Aufgabe - The Crusaders demo 1995

Aufgabe - The Crusaders demo 1995
1) Intro...
2) Dark Inquisition
3) Decapitation of Emperor-Shame!
4) Final Combat in Black Forest
5) Return After War
6) Outro... - The Pain of Glory - ...

Yandex / RGhost

Back to the poll results and a bit later than intended, pardon my absence. We do not travel that far from our previous stop Brazil, just to the northern continent and USA; Chicago, Illinois to be more precise for the delight of our stately readers. This is Aufgabe and what appears to be their only release, 1995 demo recording. It should be also noted that brother LKS and I are bringing this to the congregation at great personal risk as the cover states: This is not copyright, but if you will try to copy this material without our permission, we will find you, and crush you! They must've had their hands full with tape traders back in the day! Anyways, LKS ripped and scanned (caution: the cover scans are massive) and I divided into tracks and uploaded here. You download, listen.

This is warlike and chaotic stuff, a messy and hideous affair. Meant as a positive statement. Not really in the nowadays trendy bestial style, this sounds more archaic than that. Closer to Bestial Summoning than, uh, Revenge? They're popular right? Samples from film(s - I suppose?) serve as intros and interludes while the metal parts are furious and chaotic for most of the time. Vocals are somewhere between degenerate black metal vocals and punk vomits. Exception to the general form is the fifth track Return After War which really breaks the formula and is also the most interesting one for me. Not an auto recommendation this one but worth checking out especially if you are into warlike and/or primitive, ugly black metal. Next post will be something more flowery I suppose. A sunlit meadow under clear, calm blue skies sort of scenery maybe? Or perhaps a trip to the Netherlands after all?

Goat Emperor - Live in Sepetiba 11/06/94

Goat Emperor - Live in Sepetiba, Rio de Janeiro Brazil 11th June 1994
1) Satanic Blessing
2) Demons of Sex
3) Goat Emperor
4) Do Them What They Do for You
5) Theorems
6) The Powers of Evil

Reuploaded

Ok, Brazil as promised and since I'm off to Turku this weekend to witness the Turku Saatanalle IV-event I wanted to do a live tape for change. Goat Emperor were a black metal band with touches of death metal audible in their style which they called "Bestial Music" on their second demo, 1995's "Announcing the Neo-Aeon", dedicated to Mauro Cunha, Marcelo Motta and Aleister Crowley. Their first demo was released in '93 and called "Apopantos Kakodaimonos", featuring five proper tracks and intros/interludes. I got this and a good dub of the first demo from brother A.S. along with some other more or less exotic items the other year, thanks again! I'll need to rip the demo again, wonder if I should post it here too? There is a decent rip around so it does not seem very necessary. But back to this, good sound and I recall this was dubbed from a video. Of course no cover, I just ended up making another half-assed placeholder with the logo from the '95 demo. It'd make a nice shirt.

It's not a very long gig, possibly not complete either and whoever shot the video originally (perhaps an associate of the band?) edited it a bit so there's less of the usual breaks between. Four of the six songs are from the debut demo, Theorems appeared on the second and I don't know about the second track, could it be an unrecorded one or just re-titled? Since there are no intros, outros and interludes the songs are slightly more compact than usually. I said earlier the sound is good, but it does get a bit messy from time to time. That's only extra brutality, right? I would like a better rip of the second demo (or an actual physical copy) as the one I found online has this distracting, piercing hiss usually present back in the day on badly dubbed tapes. Of course it's possible they botched up and they're all like that, would like a confirmation if that's the case. - UPDATE: I discovered I actually have a very good dub of the second demo too, and Fenrirsson has also provided me with a rip/remix of his copy so it is no longer needed! - Ok, let's wrap this up, recommeded for people into more bestial, old schoolish sort of black metal and connoisseurs of the South American scene.

Morrigan - Plague, Waste & Death advance tape 2001

Morrigan - Plague, Waste & Death unmastered advance tape 2001
1) Plague, Waste & Death
2) This Bitch Will Burn at Night
3) In Memoriam
4) The Arrival of Dana
5) Straight War
6) Requiem
7) Ashes to Ashes, Lust to Lust
8) Where the Angels Keep Silence

Mediafire / 4shared

It was my birthday and to celebrate I decided to go and post this sending of comrade LKS I was slightly uncertain about. Thanks to our collaborator as usual! This is Morrigan, continuation of one of my favourite bands Mayhemic Truth, and an advance tape for their debut album from '01. You might recall the Mayhemic Truth rehearsal I posted not that long ago? Well, this rip was sent in the same time and I hesitated slightly to post this as it is not really that different from the final album, unmastered so the sound has a little variation and pauses between the songs are notably longer. Please note the Blizzard advance tape seen on the cover scan above is not included here!!

If you've heard the album, this is all familiar grounds then. Very minor differences. In case you haven't or are completely unfamiliar with the band I guess you could just as well start with this. Morrigan play black metal very much influenced by Bathory (both main eras) and actually The Arrival of Dana is a reworking of A Fine Day to Die made in tribute to Quorthon. The songs roughly divide into fast paced old school black metal tracks and more midtempo or slow epic songs which feature clean choirs while the main vocal is otherwise a mostly unintelligible (the fast bits) black metal rasp/squak. I've already stated my preference for the more epic tracks but both sides are essential parts of the whole. Recommended for fellow Morrigan/Mayhemic Truth enthusiasts as well as those curious to find out more or on the look for Bathory replacements. We will resume our regular programming after this, with Brazilian material as voted.

Graveland - Carpathian Wolves Rehearsal '94

Graveland - Carpathian Wolves rehearsal 1994
1) Barbarism Returns
2) In the Northern Carpathians
3) Impaler of Wallachia
4) Witches Holocaust
5) At the Pagan Samhain
6) Unpunished Herd

Mega / RGhost

Without further ado, here's more Graveland rehearsal material courtesy of Baldemar, thanks for the rips! This is the '1' in the 1½ posts promised, a 1994 rehearsal for the "Carpathian Wolves" album, with all the metal tracks in instrumental versions. Convenient for your karaoke evenings. Had no cover either so I made another placeholder while I was at it. Regrettably, I had to use the logo on the album cover for it. The previous one is just better but we must strive for accuracy.

Enough about that, to the music. This is essentially a condensed version of the album, ideal if you dislike things like vocals, keyboards and intros. Which seems quite silly to me but to each their own. Condensed actually isn't correct as the songs run their full durations (and over), let's just stick to instrumental. Very good, thick and powerful sound. Makes me think this is probably recorded in the studio. Dub quality is excellent as well so there is nothing to complain about. Recommended to all Graveland enthusiasts, old Polish black metal nuts, people who collect instrumental versions of recordings and karaoke hosts.

Graveland - Celtic Winter Rehearsal '93

Graveland - Celtic Winter rehearsal 1993
1) In the Glare of Burning Churches
2) Through the Occult Veil
3) For Pagan and Heretic Blood
4) Instrumental

Sendspace / Yandex

Poland won the poll, with a reasonable margin of 1½ votes which accounts for 1½ posts so here we have a sending by brother Baldemar, a rehearsal tape from the one and only Graveland dating to 1993 and titled for some reason "Celtic Winter rehearsal" even though the tracks are from the "In the Glare..." demo?! Well, I decided to roll with it whatever the case plus it made it easy for me to whip up a mock cover and a good excuse to include my absolutely favourite version of the logo as seen above. I've always liked that one best, a pity they(/he) didn't use it more. This counts as a ½ post as there's been a low bitrate rip circling around of the same recording.

First three songs are all very short, less than three minutes and last one, title of which being quite ironic as this is an instrumental rehearsal, runs for almost six minutes. Obviously these are stripped down rehearsal versions, devoid of keyboards, effects and other extras as well as vocals. Very good rehearsal sound, rough but clear and generally strong. Performance is guaranteed full-band Graveland material. Actually this is relevant to present times as master Darken has gathered a band to perform live for the first time at Hot Shower 5 in Italy, 2nd April which is very soon actually.

Swastika - Natur und Hass adv. 1998

Swastika - Natur und Hass advance tape 1998
1) Pflug (1996)
2) Eichenlaub (1998)

Mediafire / Zippyshare

German black metal today and a contribution by comrade LKS, thanks for the rip und scan! This is Swastika and their '98 promo/advance tape "Natur und Hass" - not to be mixed with the demo tape "Natur & Hass" which might've ended up being the debut CD the cover here advertises. Both of these songs appear there too. And I have a nagging suspicion this just might be nsbm but it's reeeeally hard to say without seeing the lyrics and there are no controversial symbols, statements or whathaveyou on the covers. Well, except advertising the CD that was never released but that's not what we're after.

Two songs of very, very raw black metal. Buzzing, pulsating frantic guitar mess, hysterical and cacophonic screaming passes for vocals and a robotic drum machine pounds away without the slightest attempt at passing as human. Second track is even worse and more alien, everything sounds distant, muffled and vocals are some sort of singing/chanting/humming. Brilliant and I'd love to hear the full demo! Brings Ecclesia Satani to mind. Definitely not for everyone but I'm sure certain parties will be delighted.

Everyone, let's get interactive again and vote where next to conquer!
1. France. Get me a '95 vintage from my rehearsal cellar, Jacques! - 0
2. How can you even plan to conquer anything in Europe and not steamroll over Poland? - 4
3. Descend into the land below the sea level and uncover ancient Nederlands cults. - 1½
4. Storm the beaches of the United Kingdom, with recent-ish material. - 0
5. Bring war for change to the American soil, mid-90's blackness is the agenda. - 2
6. Set the jungle ablaze with old Brazilian black/death metal. - 2½
7. Stay in Germania for...? - 0
Ok, voting is done and a winner is Poland, Brazil finishing as second and USA third.

From Beyond #6

From Beyond 'zine, issue 6 (winter 2000/2001)
Interviews:
Necrophagia
Diabolic
Decayed
Darkthrone (with Nocturno Culto)
Immolation
Morbid Angel
Asphyx
Vomitory
Nifelheim
Holocausto Canibal
Machetazo
Macabre
Rebaelliun
+ article about Jeffrey Dahmer, reviews, editorial

Re-reuploaded

Time for another 'zine. This is the third item sent me by Pawel recently, thank you for the scans and we have here already the sixth issue of Norwegian From Beyond whom I was not familiar with before this sending. Mostly due it being a death metal 'zine (cover says extreme metal fanzine but vast majority is death) and generally those 'zines I've read haven't simply been very interesting. Combined with the era it was released it's no wonder I'd never picked up a copy.

Now that I actually bothered to read it instead of just skimming through the content (and the Darkthrone interview) I was slightly surprised by how good a read it is! I'm still not quite finished so I'll just settle to recommend this, especially if you're into death metal. Oh, I should probably mention that Pawel sent it in .pdf format, in case it matters to anyone and that the layout is mostly clear but the editor does experiment with different fonts which I find very annoying. But still, give From Beyond a shot.