Nemesis - In the Depths of Woods demo 1996

Nemesis (fin) - In the Depths of Woods demo 1996
1) In the Depths of Woods
2) Enthrall the Dark Empire
3) Ylpeänä kuolen
4) Gnomes Journey

Mediafire / Rusfolder

I was supposed to post some synth material already yesterday, but I didn't, I'm doing it today. To continue with Finnish releases here is probably the only demo of Nemesis, a synth project of which I know little about. Well, except the info you may read above and on the cover scan I stole borrowed from Metal Archives. And a review I read on Apocryphal #1 (in Finnish, sorry). I also seem to have a strong mental image of this being a side project of somebody doing something else (another band? 'zine?) but can't connect that to any facts and the pseudonym isn't familiar from anywhere else either. Might just remember plain wrong. Most people (should) anyways think of pre-Candlemass when they think of Nemesis, even if the name is used by more than necessary bands. Thanks to brother Grev for the dub!

The Archives have this listed as black metal but that is just utterly, criminally wrong, there's not a trace of metal here, it's pure synth stuff all four tracks. I'm not totally sure about the track division, the first and last tracks are easy enough to separate as they're so different from the middle part, simple and quite short keyboard pieces, nice enough both but nothing outstanding. The second track (and third) on the other hand are dark ambient with the music and some effects playing in low volume as if somewhere far away. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be inspired by "Dungeons of Darkness" or what but the change is rather jarring and trying on the listener's nerves, especially since this part seems to go on forever and ever. There's a slight change in what I deciphered as being the third track (as well as a short pause which seems to mark where track 2 ends) after a while, somehow the (still) monotonous, almost static music seems to proceed somewhere. Perhaps it's the occasional symbal crashes or something? I might also be going mad listening to this repeatedly. Whatever the case, this is a rather odd release of dark ambient/dungeon synth and can't really be recommeded as casual listening. I'm still not sure if the third part is actually growing on me or am I losing what little sense I have but at least it's doing something, I know I pretty much hated it after first listen and today I don't know what to think. Approach with caution.