tiistai 22. heinäkuuta 2014

Malitiae - Azazel demo 1995


Malitiae - Azazel demo 1995
1) A Shadow of Sorrow (Darkness Falls Over Ptlomea)
2) Tears of Ice
3) INFERNO

Depositfiles / Rusfolder

My second part of summer vacation has come to pass and it is back to work. I want to share misfortune with my loyal readers, so behold, I give you Malitiae from Sweden! Again another demo I picked based on the band name (and the overall look and feel of the cover bringing Infortunium releases to mind - how wrong was I) and assumption it would be Swedish black metal in the underground vein, just somehow overlooked and possibly a hidden gem. Wrong. Ripped from an original tape, cover scan included.

By now you must be anxious to read what is going on with the recording, or some of you have already downloaded it and experience it first hand. It's amateurish, strange, poorly performed and just awful. A generous person will call it black metal as it vaguely sounds like some things associated with the genre. The guitar sound is... remarkable, vocals shoddy, drum computer absolutely hideous, sound clear but poor, songwriting abysmal and not in a excluding demonic menace-way. Sound level changes suddenly in the last, looooooong song, bizarre synths (/flutes?) occasionally overpower everything else and it's just sort of haphazardly random, like combining the worst elements of Sacrilegeous and almost everything of Siren. It is also morbidly fascinating, like an out of body experience helplessly, spellbound watching an accident take place where you most likely end up horribly mauled in an interesting way. For masochists, obsessive demo collectors, the very curious and the utterly insane.

15 kommenttia:

Borderline1991 kirjoitti...

Thanks! First of all, very good review and I agree with you. I can't believe this was really released because it is so bad that it actually makes it interesting. I bet this guy Lord Azazel Djinn was on mushrooms or something when he did this. I still can't decide if the vocals or the "drums" are more awful... I'll keep it in my collection because I like the cover artwork but I don't think I'll listen to it again. Well, maybe some day when I forget how horrible it is.

Velkaarn kirjoitti...

@Borderline:

Thanks for your comment and you're welcome. Heh, it is an inspiring demo, is it not? The remarkably bad somehow stand out almost as much as the best of works from the mass of mediocrity. You just wait, one day you find yourself wanting to listen to it again. And again.

I just can't help thinking I could've used the money to buy something... better, or useful. Another demo. Beer. Potatoes. Some paint. Plastic toy soldiers. Ground black pepper. It was not very expensive though.

kingpossum kirjoitti...

What this dude was trying to convey with this is, well, likely as unbeknownst to him as it is to us. Could it be Jandek trying his wavering hand at black metal, using a pseudonym? Hmm.

I'm betting Velkaarn's correct to predict it will find its way back into the iTunes list for another listen, though. Maybe when I get ahold of some those mushrooms Borderline is talking about.

Velkaarn kirjoitti...

@kingpossum:

It is pretty remarkable, isn't it? I was intrigued to note on Metal Archives that there is at least one more tape, possibly two or even three, made and spread. I can't help wondering how those would sound.

Anonyymi kirjoitti...

I still think that one chained & desperate demo was better, which is to say it was worse but more importantly, consistently worse. This one was still bad, but it didn't get really bonkers until about two and a half minutes into the last track, and that moment was fleeting. If the tracks were shorter, they'd be a perfect candidate for a worst of black metal-type compilation.
Also, in regards to your reply to Borderline, you didn't have to spend all the money on paint: otherwise what other tape would you have to sniff it to?

Lord Azazel Djinn kirjoitti...

I am honoured to have this release featured on this fine page, and can only agree with the general assessment in the review and the comment section. For the record, I was not on mushrooms, but 13 years old when this was recorded. Since then, I have moved on a bit, though I don't get around to making much music these days. About the other tapes, the second one was in many ways worse (though completely different), whereas the two following ones were standard black metal.

Velkaarn kirjoitti...

@Lord Azazel Djinn:

Thank you for your comment, good sir, and for being a good sport about the release. It is always nice to read further information and I was suspecting you might've been quite young while recording the demo.

As I am quite morbidly curious myself and I've actually had requests for it, is it possible to get the second demo/later ones?

Borderline1991 kirjoitti...

Hello again!

I have found a demo so bad that it makes Malitiae sound good, enjoyable and very interesting. It is a demo called "Masturbate In Praise Of Black Satan" recorded in 1992 from a band called Apator hailing from Netherlands. It is far worse than this demo, or even from Hexerij demo Chris recommended as most terrible demo.

The secret of listening to bad demos and enjoying them is - listening to something COMPLETELY horrible before "bad" demo. I can promise you that if you manage to listen to entire almost 30 minutes long Apator's '92 demo, after that EVERYTHING will sound good!

I won't post the demo on my blog because it's not really metal, it's just "raw evil speech by disturbed satanist" but I'll post it on metalarea topic.

PS: "You just wait, one day you find yourself wanting to listen to it again. And again" you were right.

Cheers.

Velkaarn kirjoitti...

@Borderline:

Heh, I'm familiar with Apator's "music" and you're right, it's surely worse than this! Impaled Nazarene did an Apator "cover" on one of the lives on that bootleg tape I posted the other year.

Have you read the Stregoica issue... 4 was it? Anyways, I posted it here and it has an Apator interview. It is interesting.

Anyways, I'll check out the Apator demo on M.A. - I've something from Apator but I don't think it was that demo as it wasn't half an hour long.

Borderline1991 kirjoitti...

I've listened to My Inner Blasphemy demo '96 and it is much better than the first demo. its instrumental, just synths and loops, second song reminds me of burzum's Tomhet from Hvis lyset...
Also, the demo is kind of like bad version of Landscape (Swe). The demo is actually not bad.

Velkaarn kirjoitti...

@sister B:

Oh, that sounds actually interesting. I might have to pester you about it later on. You have it on tape or a rip?

Borderline1991 kirjoitti...

Good morning Velkaarn. No, I don't own the tape, I just have a good friend who has the tape, ripped it and scanned it. Check your last.fm inbox. Cheers.

Velkaarn kirjoitti...

@Borderline:

Excellent, I'll get back to you about it therein!

Lord Azazel Djinn kirjoitti...

There's been a misunderstanding. Borderline1991 is probably referring to my other side project Conjured to Baphomet, which made one shit and one decent tape of what is now called dungeon synth. "My Inner Blasphemy" is, in fact, at least as horrible as "Azazel" (but in another way), and is unfortunately not instrumental. Two years after making the promise, here I can finally deliver. Luckily, the covers made it unto Discogs, so this is a fairly complete release:
https://www.transfernow.net/7536y2zd4j0l

I live in Finland now, by the way. Suomessa puhutaan suomea!

Velkaarn kirjoitti...

@L.A.D.:

Hmm, interesting, the thing that was passed onto me was instrumental and had covers and everything. Did you check the post, last month... or November? Conjured to Baphometh was yours too? I have a recording, want to check it out? Demo '95, five songs lacking titles. Ambient-y stuff, close to "dungeon synth" as you yourself already stated. I've now downloaded your sending and will compare shortly.

Suomessa? No katos perkele. Täytyy kuitenkin käyttää enkkua pääkielenä, outoa kyllä suurin osa maailman väestä ei muka (viitsi opetella) osaa suomea! ;)