Acheron - Rehearsal '89

Acheron - Rehearsal 1989
1) Jaws of Satan (Sathanas cover)
2) Dethroned Emperor (Celtic Frost cover)
3) Raise the Dead (Bathory cover)

Sampo / Depositfiles

Here's an early Acheron rehearsal, featuring three tracks which are all in essence covers, though the first one is Jaws of Satan by Sathanas, which split into Acheron and Bathym back in '88 (and reformed around '91/'92 again), so it's essentially their own song performed by their new band. In case you don't know, Acheron was and/or is a well-known and quite influential US Satanic death metal band. Or black/death, depending on the era. Ripped from a tape I traded back in the 90's, I don't think it ever had a cover as it was most likely just dubbed to some contacts.

At slightly over ten minutes this is a compact package of vintage black/death/thrash metal. The two "proper" covers are of course classic picks and they play them with vigor and enthusiasm. Quite a poor release to get to know Acheron, admittedly, as their own material does not resemble this recording much. It's still a fun listen, the sound is okay for rehearsal and packs even a bit of punch. Not much to add really, except that I actually wish it was longer, maybe add a few Death, Venom, 'Fate, Slayer etc. numbers. Now I feel like listening to old 'Frost or maybe Hellhammer.

Milkweed - Ubi Bene Ibi Patria demo 1998

Milkweed - Ubi Bene Ibi Patria demo III 1998
1) Every Devil Off the Bridge
2) Secluded Life
3) Heads or Tails

RGhost / Mediafire

And now something different for change. Well, not so radically different, it's still metal, Finnish and a contribution by Henri Sorvali so that's already three things in common with quite a few recent posts. However this is thrash which I don't post too often. Or death/thrash/alternative/crossover/something suchlike, this is not my area of expertise, it's actually a few steps away from my comfort zone. Third demo by this Helsinki band, whatever their genre be, and cover (which is kind of misleading, would fit better something Arska played in) scans as usual included, ripped from an original tape after all.

Now that we've established this lies somewhere in my discomfort zone, what is it like? The sound of the demo is fair enough, music is annoyingly modern-sounding (well, for 90's) chuggy sort of blending of thrash, death (really just for the rougher vocals), alternative and stuff. Think Suicidal Tendencies etc. kinda thrash, not old Sodom sort. And Rage Against the Machine, new Sepultura, Waltari and generally stuff where you jump around a lot. Yeah, I don't like this and am running out of patience trying to come up with something sensible to write. Feel free to check 'em out if you got curious or are into things I haphazardly name-bombed there. I'm done.

Indungeon - Machinegunnery of Doom demo 1996

Indungeon - Machinegunnery of Doom demo 1996
1) In the Ashes of Civilization
2) From Beyond the Stars
3) Desolated Creation
4) Machinegunnery of Doom
5) Die in Fire (Bathory cover)

Mediafire / RGhost

I'm supposed to be packing my stuff and getting on a train soon to head off, once again, to Nummirock for Juhannus aka midsummer celebrations but I thought I'd have to quickly post something for you before that. So it's your fault if I forget to pack something. This is the first and only demo of the Swedish death/thrash band Indungeon and shares the name of their debut album which also features all of these tracks but recorded again with probably better sound, don't remember and got no time to check. Ripped from an original tape and includes cover scan.

Five tracks for just under 20 minutes and the last one is a cover of a Bathory oldie, fellow Swedes Nifelheim have also covered the same tune. But that's not relevant info here. If you have heard the album you know what to expect. If not, then I'll just tell you it's death/thrash with some groove and melodies and a dirty blackish voice. The sound of the demo is kind of muddy and has a fair bit of low end. Not the most original or essential thing but if you enjoy thrashing death metal you might want to give them a go. Right I'm out, have a great midsummer!

Mortal Agony - The Cradle demo 1994

Mortal Agony - The Cradle demo 1994
1) Infestated by Obliteration
2) The Cradle
3) Crucial Discipline
4) Realm of Hatred
5) Desultory

Mediafire / Depositfiles

Finnish death metal today, here is the only demo of Finland's Mortal Agony, contributed to me by comrade unholydeath - thank you! Not to be mixed with the (later) German band of the same name, Mortal Agony featured on drums and vocals Juhani Holm who would later form Bethel and Devilry as Sir Holm. So interestingly he moved from death metal to black metal to back to death metal within a frame of four years. A cover scan is included.

Like already mentioned, this is death metal, with some thrashing touches and a clear sound which isn't very heavy or dark, more fitting of a thrash demo I think. Overall it sounds very old fashioned and quite charming to me, pretty intense too. Without further ado, give it a listen if you're interested in the bands or genres mentioned or in Finnish underground in general.

Lacerated Gods - Night of Pain: The Satanic Bloodspraying live 1993

Lacerated Gods - Night of Pain: The Satanic Bloodspraying official livetape 1993
1) Crime (The Glorious Way To Dark Satan)
2) Desecrate The Female Plague
3) Subhuman Christianity
4) Rigor Mortis (Recreate Auschwitz)
5) Into Thy Forest Of Retaliation
6) Your Punishment Is To Be Raped

Reuploaded

Here's a very elusive item, the official live tape, also called demo 1993, by Germany's infamous Lacerated Gods. Ripped by brother Fenrirsson from a cassette sent him by Count Leichenschrei, it came with only a note with tracklisting and line-up which he also scanned. There's also a second version which includes an additional studio track and probably has a cover too.

I wouldn't really call Lacerated Gods black metal, the music is more like death/thrash with anti-christian themes. And some good old misogynism and nazi references thrown in. The sound of the recording is a bit primitive but very audible. The vocals are quite high on the mix and occasionally the sound kind of fades to lower volume but these are not really issues. Should be an interesting listen for many. I'm curious to hear the old Opferblut material too so get in touch if you got it!

Gallows - The Butterfly promo 1993

Gallows (isr) - The Butterfly promo 1993
1) Here the Flying... Flew... Already Gone
2) The Butterfly
3) Children
4) Testimony of a Sanguinary Generation
5) ...And No One Made a Sound
6) Optimistic End

Reuploaded

Here's a bit different item, again, this time still metal though. The Israeli band Gallows isn't very well known, I think, and I don't have too much info on them either. Metal Archives lists another tape before this one, neglects this completely and then mentions the re-release in 1995 which also appears to be the last release. I have somewhere a flyer for this tape, I'll scan it add to the post if I find it. As you probably guessed by now, I got this from a trader and have no covers. Would appreciate a scan if you happen to have them.

The music is sort of progressive metal with death metal vocals and both death & thrash metal leanings. It sounds quite jazzy to me in many places, throwing in some semi-mandatory middle eastern folk influences in the mix as well. Lyrically it would appear to lean towards life metal, but I suppose that can be excused. Personally I have somewhat mixed feelings about this... I like some of the proge parts and especially the keyboards on 4 & 5 (which the tracklisting I got seemed to list as "Testimony of a Sanguinary Generation - And No One Made a Sound" but it has a clear break at 6:30, dividing it into two tracks) and the harsh vocals come out quite well. Musicianship, sound and tape quality are very good too. This just isn't my favourite sort of music in general. But as said, I like 4 & 5 and the rest is okay too so I suppose I can recommend this to open-minded readers.

From Depths - Live in Angri 1993

From Depths - Live in Angri 1993
1) Tales of Creation
2) Light in the Dark (But Perhaps it's Only a Dream) - Electrocution cover
3) Unholy Blasphemies - Morbid Angel cover
4) The Door of Time
5) Pull the Plug - Death cover
6) Dark Maze
7) All in the Name of God - Electrocution cover

Reuploaded

Remember "The Burning Ice" EP by From Depths I posted a little while back? Well, in March, but anyways, I was contacted by Verminaard - the ex vocalist/guitarist of From Depths and a member of Apolokia - who kindly promised to dig up the old tapes for me. He found the 1994 tape but not the 1993 promo, however he found and sent me this old & rare live tape from which the songs on the promo were taken in the first place. Unfortunately neither he nor Stormanger could remember the tracklisting! So I've named the tracks, really working with my imagination here, I - VIII. If someone is able to provide me with a full tracklisting, I'd be very grateful!

EDIT: Stop the press! An old friend of the band remembered the titles and gave them to Verminaard who contacted me, so now I'm updating and correcting this & reuploading. So you might want to download it again to get the titles and stuff corrected!

The stuff they play here is quite different from the later black metal material, they do some Electrocution songs (pre-From Depths, thrash influenced by the Teutonic godz Sodom, Kreator etc.), two covers (Morbid Angel's "Unholy Blasphemies" and Death's "Pull the Plug") and the then new From Depths tracks, at that point very much influenced by Katatonia, Rotting Christ, Paradise Lost and so on, kind of death/black/doom mixture. The recording has a good, clear live sound and the rip quality is very good too, so nothing to complain in that department. Check this out to observe the evolution of the band - or if you're an old school UG-maniac into this kind of material!

Night In Gales - Razor Adv.Tape 1996

Night in Gales - Razor Advance Tape for 7"EP 1996
1) A Spark in the Crimson Eclipse
2) Razor
3) Raining Blood (Live) Slayer cover

Reuploaded

About time to post something I guess, a little different item this time, here's an advance tape for the 1996 7" by Germany's Night in Gales who play/played (haven't heard anything from them since 90-something) NWoSDM, New Wave of Swedish Death Metal if you didn't know. Yeah, really, they sound more Swedish than In Flames did in late 90's. The Slayer live cover also sounds like Dark Tranquillity or some other Gothenburg bunch would be performing it in the early 90's.

I got this from a trading pal around 1996 and it has a pretty good dub. The sound is of course good or at least better than the average demo sound you're probably used to find here, the live track is very good quality as well. So if you can't get enough of early Dark Tranquillity, (very) early In Flames and comparable Gothenburg heroes you should give this a listen. And probably their other material too.

Götterdämmerung - Furor Teutonicus demo 1995

Götterdämmerung - Furor Teutonicus demo II 1995
1) The Temple
2) The Gate
3) Furor Teutonicus
4) Götterdämmerung

Reuploaded

Some more Teutonic metal in the form of Götterdämmerung's 2nd demo which is also the only one I have, dubbed to me by a trading comrade around 1996. So no cover, only M.A. image. The dub wasn't of the topmost quality but I think this rip turned out very listenable.

Metal Archives lists Götterdämmerung as death metal with (Germanic) paganism as topic and I guess pagan death metal taking clues from thrash and maybe also black metal might be a pretty accurate description. I can't remember what Nyar called his music himself in the old interviews. As far as I can hear, he's using a drum machine here and probably plays all instruments by himself. Don't be scared by the drum machine; it's quite obvious but pretty well used with varying bits. The songs manage to be quite complex and catchy at the same time and have many, many cool parts. The audible bass is a nice touch too. So if you're interested in Teutonic pagan death metal with old school vibes you should give this a shot. And if you have the 1st and 3rd demo, I'm interested to hear them too!

C.O.D. - Burn The Victims demo 1993

C.O.D. (fin) - Burn The Victims demo 1993
1) Through The Gates
2) Kingdom Of Death
3) Disaster Area
4) The Executioner
5) Inner Self (live)
6) End Has Begun (Live)

Reuploaded

First off I apologize for the piece of shit image I had to use here, but seems like the corrupt pic uploaded to M.A. is the only one available on the Inter Nets. I got this demo tape through a tape trading contact who didn't copy me the cover, unfortunately. Anyways, it's what's inside that counts, right? Right... this is the Finnish C.O.D. and they play death metal. You see them called doom death around the web but that'd be really appropriate for the later material. This demo is death metal with touches of thrash, though if you're really determined you can find hints of doom in it I guess. More like thrash and heavy metal influences I say.

The tape is split into studio and live part like you probably could tell by looking at the track listing, the studio tracks have a good demo sound with all instruments audible, if little muffled. It doesn't sound very heavy or morbid, not very death so to say. The two live tracks have a clear enough sound, I don't know if they're older tracks or what, but they sound more brutal. Probably courtesy of the live conditions. It's a tape worth downloading if you are obsessed with old Finnish metal, happen to be an actual fan of the band (though it's different from the later material), compulsively need to hear every 90s demo or whatever else you come up with.

UPDATE: New link as the archive on MF was, once again, corrupted.

Impending Doom - The Great Pale Hunter EP

Impending Doom (ger) - The Great Pale Hunter 7"EP 2002
1) The Great Pale Hunter
2) Co dobre pro mne, dobrym jest... (Maniac Butcher cover)

Mediafire

First off, if you came here looking for the American xtian deathcore band, get the hell away from my blog.

This is the last EP from the German black/death/trash metal group Impending Doom, and it is not my rip, I got this from Black Doom Essence since I'm too poor to rip my own vinyls. However, I scanned the covers from my EP and re-packed the thing so I can claim some credit. Anyways, thanks to Azzirru Eshkhigharu and the person who ripped this. Nothing else to say.