The Shadow Dance - Stormy Visions demo '95

The Shadow Dance - Stormy Visions demo I 1995
1) Temple
2) Sea-Horse
3) Hologram Song

Sendspace / Yandex

Ok, time to do something non-metal for change and it's an accidental discovery, sort of, found among the tapes I borrowed from brother Grev some months ago. This is The Shadow Dance from Finland, Helsinki to be more precise. Check out their old school late 90s/early 00s webpage! No, really, you have to see it! Takes one back, that does. And yes children, back in the day pretty much all webpages looked like that. Or worse. Now that's been taken care off let's return to music. This is their first demo recorded in the fall '95. No cover I'm afraid, their site didn't have an image either. But it did have the band photo seen above which I decided to use to decorate the post. That's about as goth as you can get!

Three songs in roughly thirteen minutes, the first one "Temple" was also featured on a few compilations and a 1998 MCD of the same title. It's a slow building, moody and atmospheric piece with slightly ethereal quality and a bit more intense middle part. Main voice is clearly amateurish female singer who comes across borderline awkward but pleasant enough to swing the performance more to "innocent" side rather than "annoying" - that really sounds (reads, you old fool) vague, doesn't it? Second song is more upbeat, almost busy even. It almost brings some new wave song I've long forgotten to mind, almost but not quite! The final song, shortest of the lot, resembles the first one more but generally sticks to the same vein. Maybe a bit catchier, in the end. Reminds me a little of the Finnish Neverwood, less trippy and polished though. But simple is good sometimes and I actually enjoy this on occasion. Check it out, but bear in mind it is neither dark nor grim. Next one will be. Unless I decide to do another re-run, which I actually thought would've been a hilarious post after a hiatus but then wimped out.

Нова генерация - Отвъд смъртта (1992)

Нова генерация - Отвъд смъртта cassette album 1992
1) Йон и ана
2) На прага
3) Последната вълна
4) Момиче без спомени
5) Градината на света
6) Обичам
7) Берлин
8) Част от колекция
9) Отплуване
10) Сто години
11) Яйцето
12) Отвъд смъртта

Depositfiles

No repost so let's do something slightly more unusual again. Roughly a year ago I posted the '92 tape album by the Bulgarian Violetov General aka Виолетов генерал as seen here. Well, apparently today is the not-very-near future referred to in that entry for I decided to post another cassette album from the same year, also from a new / cold / dark wave (don't look at me, I copied that from Wikipedia!) band hailing from Bulgaria, Нова генерация alternatively known as Nova Generacia or even New Generation. Apparently they're a cult band in their own country, possibly elsewhere too, can't really say since I'm not at all well versed in this scene. Cover images borrowed from Discogs and rip from a dub I got years ago tape trading.

Ok, it must be said right away the dub is shitty, there's annoying disturbancy noise in it, very apparent in the first intro track already. For a while I wondered if it could be some sort of really, really stupid effect added to the music but that can't be. The sound would be otherwise fine so that's extra bothersome. If you happen to have a better rip I'd be happy to have it. Music is the usual wave stuff to be honest, with lyrics in Bulgarian which adds value to me since if I don't understand them, their quality can't bother me. The album title translates as "Beyond Death" so I assume it would be gloomy enough. Due the bad dub (I hate tapes, have I remembered to mention this?) not an optimal listen at all, but since I had ripped the damned thing I wanted to post it and perhaps spark someone's curiosity to find more about them. Not to mention possibly gain a better version for myself! Older material also welcome.

I better make the next post proper again.

Inkubus Sukkubus - In All Our Names live 2003

Inkubus Sukkubus - In All Our Names (live at Gloucester Guildhall Arts Centre, Gloucester UK 10th January 2003)
1) Wytches 2002
2) Smile of Torment
3) The Rape of Maude Bowen
4) I Am the One
5) Take My Hunger
6) Vampyres
7) Away with the Faeries
8) Heart of Lilith
9) We Belong with the Dead
10) Catherine
11) Lucifer Rising
12) Belladonna & Aconite
13) Vampyre Erotica
14) Paint It Black

Mediafire

AUDIO ONLY: Mega

Enough exotics and time for something non-metal as well, this is again Inkubus Sukkubus of UK and an unusual item for the Coven: video of the whole show (separate tracks) shot from the audience by a comrade of brother Emptiness Cycle who kindly contributed this earlier with other related items. Thanks again! The unofficial IS site tells us this was a combined Amnesty / Greenpeace (didn't really foresee typing that split on this blog) benefit gig with unlisted support bands. I felt the urge to make a cover once again so this might look like a proper bootleg.

Like I mentioned right in the start, this is an audience recording and the full set. The fourteen tracks make almost an hour of music and both image and sound quality are decent. Better than average visual I'd say, EC's comrade has positioned himself quite well, slightly to the side but with a good view. I'm not very good at saying much about live videos since I shoot piss poor ones and generally seldom watch them, including the official ones. I do listen to live albums though, but don't often have patience to sit through a live DVD. Thus it might be convenient for others with similar issues that the video is separated unto tracks. I also made an audio-only version which you may download separately if you're so inclined. The main download includes this too. A few words about the gig itself, nice setlist though I am personally most familiar with the oldest albums, instruments sound a little thin but this is goth stuff not metal! And definitely not Mysticum. Candia's voice doesn't really seem to carry through the whole set, not sure if she's feeling a bit under the weather or what but maybe they should've considered having Tony do a song or two. Then again, she manages "Catherine" which is kinda hard, kudos for that but alas, struggles by "Belladonna & Aconite" noticeably which is a bummer. Anyways, I'm hungry and need to stop typing. Recommended for fans of Inkubus Sukkubus and pagan/gothic rock in general.

Incubus Succubus / Screaming Dead - Sampler Tape 1992

Incubus Succubus / Screaming Dead - Sampler Tape promo (?) 1992
Incubus Succubus:
1) Samhain
2) Vampyres
3) All the Devil's Men
Screaming Dead:
4) Angel of Death
5) Necroaria
6) Western Front

Mediafire / RGhost

I was initially going to post some more black metal now that we got the old engine running, but then decided to bring it to a crashing, creaking, screaming, screeching halt with a quick turn to something different: this sending picked from the things comrade Emptiness Cycle delivered me the other month. Thank you and other choice morsels will be served later! Anyways, to the British shores again and this is a split sampler tape, possibly a label promo, from '92 featuring some more pagan gothic rock by Incubus Succubus aka Inkubus Sukkubus as they are presently known (and about to release a new album this month, see here), teaming up with the fellow UK group, horror/goth punks Screaming Dead whose heyday was already in the early 80's with a short comeback in the late 90's. They were not active around the time of this tape's release so I suppose it might've been in connection to the compilation released in '93. Or just the fact that this was, after all, Tony McKormack's old band. Duh, obvious connection is obvious. No covers so I felt compelled to whip up a placeholder with band logos from '93 and '83 releases and a bat skeleton image I googled.

First version, which looks "colder" but the second accidental one looks more macabre so it won.

Yeah so if you're an Inkubus Sukkubus devotee these three tracks offer you absolutely nothing new as they're from the debut record. Unless you've managed to miss that one somehow, in case you should really get one of the various re-releases. If you're not familiar with the band, these three tracks are not at all a bad place to start, especially one of them being an old fave of mine ("Vampyres" if you must know). I like the stripped down but very clean sound here. Screaming Dead I hadn't heard earlier but am now quite interested to hear more. They've a very vintage 80's sound here, sorta post punk/wave thing going. I think the third song is a bit older than the first two. Why don't I listen to more stuff like this? I think I'm going to get that compilation from somewhere. Recommended for vampires, witches, pagans and other wave creeps.

Виолетов генерал - Двойник (1992)

Виолетов генерал - Двойник cassette album 1992
1) Waiting
2) Меланхолия
3) Stranger's Song
4) Maybe
5) Двойник
6) Saviour
7) With the Sea Wisards
8) Молитва
9) Важна операция [cut!]

Mediafire

Lately I've been listening to some slightly more unusual and not metal at all things and you get to suffer the side effects, too. Not that it'd be really that extraordinary at the Coven anyways. But you have to admit, we don't do Bulgarian post-punk/darkwave material that often. Or actually I believe Виолетов генерал, Violetov General to those not fluent with cyrillic letters, were labeled as cold wave? I'm only quite shallowly familiar with these genres. Anyways, I felt like posting the rip I made of my dub of their '92 album, released as far as I know only on cassette. Warning: the last track cuts and I don't know how much. It was all jammed onto one side of a 90 minute tape (which actually would typically have room for 46+ mins of material, like here). Wouldn't mind a complete version.

The sound and dub quality are both reasonably good, though at times it's obvious this was dubbed. Not that original tapes would not wear out. The music is somewhat morose sounding post-punk/new wave with a generally rather cold and alienated atmosphere. In other words, darkwave or coldwave. Wave this or that, is it any good? As said already, I'm by no means an expert in the genre(s) so it's necessary to take whatever I say with certain amount of caution. I find it better that average on what I've heard of the sort of music, admittedly the former Eastern Bloc background and aesthetic gives extra appeal to this. But have a listen if you feel adventurous. I'm not going to make a habit of this but there will be more similar stuff in the future. Not very near future, though.

Incubus Succubus - Corn King cassEP 1994

Incubus Succubus - Corn King cassette EP 1994
1) Welcome to the Underworld
2) Prince of Shadows
3) Corn King
4) Witchunt (Fly Sister, Fly)
5) Dance (In the Fire of Love)

Mega

More 'different' stuff follows and now I'm quite pissed, I thought I had already posted this last night before leaving for work but something went wrong and all I found was just a title and nothing else in unfinished texts. Great.

I'm not going to bother with all the crap I typed for a second time, you can find the bio for Incubus Succubus, later spelled Inkubus Sukkubus on their website. Cassette EP, two songs appear on "Heartbeat of the Earth" album (UPDATE: actually all of them do but some were retitled and all are quite different versions), pagan/gothic rock with female main vocals, male backing. Mostly pretty catchy tunes, an old guilty pleasure of mine. Ripped from a dub I got tapetrading in the 90's. That is all.

Eclipse - Gefallener Stern promo 1996

Eclipse (ger) - Gefallener Stern promotape 1996
1) Luminis Caeruleis Saltation
2) ...ins leuchtende Nichts
3) Herbstabend / Impressionen
4) Gefallener Stern
5) Epilog

Reuploaded

Still more black metal and this is both a contribution and fulfilling an old request. Sister Borderline sent me some items not long ago and this was among the loot, thanks again for the assistance! What we have here is the German band Eclipse (one of the most overused single word band names ever! Why the hell they swapped Sorcerer to this, it wasn't used quite as much?) and their 1996 demo or actually promo tape (if the "ever-reliable" Metal Archives can be trusted to have correct image - seen above - uploaded to this release). Which would also appear to be their only release, unless there actually is a demo called "Gefallener Stern" (this one) and a promotape 1996. If you have further information and full cover scan to provide I'd appreciate you getting in touch.

If you remember, the Sorcerer rehearsal demo was raw, echoy sounding but still quite melodic thing with some synths on the side and moderately high speed. Keeping that in mind, the first track really surprised me on the first listen as it starts with jaded sounding, gothic type vocals and melancholic acoustics - this must be an intro to the track proper? Wind effects follow and the Germanic gothics resume, lasting for the whole duration making this more than just an intro bit. Is this actually the correct tape? Yes it is, the next track kicks off with mechanical sounding percussion and buzzzing guitars. The sound is much fuller than the rehearsal aesthetics of old and there is a certain gothic tone to it but this is melodic black metal, no mistake. Interesting structure here as depending on your thinking, there's really only two "proper" metal tracks here, two and four, while the first gothic atmospheric bit doubles as intro, third one is a piano interlude and the last track "Epilog" is exactly what it says on the tin. Recommended if you like atmospheric, melodic bm with synth bits.

The Mobile Mob Freakshow - Horror Freakshow (1994)

The Mobile Mob Freakshow - Horror Freakshow CD 1994
1) Where Angels Fear to Tread
2) Interzone
3) Death Valley Caves
4) She Loves Evil Dead
5) Ghostdance
6) Cannibals
7) Telescope Eyes
8) Teenage Schizoid
9) Whores of Babylon
10) Sideshow Circus
11) Horror Freakshow
12) Psychotic Mob
13) Voodoo Maniac Zombie Girls
14) Bloodfeast A Go Go

Reuploaded

I decided to go on with the non-metal items just a bit longer so the strange days of January continue, this time with another post that counts as an exception to the Coven's general policy. This is the debut album of the Swedes The Mobile Mob Freakshow, originally released on CD by Primitive Art Records in 1994 and re-released in vinyl format by Primitive Art co-operating with Night Tripper Records in 2012. So I suggest that if you enjoy this, and have a vinyl player, buy the LP release. Especially since this is not a direct CD rip, this is ripped from a cassette dub! Which obviously leads to minor hiss and unfortunate tape wear which would not be on the proper version.

UPDATE: Was provided a CD rip, courtesy of brother Grev which includes scans as well, so all of you who have downloaded the tape rip might want to download it again! Sorry for the inconvenience and I still recommend considering the vinyl version if you have a player.

So what the hell is this then? The band (or label) refers to music on this album as a mixture of The Sisters of Mercy, GG Allin, (early) Misfits and Motörhead which is a pretty good comparison, I'm also reminded at times of Finnish Babylon Whores. Horror punk / death rock might be simplest description. Most of the fourteen tracks are short, from less than two minutes to just over three, exception being the over six minutes long, epic "Voodoo Maniac Zombie Girls" which is actually more The Devil's Blood than Misfits. Rumbly down-to-earth sound which is good enough, polished squicky clean sound wouldn't really work for this in my opinion. Cool release, recommended if you like someone among the names dropped or if you're adventurous.

Amon Hen - Skeleton-Dances adv.tape 1995

Amon Hen - Skeleton-Dances advance tape 1995
1) Landscape 2.
2) Landscape 1.
3) Dream?
4) Brainstorm

Reuploaded

Ok, let's do something different again, here is Amon Hen from Hungary and an advance tape/promo they sent around in 1995. This might be a rough mix or something of the cassette EP/MLP of the same name, don't remember for sure and of course I don't have the other tape at hand to compare! Anyways, this tape was released some months before the rather professional looking real thing. Cover scan is included.

So what is the music like? Hard to put to a proper category, for sure. I saw the older tape G.L.A.S.S. being described as avantgarde cyber metal which I suppose wouldn't be too far off the mark as there are metal elements to this, especially the first track. But overall I suppose this is closer to industrial or gothic sound, perhaps EBM even. This is the field of music where I need to tread carefully so I don't think I can pull of very convincing name dropping or comparisons this time around. So we have synths, samples, distorted guitars, spoken voices, effected vocals (robot vocals on track 4!), beats, atmospheric parts and more going on here. It's quite weird, uneven and kind of interesting. I guess I could recommend it to both very open-minded readers and those who enjoyed stuff like Plastic Sampler, Neverwood (either, really) or maybe even Landfill among earlier posts. That is all, next time either metal, ambient or a 'zine... I guess I'll roll the dice to see.

Ancient Drive - Orgasmic Adores promo 1999

Ancient Drive - Orgasmic Adores promo 1999
1) Entering... Dark Ecstasy
2) Carnal Perverse
3) Blood-Red Claws
4) Orgasmic Adores

Yandex / RGhost

Without delay let us post the second Ancient Drive recording I have, the promo I was referring to in the previous post. See that one for further background information, I'm not that keen on repeating myself today. Cover scans are included.

Comparing to the previous demo recording (I haven't heard the 1997 demo nor the only full-lenght) the sound is a little thinner, with keyboards more prominent and guitars less emphasized, generally sounding less heavy and... uh, more gothic? It's still more metal than goth rock if you felt threatened by that description. Recorded at Studio Perkele the sound is certainly good, just different from the demo. I'm not really certain which one I prefer, this might be more suitable for the gothic elements. More songs, though the first is an intro, but a bit shorter overall at 14+ minutes. I don't feel like writing right now so I'll just settle this saying it's better than the previous one and listen for yourselves!

Ancient Drive - Romantic Funeral demo 1998

Ancient Drive - Romantic Funeral demo 1998
1) Mourning Tears
2) Romantic Funeral
3) Death Embrace Her

Mediafire / Depositfiles

I think it's time to post metal again but don't get too excited. Knowing the deep love some of my readers have for gothic metal I just had to post this item now. Here is the first (?) demo by Ancient Drive from Kuopio, best known for later spawning Turmion Kätilöt from its ruins. I know there's at least one rip circulating the internets but I think this might be better, ripped from a CDr on which I had both the 1999 Orgasmic Adores promo and this as bonus. Yes, I'll post that later. No, I don't remember anymore where I got it, could've been from a band member on various drunken adventures back then or could've been from one of my comrades. Sadly I don't have a cover for this as it was burned as bonus on the promo, I don't even know if it was originally released on CDr or tape or both. However, Metal Archives supplied us with a tiny... no smaller, really really tiny cover image that looks like it would be from a CD.

That's all really interesting and exciting but it might be about time to get to the content so here we go: just a bit over 17 minutes of gothic metal, pretty uptempo but heavy enough not to be completely pop/girly listening. Main voice is very typical gothy singing, better than average demo band and doesn't annoy the hell out of me from the start. He does some aggressive growls too which work well enough. The second track has more different tempos than the pretty straight-forward first one yet it doesn't work as well for me while the third one gets all too soft and girly and the vocals also seem to get less appealing by the track. I suppose this still remains better than average gothic metal demo of the era, the first song being my favourite here and the rest not so much. Ok, 1/3 isn't usually better than average I know. Give it a listen if you have even a passing interest in this sort of music. If you don't, listen to it anyways and amuse me with your suffering.

Let Me Dream - The Maze demo 1996

Let Me Dream - The Maze demo 1996
1) The Maze
2) My Doom
3) The Spear in Your Hand
4) Wolfborn

Mediafire / Narod

Time to post something else than black metal for change. This one is still metal, though narrowly. Let Me Dream, previously known as Congestion, played gothic doom metal, though I guess around the time of this demo the sound went much further into the gothic territory and very little doom metal remains. I remember I used to like one of the tracks on Congestion's "Bed of the Ancient River" demo quite a bit and was to some degree into gothic so I was interested in this band as well. Now that I listen to this demo I can't say I'd be that enthusiastic. Ripped from an original copy, cover scan enclosed.

Like I sort of established above, this is musically more like gothic rock forced into metal mould than gothic doom or other gothic ___ metal combinations. The demo has a pretty good sound while sounding kind of weak. It's clear, with vocals on top and everything else audible but would suit pure gothic rock much better than metallic version. The main vocal is a clean voice, familiar from what they already used as Congestion and, of course, it's bordering on cringe-worthy and listenable. Sort of mix between Fenriz on "Vinterskugge" and the guy from The Equinox ov the Gods. TEotG would be a comparable band from the ones posted on this blog except that they're much heavier. The vocalist uses also a half growl half croak in addition to the clean singing which is okay but sounds first kind of odd over the goth. Repeat listens actually make me appreciate it on the 2nd song.

It's a little hard to say in the end what I think about this, at first I hated it, then it sounded kind of ok, then again utterly horrible, then this bit was great and this ok... well, you get the picture. My comrade SuuretMuinaiset absolutely hates gothic metal so I assume he won't stand this either but the rest of you feel free to give it a try if you're not allergic to genres and artists mentioned. Oh I suppose I should mention Let Me Dream has also a 1999 EP also called "The Maze" but with different content.

Skumju Akmeņi - Skumju Akmeņi (1996)

Skumju Akmeņi - Skumju Akmeņi Cassette album 1996
1) Skumju akmeņi
2) Krustceles
3) Nav tumša upe lāpas staros
4) Inūtilis
5) Stāsts par meiteni
6) Mums pietrūka smieklu
7) Atlantīda
8) Debess straumes
9) Pēc septiņiem vienatnē gadiem
10) Es vēlos palikt...
11) Pāri ilgām pelēkām dienām
12) Man pieder ceļš
13) Mūžīgā miera iela
14) Mēma zemes skumjā balss

Mediafire

I noticed I've posted quite a bit of black metal recently. So I guess it's about time for a seemingly random "different" post again. Here's a non-metal item for change, a cassette album from Latvian band Skumju Akmeņi I ripped on a whim some months ago. I suppose I call them gothic rock like people at last.fm seem to do... though I guess indie rock would be a closer call? Their vocalist Helēna Kozlova seems to be very well known in her native land as a singer-songwriter. I bought this tape when I happened to see the band live, oddly enough, in a rock bar in my hometown around 1996/97, can't remember exactly when it was. Anyways, I recall enjoying the gig and when I listened to the tape later being quite dissappointed with it. I can't really remember anymore but I guess it was a bit wilder live. Scans of the cover enclosed.

Ripped from an original tape the quality is good, though there is a little wear in some places. Musically they're playing something with touches of gothic rock but I'd say gearing more towards indie rock though it is quite moody and melancholic. Some (very scarce) Baltic folk elements can also be heard. Helēna's vocals remind me of someone I can't seem to name right now... you know those female singer-songwriters, one of 'em. That's going to help. She sounds a bit husky, with a quite low voice and actually does some rough vocals too for spice. As you probably noticed from the tracklisting, all lyrics are in Latvian which is not my strongest language. They gave me an English lyric sheet with the tape but I don't seem to be able to find it now. If I come across it later I'll scan it. I remember the band name meant "sorrowful stones" or something like that. Pretty light stuff with some nice bits but lasting almost 55 minutes it feels too long and in general isn't really my chalice of poison. For open-minded readers, fans of the genre and/or the vocalist.

Perkele - Erotic Circus (1996)

Perkele (fin) - Erotic Circus
1) Dancing in the Night
2) Where's My Lady
3) Lightning Strikes
4) Summer
5) Red, Liquid Flower
6) Warhorse
7) You're My Wish
8) Summernight (Digital Passion Mix)
9) In Parties

Reuploaded

More unusuality: an album. Well, this has been long out of press so it was a request I thought I'd go ahead and fulfill. Also, I'd hate to see you cough up ridiculous sums for a used copy without hearing it first. Perkele, here a two-piece, was another project band featuring Ari "Sinister Satyr" Honkonen of Morningstar but if you've read this blog for any longer time I shouldn't need to introduce him. The earlier material was Isengard/Storm influenced pagan metal but the project started to get gothier around "Midsummer Murders" promo 1995 and went all in with this, their sole album released by Nederlands' Hammerheart in late 1996 (or early 1997). I've ripped my copy and made a halfassed scan of the outer sides of the digipak.

You might've noticed a certain lack of enthusiasm on the previous paragraph. That is because I don't like this, plain and simple. It's probably the worst release Arska has put out. His wavering clean vocals worked on the "drunken viking" approach of the old tapes and on the more sinister sounding promo tape but here it's just not happening. Granted, I'm not much of a fan of gothic rock and vocals of for example Two Witches make me cringe but I'm not very keen on the music either. If you're a connoisseur of gothic rock you might manage to enjoy this. I advice the rest to approach with caution.

Shadow Dancers - Blacker Then Better Between demo 1994

Shadow Dancers - Blacker Then Better Between demo I 1994
1) Blacker Then Better Between
2) In the Heart of America
3) The Wasp
4) God Wanted Dead or Alive
5) Untitled

Reuploaded

Some of you might remember me uploading some recordings from Norwegian goths Shadow Dancers in 2009, well here is their debut demo from 1994, courtesy of brother Fenrirsson who kindly ripped me his tape as well as scanned the covers. Much appreciated! He has also provided me with several other rips which will be posted in the future.

But let us get back to this tape, F ripped his original copy and apparently worked on the sound a bit to reduce hissing and whatnot. Anyways, being an old demo tape recorded probably at someone's garage or basement the sound quality isn't going to be dazzling. For a black metal demo (in case you didn't know, the musicians were/are involved with the bm scene) the aesthetic is fitting, for gothic rock slightly higher production values would probably be more appropriate. Well, it gives the recording a certain aura I think. If you listened to the Sverd Storm II compilation, you've already heard one of these tracks and the 1995 recordings I posted featured re-recorded versions of two. Still worth checking out if you enjoyed those recordings. As mentioned in the old post, I like this more than most other gothic rock. One more thing, the tracklisting has only four titles (which are mentioned as chapter I, but that probably refers just to this being the debut demo), the fifth (8 min+) track/outro combo is unmentioned. More info would be appreciated, is this actually part of this demo or another recording dubbed as bonus to Fenrirsson's tape or what? Recommend for open-minded followers of the Coven, fans or Cultoculus and/or Ragnarok, collectors of curios and so on.

Plastic Sampler vol. 1 (1996)

Various Artists - Plastic Sampler volume 1 (1996)
1) Two Witches - Dreamworld '94
2) Sad Parade - Ten Million Virgins
3) Dreamtime - Servants
4) Sepulcrum Mentis - Salto Cum Diabolo (Demo Version)
5) Hundred Million Martians - Hollow (Demo Version)
6) Exedra - Waltz
7) This Empty Flow - Of Blossom And Decay
8) Advanced Art - I Am the Labyrinth (Special Remix)
9) Shade Factory - Her Last Shore ('93 Demo Version)
10) Timothy Moldray - Image of Reality
11) NYX - Siberian
12) Neverwood - First Try (Failure)
13) Scoutgape - Apology (Special Remix)
14) [Active] Media Disease - This Room (Demo Version)

Reuploaded! - Cover scans+images

Ok, time for another "And now something completely different" - post and this one is very, very different from the usual stuff here. Well, not that different if you think back to Oberon, Landscape & Shadow Dancers which I suppose would be closest comparisons to the material on this apparently uncommon compilation tape made in 1996 by Plastic Passion. I got it from one of my traders who did not provide me with a copy of the covers nor have I ever seen them so no image(s) this time. As always, I'd be happy to get a scan.

UPDATE: Got the scans from Grev, thanks man! Uploaded the scans (+ some pics of the package) as a separate file, link above.

The bands presented on this tape are mostly within the genres of gothic rock and dark electro and with a few (German) exceptions Finnish. Sound is quite good, I don't know if my dub was made from an original tape, could've been. Probably the largest threshold here to cross for my readers is the genres presented. Well, I guess you know by now if you want to check this out or not. Personally I found some of the artists pretty good and actually have further material in this vein in case you're interested. Maybe I post some later but next one will be metal again, I promise.

Oberon - Through Time & Space demo 1994

Oberon (nor) - Through Time & Space demo 1994
1) Forever
2) Through Time & Space

Depositfiles

One non-metallic post more, this one from Norge. Oberon is somewhat similar to the Swedish Landscape posted on this blog earlier, meaning atmospheric darkwave/gothic mix of synth music with vocals though I'd say Oberon sounds more like gothic rock than Landscape and features guitars as well. Like the compared act, this is a one-man effort as well though arguably more successful as Bård Titlestad released an EP and an album under this monicker. I have not heard the full-lenght but I have the self-titled CDEP or mini-album and it is quite soft stuff, not that this would be exactly harsh, sounding more darkwave and at times even neofolk. Not bad.

My copy and this rip is from a traded tape I got long ago but as the tape condition was decent it sounds ok. The demo itself was recorded at Soundsuite studio with Terje Refnes so it obviously has a better than average demo sound. Cover scans were picked up from Discogs since I did not have them. They're better than the average M.A. images I have to use every now & then but still far from perfect. What else is there to stay... well I suppose I could recommend this if you liked the Landscape demos. And yes I'll post some metal next.

Sverd Storm vol. II (1995)

Various Artists - Sverd Storm samlekasett volume II (1995)
1) Absurd - First Winter of Bloodred Snow
2) Beyond Dawn - Teardance
3) Isvind - Over Blaamyra Steg Kongen
4) Nattvindens Gråt - En avlägsen stjärna
5) Vacuum - Deep in the Sea of Grief
6) Grimm - The Embrace of Cold
7) Carpathian Forest - A Journey Through the Cold Moors of Svarttjern
8) Tumulus - Wodans Jagd
9) Perdition Hearse - Cerberus Lead Us Through
10) Shadow Dancers - God Wanted Dead or Alive
11) Katatonia - Scarlet Heavens
12) Manowar - Kings of Metal
13) Bathory - One Rode to Asa Bay
14) Sacrifice Slaughtered Jesus - Son of the Endless Night
15) In The Woods... - Tell de Døde
16) Carpathian Forest - Outro (Exerpt from Through the Black Veil of the Burgo Pass)

Depositfiles

A compilation fra Norge, made in 1994/1995 by a guy called Arild Breland who also made a zine or newsletter, can't remember. I haven't seen the first tape so no comment/comparison to it. This is a 90 minute compilation and features an interesting mix of mainly atmospheric stuff from genres ranging from black to death/doom to gothic to avantgardish. There are some oddities included like completely out of place and obviously filler tracks on side B by MANOWAR and BATHORY! Yeah I'm sure he likes them and Bathory's song isn't at odds with the rest of the material here (much of it already being atmospheric and/or Norse/Viking/Heathen/whatever oriented) but they certainly break the flow of the compilation which already suffers from the ever so common issue of varying sound volumes - these tracks really jumped on the listener. I somehow doubt he got permission to use the songs anyways. I think the tape was late or somebody's contribution was cancelled and he just needed to fill up the 90 minutes. The other thing that sticks out, not so glaringly though, is the extremely raw and primitive black metal of Sacrifice Slaughtered Jesus, which in case you didn't know is an Absurd sideproject. It's not as obvious though as there is already other raw sounding material presented like the old tracks by Grimm and Perdition Hearse. The compilation came with two covers, which are both included and one is seen above, the other below:



He managed to get a much more interesting line-up than usual, I'll give him that, there are tracks that were exclusive for the time: the songs by Absurd, Beyond Dawn, Nattvindens Gråt and Katatonia which would all be released later officially. The sound is ok, the dub isn't perfect as there are some minor flaws around but it doesn't really bother at least me much. I already mentioned the varying sound levels, which I slightly adjusted but I'm no sound engineer and dislike using normalize-functions so certain amounts of difference remain. It's a homemade tape compilation anyways so it should sound like one! There was a two sided A4 info sheet serving as the booklet, it's been scanned & included too, see a small resolution version below:


Ok, I've now bitched about most things that came to mind, maybe I should continue with how the In The Woods... and Beyond Dawn tracks featured here were also included in a dozen other compilations? Won't do that this time, all said and flaws noted this is a very enjoyable tape and the "filler songs" I ranted about don't really stick out that bad. Ok, Manowar's track does. And S.S.J. is really really crude and primitive, think old Absurd stuff. No, older and really primitive. But it still isn't that out of place... well maybe it COULD be placed somewhere else, instead of being sandwiched between Bathory and In The Woods... Recommeded if you enjoy atmospheric dark music but can also stomach raw production!

PS: I need Vacuum's "Digest of Dreams" demo 1994.

Shadow Dancers - 1995 Recordings

Shadow Dancers - Promo 1995
1) Blacker than Better Between
2) The Wasp

Shadow Dancers - My Fate demo 1995
1) My Fate

Reuploaded

And now for something completely different to quote Monty Python - this time two recordings by the Norwegian gothic rockers Shadow Dancers, best known for including in their ranks Stian "Occultus" Johansen, known from Thyabhorrent & Perdition Hearse & a brief stint as the vocalist for Mayhem, Rym & Jontho of Ragnarok and 2 other guys. There is only 3 (short) songs on these two recordings and I think "My Fate" is a cover from another gothic band. I got these from one of my tape traders and decided to rip them out of curiosity to see how they sounded. Result is quite gloomy sounding ok gothic rock, vocals are not as annoying as they often are in the genre so even I can listen to them. Check it out if you like Ragnarok, gothic rock or are just morbidly curious.