric guitars eventually make an appearence approximately half way into song. Things take, in my opinion, a more dungeon synth-esque turn from there on. Vocals enter the mix and with the quickened tempo and the guitars the song basically becomes metal which is a little confusing when you were expecting ambient. Especially after the drums entered the mix. Quite an odd epos. "My Realm..." starts again with tingling keys, all ambiance which is slightly more dungeon than astral this time, but now you're already cautious and won't be fooled by Dreamlord's shenanigans. Except he doesn't repeat the previous formula. This time the ambient soars into cosmos around third of the track in and strongly effected vocals are added, reminding me of the Black Orchid demo. Or that was the first thing that came to mind. Eventually some guitars are again added in, but they seem to fit better this time and it doesn't sound "just" metal. There are several fade outs and restarts in the latter part of the track with the parts differing a bit from each other while maintaining a uniform overall feel. Unfortunately towards the very end he somehow slips into full on metal again which I really think isn't appropriate here. The contrast is jarring especially for being such a short part in an epic length track. The last short track features so-and-so cleanish vocals and sounds really more like it should've been an outro part for a Golden Dawn demo. I understand Stefan is working on remixing and possibly doing something else to some of the Apeiron material which will be interesting to hear. Recommended to check out if you've enjoyed his other work and for the novelty of me wishing something to be less metal for the Apeiron bits.

UPDATE: Has been released on vinyl (hmph!) by Seed Stock and on Stefan's Bandcamp (yay!) so get it ...somewhere!

Dies Irae - The Day of Wrath - Half an Hour Attack!!! demo 1987

Dies Irae (fin) - The Day of Wrath - Half an Hour Attack!!! demo 1987
1) Liberation from the False Power
2) Dwarf of the Court
3) The Road Goes Ever on
4) (You Are) the Victim of D.I.'s Force
5) Farewell
6) Carried by the Wind


Reuploaded (and corrected)


Today's post is a bit unusual one and a step away from the Coven's usual timeline of operations, this time however a little further into past. Dies Irae was a name used by more than enough bands (over a dozen in Metal Archives only) and back in the 80's a Finnish band had picked the monicker too. Contributed by brother Suuret Muinaiset, thank you, this is their apparently only release from 1987 and like the title tells, roughly half an hour of power/heavy metal. A cover scan is included and apparently there are no titles anywhere on the release, the M.A. pic of the tape shows it only having the title written on it and the cover has extremely minimal information. So if someone, somehow happens to know the tracklisting please get in touch!
UPDATE: I was provided a tracklisting! Oh joy! I've fixed, titled and reuploaded the demo so you might want to download it again if you have the old version.

The music here is power metal or simply heavy metal for my uneducated self as I've never been able to make much distinctions on the subgenres in the more traditional heavy metal front. I don't really listen much to this sort of metal except for the nostalgic oldies but this is ok. Sound is quite typical but good and clear demo quality and song writing and musicianship are decent enough. I suppose I'll recommend this if you're a retro enthusiast hit by the power/heavy metal boom of recent years or just in general interested in old Finnish demo tapes.

Black Wailing - Darklands demo 1995

Black Wailing - Darklands demo II 1995
1) Secret Woods
2) Realm of the Ancient Winds

Reuploaded - 2022

Today I'm posting the second and as far as I know last demo by Greek project Black Wailing. See here for the first one. Like the previous one this was sent by a contributor, thank you! I would be interested in getting actual copies of these so if anyone has them and wants to get rid of theirs leave me a note.

Only two songs this time, both quite long (just a little shy of seven minutes each) and continue straight from where the first demo left off. Gloomy dungeon synth/black ambiance with delightfully lofi demo sound but not unlistenable drivel. Like before, whispery grim voices along with the keys and they do ok. If dungeon synth must have vocals I think this sort fits best. Typical spoken parts end up sounding just plain silly 80% of the time, heavy effects fail more often than work and samples get really tedious soon especially if used in abundance. But back to this item, recommended like the first one and closest things to compare would probably be the Erevos demo I posted almost two years ago and to some degree also Wintergods and Lamentation which also happen to be Greek projects.

Winter Night Overture - 1995 - 1996 (1998)

Winter Night Overture - 1995 - 1996 compilation tape 1998
Revelation of Blasphemy demo 1995
1) Among the Graves
2) Revelation of Blasphemy
3) Alone Forever
4) Terminate the Christianity
Incarnated in the Flame demo 1996
5) Intro: The Gates
6) Abysmal Winter Sky
7) The Endless Inner Darkness
8) Alone Forever
9) Terminate the Christianity
10) Destruction of Reality
11) Incarnated in the Flame
12) Diluted in Blackness
13) Outro: Twilight Of Soul

Mediafire

Kind of a double feature today, this is a compilation of Estonian black metal band Winter Night Overture's first two demos on one tape. Not a bootleg thingy, they dubbed this to people late 1997/early 1998, before the release of "Weapon Against the God", my tape had an advance version of it on side B but that's not included here. Cover scan is included... the cover sheet had a band collage on the other side which I forgot to include in the folder so it's here in case you wanted that too.

The first four tracks are demo I "Revelation of Blasphemy" and have a raw & crispy sound, almost rehearsal tape-like. It's not bad at all, sounds cold and appropriate enough. The third track "Alone Forever" is melodic and moodier than the rest, almost like depressive black metal (!) while the others have a more hostile feeling rather than melancholic. Vocals are almost hysteric screams and musicianship... passable. The rest of the tracks are demo II "Incarnated in the Flame" which has a more processed and even sound quality, the vocals and high end in general are less dominant. Two tracks from the first demo are re-recorded, the rest are new ones. Most of the tracks are quite short, the whole demo of intro, seven tracks and outro having a playtime of about 23 minutes. A session musician provides some synths which are used sparingly, mostly for a positive effect. This is pretty good stuff. Standout tracks would be "Alone Forever", the title track and let's say "Abysmal Winter Sky" for third, which now that I think about it reminds me of some Marduk track whose name I can't quite recall. The last real track stands out as well, having both more variation and length. Recommended to check out if you have an interest in Baltic bands and 90's black metal in general.