Black Dawn - Dead Metal rehearsal 1996

Black Dawn (fin) - Dead Metal Rehearsal Tape 1996
1) Cursed Mother
2) Scythe Swinging Blues
3) I Vomit on You
4) Deathdance
5) Finale: The Hammer of Misanthropy Has Spoken

Reuploaded

The rehearsal tape madness never stops! This is again an item I received from comrade Grev and the band should be pretty familiar by now. So let us not waste more time with introductions but move onto the item at hand.

The dub I received from Grev was of quite good quality and I didn't fuck up the rip so the end result ought to be as good as a rehearsal tape can be expected to be. I don't think this ever had a proper cover art (I think the old pic of Wrath on B.D. site for this release is just a placeholder) so I slapped the last band logo there. Black Dawn's music on this recording has already evolved a bit, adding some synth to their black/death metal hybrid. I'm thinking I might hear some influence of that other band on these songs but that could be just me. Anyways, it's not as brutal as "Blood for Satan" and of course not as outlandish as the later developments. If you enjoy the other Black Dawn material, I'm pretty sure you'll like this one too. If you don't like other Black Dawn material, there's still a chance you might like this recording so give it a try in any case. And if you don't like black/death metal at all, why the hell are you reading this blog?

Black Dawn - War Against Christians demo 1993

Black Dawn (fin) - War Against Christians demo II 1993
1) Introrgasm
2) Eläköön Saatana!
3) Sodanjulistus
4) Forever Rotting Nazarene
5) Whore Of The Night
6) In Manus Tuas Satanas

Reuploaded

I was surprised to not find this demo when I was looking for it on the inter nets. Happily I have an ok dub of it which I've now ripped and uploaded. Known first as Nocturnal Feast and later changed their name to The True Black Dawn after some dispute with US sue-happy wimps using the same name, this is the original band Wrath of Enochian Cresent was known for in the UG. Black Dawn was often in odds with pretty much rest of the Finnish black metal scene and made 'zine editors happy with the various feuds and quarrels they had with both domestic and foreign black metal bands and individuals. Just see the flyer I scanned and uploaded (another case of no covers - I'd like a scan so get in touch if you got 'em) down there.


Anyways all that is in the past and music remains: despite vehemently denying the black metal tag themselves, that's exactly what I choose to call them. Well, actually black/death metal to be more accurate. The intros and music remind me of old Impaled Nazarene at times and the whole sounds more Finnish than Scandinavian. It's about 50% death 50% black. Much more in the mid-speeds than the later material. Good, clear sound even if I wasn't 100% satisfied with my rip, the result should be ok - the "new" version is better (2012). Recommendable demo to all into old Finnish black/death metal, E.C. fans, demo collectors and the usual suspects.

UPDATE: I received word the Mediafire upload was corrupt (again, seems to happen often with Mf) so link removed. Use Megaupload. I'll re-upload when I feel like that.
UPDATE II: Megaupload was taken down and this rip lost when my external HD broke. Fortunately, I had made another rip of this in hopes of a better result. That one is now uploaded there.

Nocturnal Feast - Hymn to Darkness demo '92

Nocturnal Feast - Hymn to Darkness demo I 1992
1) Intro: Live Eva
2) Ave Satanas
3) Enter the Eternal Night
4) Ancient Gods
5) Gates of Wisdom
6) The Gathering
7) Outro: The Waves of Acheron

Mega / Sampo

I'm behind schedule due unexpected "sick leave" but let's not dwell on that and rather push onward, to more old and moldy Finnish metal. This is Nocturnal Feast's only demo from '92, the band would gain much more notoriety under the banner of Black Dawn and survives today calling themselves (The) True Black Dawn with an album out on World Terror Committee. I know rips of this demo have been circulating around before but after having read their entry on Pirunkehto and recalling seeing this tape among the cassettes donated by Jukka from Curse ...wow, over six years ago?! Shit, I've even kept them in the same plastic bag all this time. Where was I? Yeah, so, remembered had the tape and decided to rip it. Here we go. I think his copy is original, sure the cover is somewhat sloppily xeroxed, but that hardly was uncommon at the time and the tape is a blackened-with-marker-pen type of affair with program repeating on both sides and something else dubbed after the demo as people were wont to do. I've discovered many a strange thing that way. More relevant than the authenticity is the content which we discuss next.

So if you're not familiar with old Black Dawn stuff, it was black/death metal hybrid, or Satanic death metal or evil milk metal as their old flyer described it (true story). Now that I checked, I've posted that flyer earlier. How convenient! Actually, seeing that I've posted pretty much all of old Black Dawn material you'd sort of had to either consciously avoid it or have jumped on board recently in which case welcome and please start from here and then proceed to other items in proper order.

The sound of the demo is very good, which is not really surprising if you consider this was recorded in a proper grown ups' studio and not one of those 4-tracker-in-rehearsal-room/garage-hey-lets-call-this-necrocatacomb-studio-awesome-idea-you-guys -things. Music leans more heavily on death metal here so the ratio might be like 75% death 25% black... or perhaps even more? Voice varies between deeper death growls and hoarse, raspy half-shriek half-yells with the growling being slightly more dominant of the two elements. Ever so slightly. There's also some whispers and generally good variation on the main forms. All five actual songs are quite short and simple affairs though tempos do alternate between faster, intense bursts of aggression and heavier, slower, bludgeoning passages. Enter the Eternal Night is the shortest of the lot at just over 1½ minutes while Ave Satanas almost makes it to three minutes. I also like the intro and outro bits. Ok, I think that's enough text for this time, coming up next even more black/death metal. Let's make this a black/death month!

Black Dawn - Rehearsal 1993

Black Dawn (fin) - Eläköön Saatana! Rehearsal Tape 1993
1) Gates of Wisdom
2) Eläköön Saatana!
3) Enter the Eternal Night
4) Forever Rotting Nazarene
5) Ave Satanas
6) 13 Candles (Bathory cover)

Reuploaded

Here's an old rehearsal tape of Finnish Black Dawn, known these days as The True Black Dawn. But I've told you about them before, so let's get to the point. I got a dub of this tape, for which "Eläköön Saatana!" is an unofficial title, from comrade Grev so thanks to him again. This rehearsal tape dates somewhere between the name change (from Nocturnal Feast, not the "The True..." edit) and the "War Against Christians" demo, from which songs are present too. Style is obviously same as on the demos, sound naturally rougher as it is a rehearsal tape and some of the tracks are played differently. Interestingly a cover of Bathory's 13 Candles is included - the vocalist Cindergrin (aka Wrath)'s better known other band would also do this cover later.

Grev was worried about the sound quality of his ancient, moldy and cobweb-covered tape but I think it turned out fine. Rehearsal tapes aren't famed for crystal clear sounds in the first place and there isn't much blemish on the tape so I'd say it sounds quite good. Recommended for fans, collectors and all not too wimpy to listen to rehearsal tapes.

A History of a Time to Come - Proem I (1996)

Various Artists - A History of a Time to Come - Proem I (1996)
1) Beyond Dawn - Teardance
2) Beyond Dawn - The Penance
3) Landscape - Monument
4) Necromicon - When the Sun Turns Black
5) In The Woods... - Tell de døde
6) Kampfar - Hymne
7) Dark Tranquillity - Midwinter / Beyond Enlightenment
8) Mithotyn - A Whining Winter Wind
9) Necromicon - A Part of the Dark World
10) (Thy) Primordial - Svart Gryning / Black Dawn
11) Helheim - Svart visdom
12) Penitent - Veien

Reuploaded

A compilation tape again, this one is from Bulgary but features only Norwegian and Swedish bands. Not that rare back then with the other extremity being of course compilations that featured only domestic bands. Still, it's a shame the Bulgarian guy who made this didn't include a single local band.

The compilation has a bit unusual running time of 70 minutes instead of the more common 60 and 90 minutes, and the A5 booklet with band infos is also a bit unusual. This has of course been scanned & included. Two of the bands do 2 tracks (Beyond Dawn, whose tracks from the 1994 promo are easy to understand, they blend in together - the other is Necromicon, I guess he liked them) and the others contribute one each... well Dark Tranquillity has an intro+song combo, taken from their 1991 demo which is a bit unexpected choice for a compilation made in late 1995. Styles range from the avant gardeish gloom of Beyond Dawn to the melodic black metal of Necromicon to In The Woods... and Helheim's epic norsecore. Nice compilation with a pretty good flow.

Golden Dawn / Apeiron - Split demo 1995

Golden Dawn / Apeiron - Split demo 1995
Golden Dawn:
1) The Spirit Lives One
2) Until We Meet Again
3) Leben in Nebel
4) The Revelation
5) The Seven Gates of Dreaming
6) Enigma
7) As Above so Below (Act I)
Apeiron:
8) Where Mountains Touch the Sky
9) My Realm Is Not of This World
10) Hymn to the Glorious Dead

Bandcamp

I haven't had much time to attend to the Coven recently so here's a bit bigger post to make up, the 1995 split demo by Austrian projects Golden Dawn and Apeiron mentioned in this post here. Soon after the post I actually got two separate rips of this and I decided to post the one brother Grev's acquaintance had made for him. Thanks to all involved! A scan of the cover sheet is included.

I said a bigger post and this sure is quite a lot for one sitting, the demo takes up a whole 90 minute tape (children, back when we used cassette tapes the most common ones sold in shops were either 60 or 90 minute ones) with GD on side A and the three Apeiron tracks filling side B. And yes, two of them are very long while the third one narrowly missing three minute mark. No, it's not a radio friendly pop song. Golden Dawn continues pretty much from "Lullaby" though with less viking black metal tendencies and lyrics as well as a generic feel closer to the debut album's esoteric black and dark metal experiments. Production is slightly better than on the debut demo, if you've heard the tracks on the A.B.M.S. compilation it's comparable to that. The third track "Leben in Nebel" sounds somewhat awkward compared to others around it, possibly having to do with the vocal style chosen as well as the songwriting. "The Revelation" picks things up again and the GD part maintains a reasonable momentum to its end, even if there are some odd side steps in every other track none stumble as much again.

Apeiron's part opens up sounding very much like an intro to Golden Dawn song would except that it just goes on and on. Ambient y'know. "Where Mountains Touch the Sky" has a running time of almost 19 minutes and sounds for much of its duration more spacey, cosmic and astral sort of ambient than dark, ritualistic or occult. Keyboards and some sound effects are the main components but some electric guitars eventually make an appearence approximately half way into song. Things take, in my opinion, a more dungeon synth-esque turn from there on. Vocals enter the mix and with the quickened tempo and the guitars the song basically becomes metal which is a little confusing when you were expecting ambient. Especially after the drums entered the mix. Quite an odd epos. "My Realm..." starts again with tingling keys, all ambiance which is slightly more dungeon than astral this time, but now you're already cautious and won't be fooled by Dreamlord's shenanigans. Except he doesn't repeat the previous formula. This time the ambient soars into cosmos around third of the track in and strongly effected vocals are added, reminding me of the Black Orchid demo. Or that was the first thing that came to mind. Eventually some guitars are again added in, but they seem to fit better this time and it doesn't sound "just" metal. There are several fade outs and restarts in the latter part of the track with the parts differing a bit from each other while maintaining a uniform overall feel. Unfortunately towards the very end he somehow slips into full on metal again which I really think isn't appropriate here. The contrast is jarring especially for being such a short part in an epic length track. The last short track features so-and-so cleanish vocals and sounds really more like it should've been an outro part for a Golden Dawn demo. I understand Stefan is working on remixing and possibly doing something else to some of the Apeiron material which will be interesting to hear. Recommended to check out if you've enjoyed his other work and for the novelty of me wishing something to be less metal for the Apeiron bits.

UPDATE: Has been released on vinyl (hmph!) by Seed Stock and on Stefan's Bandcamp (yay!) so get it ...somewhere!

Autumn Verses - Legions to Come promodemo 1994

Autumn Verses - Legions to Come promodemo 1994
1) Creating the Mighty Kingdom of Flames
2) I Ride the Wings of the Raven

Reuploaded

Some people might have heard the only album "Tunes of Disconsolation" by this band by the editors of the Kill Yourself!!! 'zine (which started as Rotted Anus and most issues were written in Finnish). Well, this demo or promodemo as they called the release (for some reason people seemed to be fond of the abomination of a word back then, couldn't probably make up their minds) sounds QUITE different compared to the pretty sophisticated Thy Serpentish approach of the album. My copy is a dub I got from them, no covers so I've slapped up there the cover image I took from the flyer published on their 'zine, seen below.


However, a proper cover exists as shown by the quite poor Metal Archives image:


As usual, I'd like a proper scan of the cover if anyone has it. Onto the music, here we have the K.Y.!!!-boys do drums and guitars while their session members J.Kuru aka Wrath of Black Dawn/Enochian Crescent does the vocals and U.Leponokka harmonies which I presume means the synth occasionally present. The demo consists of two pretty long tracks and as the guys insisted it is not black metal! Sure, it certainly sounds like something that could've come out of Norge at the time but the message isn't black metal. I guess this goes lyrically more into Immortal territory. The sound is clear and yet quite awful, mostly due the annoying, weakish and jangly guitar sound. There's no bass probably even in the same building at the time this was recorded. The synth parts that pop up now and then are ok and the vocals are also ok, more in his Black Dawn style. Drums blast away, doing their job. Considering the extremely harsh reviewing style of Kill Yourself!!! 'zine back in the day one can't but wonder at their double standards putting out this tape. Don't get me wrong, it's not horrible while it certainly isn't good either, but reading the 'zine makes one a harsh critic of their product. Recommended for ug-maniacs into raw shit, collectors of releases featuring Wrath and so on.

Black Dawn - Rehearsal Track 1993

Black Dawn (fin) - Rehearsal Track 1993
1) The Mother of All Whores

Mediafire

Here is the last B.D. rehearsal item I got from Grev and it is a single rehearsal track recorded in 1993. It sounds a little more brutal and death metallish than the previous rehearsal posted. It has a nice'n'clear rehearsal sound quality, but unfortunately G. had received the track untitled and I'm too retarded to figure out what song it could be. If you identify the track, get in touch with the track title! Not really much to add, if you've enjoyed the related posts so far, you'll pick this up too.

UPDATE: Wrath has identified the track as "The Mother of All Whores" - if he recalls the title right! Well, he's the best source for this really so I'm using this title & reuploaded the links! Thanks for the info!

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.

Thornfrost - Upon The Faustian Throne demo 1997

Thornfrost - Upon The Faustian Throne demo 1997
1) Shores Of Black Dawn
2) Sister Winter
3) Veiled In Crimson Skies
4) Thornfrost

Available here

This seems to be a pretty rare item, the only released recording of Henri & Ville Sorvali's (Moonsorrow) black metal project, featuring also Sami Heikura from Kharadrai. It was released in 1997 through the Sorvali cousins' Meat Hook Productions and that's where I ordered it from, I think. I vaguely remember buying this, Moonsorrow's "Tämä Ikuinen Talvi", 2nd issue of their 'zine and possibly some other tape or two.

But back to item at hand, this was supposed to be straight-forward black metal, but it's not of the raw & rough school, rather what we have here is Nordic black metal supported by synth. It sounds less sugary than the average synth-bm product of the era though. Unfortunately the sound was very weak and a bit fuzzy, not much more I could do. It's easy listening compared to LLN-items still. There are 4 tracks but the 1st and 4th are more like an intro and outro in my opinion, so it is a quite short release overall. Definitely worth a listen, especially to Moonsorrow fans.

Golden Dawn - Lullaby demo 1995

Golden Dawn - Lullaby demo I 1995
1) Midgard (The Forsaken Kingdom Parts I - VI)
2) Lullaby
3) Memento Mori
4) Funeral March

Temporarily unavailable, will upload the complete version soon!!!

Time for some more black metal, don't you think? Here's a demo that seems surprisingly rare, the first one by Austria's Golden Dawn, whom people probably remember for the bit odd and experimental overall ok debut "The Art of Dreaming" and the second album "Masquerade" which I recall being horrible. It's been a while I tried listening to it and no, I'm not in the mood to do so today either. Besides these Dreamlord released in 1995 a split demo with his synth project Apeiron and another demo "Way of the Sorcerer" of which brother Xexanoth uploaded an incomplete version here. I want a full version of that and the split demo. Plus other Apeiron recordings. There are also demo and rehearsal recordings done between the albums, of which "Sublimity" was supposed to be the actual second album but apparently Dark Matter Records screwed up and it ended up being given out as a demo. I don't know if this demo actually had a cover, never seen one, the one seen above is yet another placeholder whipped up by me, using the logo from demo III and a band image from "A.B.M.S. Norici Obscura Pars" compilation.

UPDATE I: Had a few words with Dreamlord and alas it is as I feared, this demo is incomplete: the first track should be several parts and about 15 minutes (if he remembers right) long so looks like most of that is missing! Get in touch if you have a complete version ASAP.

UPDATE II: I got the GD / Apeiron split demo, no less than twice actually, as well as the Apeiron demos '95 + '97 and Golden Dawn's "Way of the Sorcerer" demo + rehearsal 1996 so stay tuned for more and thanks to the contributors!

UPDATE III: I have the full version now, I just need to sort it out into separate tracks and upload. Sorry for the inconvenience. Boys are now preparing, please wait warmly until it is ready~ 

UPDATE IV: Done. Decided to repost so people who got this incomplete disaster might notice and download the full version. Here.

As you must have guessed by now, my copy is a dub from a tape trader, decent enough quality but clearly not ripped from an original. The music is melodic, lofi, a little on the crude side yet with epic elements black metal. Wonderfully cheap'n'cheesy synths add to the atmosphere. There are some "clean" vocals performed which I could really do without. They manage to sound strangely appropriate on the first track, less so later. It's somehow more entertaining a listen than it should be but check it out for yourself

In My Veins - The Red Sky At Dawn demo 1995

In My Veins - The Red Sky at Dawn demo 1995
1) Shrouded in Darkness and Despair
2) Black Vault of Heaven
3) The Red Sky at Dawn
4) Snow in My Hand

Removed as obsolete, see here

Another obscure Finnish demo here, not black metal this one. It's dark death metal, a pretty good effort too and seems like it is also the only official thing In My Veins released (unless they've just changed the band's name and made an illustrious career with another monicker).

I'm not sure where I got their address back in 1995 (flyer/'zine would seem most likely) but I sent them a tape to record the demo, got that and a rehearsal with 2 new songs and another new track which either was untitled or I've lost it's title. I'll post the 2 song rehearsal later but I'm not sure about that untitled song, maybe I'll try to dig through some old papers to see if I'd still have the letter somewhere. Until I decide what I'll do, enjoy the demo!

Golden Dawn - Way of the Sorcerer demo 1995

Golden Dawn - Way of the Sorcerer demo III 1995
1) Way of the Sorcerer
2) Enigma
3) Nothing but the Wind
4) The Majesty of My Kingdom Afar

Links removed as obsolete,
Bandcamp

Full cover scan: Mediafire

It's time to continue my excruciatingly slow (I'm the one to blame for that) quest to post all of Golden Dawn's old demos (Stefan's planning to re-release the more recent ones plus select old tracks), here's the third recording from 1995 and complete for change, courtesy of brother Grev and ripped by an associate of his. Thank you gentlemen. The previous versions of the demo I've seen online had only the first two tracks, which were featured on the A.B.M.S.: Obscura Norici Pars - compilation CD. You do the math. Sadly, no cover scan so another tiny, tiny image from Metal Archives borrowed. UPDATE: Discogs had slightly better images of the cover which I promptly stole borrowed, see above and below. Full scan would still be better, brother Fenrirsson hopefully eventually delivers that.
UPDATE II: Got the scan from F, get it here! Thanks again!

The music on this demo is much closer to how the debut album turned out, bit more straight forward and with a rougher production which is better than on the previous efforts, mind you. I'm not sure if the two tracks featured on the compilation CD were re-touched or not (too lazy to dig up the CD now and you don't really care do you?) but I'm pretty sure they sounded slightly different. In case you haven't heard the compilation, the two track version of the demo or the debut album I guess I should try to describe the material briefly. It's semi-symphonic black metal with some avantgardish and even gothic elements in. Or something. Pretty fast paced most of the time, except for atmospheric breaks. Kinda like old Emperor meets Celtic Frost? No, not really. But I bet that got your attention. I recommend you to give it a try except if you only like grim metal of death and/or raw subterranean black metal in which case I guess you need to wait for another post.

UPDATE III: Stefan has put this demo and others on Bandcamp, making the rip obsolete (not the scan though) so I am removing the links. Go to his Bandcamp page instead!

Unto A Long Glory...2 - Beverina Compilation (1997)

Various Artists - Unto A Long Glory...2 - Beverina Compilation (1997)
1) Dissimulation - Intro / Būk Prakeiktas
2) Apraxia - Freedom
3) Dawn of Gehenna - Dark Side of the Earth
4) Nokturnal Mortum - Perun's Celestial Silver
5) Tharaphita - All Pool Lund Ja Jaad
6) Skyforger - Old Semigallian Warsong
7) Vicious Crusade - Land of Lakes
8) Sunchariot - Voroni
9) Tangrycan - Immortalize Sacrament
10) Mental Home - Into the Realms of Marena
11) Blizzard - Possessed by Hate
12) Alkonost - Shadows of Dark Days

Mediafire

We depart from the realms of NZ death, but if you wish more I suggest you check out raf's with the recent Eviscerate & Mutilated Entrails posts. Our destination today is again the Balkan lands and the surrounding Slavonic domains with the second Beverina compilation, sent by Juris (thanks!) and ripped by me. Cover scans enclosed.

Much of what I wrote on the post for the first Beverina compilation applies here too, the main focus still being on pagan black metal but this time the Slavs outnumber the Balts seven to five. Also, there are no non-metal tracks, unfortunately for some and possibly fortunately for others. Unless you count Skyforger's live folk track. The musical line is a bit more focused on (folk) pagan black metal here but exceptions can be found in the death/doom by Dawn of Gehenna & Mental Home. Note that the covers misspell Estonian Tharaphita as Tharapitha - an error present in the upload, sorry I noticed that too late. Fix it manually. What more I should say about this? Well, it's a very interesting compilation if you enjoy Slavonic/Baltic heathen black metal with atmospheric and/or folky touches. Personally I enjoy most tracks 4, 5, 7, 11 and of course 12 - old Alkonost is a big long time favourite of mine! Least enjoyable would be Tangrycan whose vocals I can't seem to get into, not very keen on the drum machine either. This tape was in very good condition so there's not much in the glitch and impurity department - naturally some wear in inevitable. Not sure whether the first one or this is better but both are nonetheless recommendable.

Golden Dawn - Rehearsal Tape 1996

Golden Dawn - Rehearsal Tape 1996
1) Call from the Grave (Bathory cover)
2) Inwards Leads the Mythic Death
3) A Message [cuts!]

Reuploaded

I was going to post another synth kind of an item today but then on a whim, possibly influenced by the other rehearsal tapes recently posted, I decided to resume my awfully slow Golden Dawn project with this rehearsal tape from '96 ripped by Grev's comrade. Thanks again, gentlemen! No covers exist for this one, at least that's what I think. UPDATE: Image used sent by reader Running Wild who wanted to make placeholder images for this and the other rehearsal, thanks!

No more time to waste, to the music: first song should be familiar to all, a cover of Bathory classic "Call from the Grave" which does have some personal touches thanks to the synth bits that appear in the later part of the song. Decent rehearsal sound quality, not that far from the '95 demos really. Musically not too far removed either, it's getting a little bit more complex with more synth parts, quite obviously as this sits between "Way of the Sorcerer" and the debut album. Or that's what I think, neither of the original titles appear elsewhere, unless they were renamed and I don't right now recognize either being an album track. Then again, it's been a while since I last listened to "The Art of Dreaming" so I might be wrong. Unfortunately the last track cuts, I've no idea how much. If you have a complete version of this recording it would be very welcome. Until then, this would be recommended to fans of Golden Dawn and collectors of Austrian recordings, as well as people into synth-heavy, somewhat avant-gardish dark/black metal.

Hyperion - Cor in Therion - From Centauri Section We Came... demo 1997

Hyperion (aut) - Cor in Therion - From Centauri Section We Came... demo I 1997
1) The Reconquest of the Wargod
2) Nortara-Akhkharu
3) Truthin
4) The Fellowship of the Wargod
5) Unto Centauri Section
6) The Lost Wisdom of Alpha Centauri
7) Leaving Centauri Section
8) The Proclamation of the Wargod

Yandex / Zippyshare

I'm back from my leave and with a long overdue project finished due to a popular demand (two or more people asking for the same thing in a few months counts) and seeing that I had already ripped my dub of Austrian Hyperion's demo already in '10 it was about damn time! So, yeah, this band featured members from Amazeroth and The Call of the Four Gates, and changed/edited their name several times over the years, first to Hyperion MSSM (first album, re-recording of part of this demo's content released under this monicker) then Hyperion Deathbionics and finally Hyperion DB 369. They seem to have called it a day last year. I got this demo from a trader comrade and unfortunately that means no covers and also some tape wear plus the oddly uneven and infrequent yet at times absolutely massive hiss can be heard. Though the strange hiss could be considered part of the sound so no biggie.

Another curious thing is the title. As you see above from the epic collage/placeholder combo used to decorate the post there is variety. I got this under the title "Cor in Therion" and my trader wrote: other title "From Centauri Section We Came..." which I interpreted as either alternative title or second part of it. The later versions of the demo were released under the title "From Centauri Section We Came - We Require the Throne for Us!!!" and had at least two different covers: an explosive spacey thing (strictly better of the two, left on collage) and some sort of an Arabian Nights themed one (strictly weirder, on the right). I was somewhat unsure what to call this, options were just "Cor in Therion" which then would be easy to mix with the album (even if it was released with the changed band name), then the one picked and seen above, in the spirit of the later versions and thirdly "Cor in Therion (From Centauri Section We Came...)" which in hindsight I now like best. Too late to cry, though.

That's all fascinating, right, but what about the music? Well, reminds me of The Call of the Four Gates actually quite a bit, the sound is similarily half-messy and raw. Older Golden Dawn pops into mind from time to time too. It's quite melodic and atmospheric black metal with epic leanings, mostly midpaced and general performance somewhere between adequate and clumsy but that is not an issue for me. I seem to enjoy the sound here greatly today, much more than the less charismatic, produced clean sound of the album versions. Similar to Nehëmah's "Light of a Dead Star" recordings the demo is longer than the album. One reason why it took me so long to finish this was the initial difficulty with track divisions as the songs are quite sprawling and have these ambient interludes messing things up. And again the timings on Metal Archives seem to be incorrect. I don't think the content differs between the versions of the demo. Enough text for now, I am a busy man; recommended and be sure to pick this up if you enjoy one or more of these things: Austrian black metal, cosmic/space-oriented black metal, rough demo versions of songs, The Call of the Four Gates, multiple black metal vocalists, long songs, concept releases.

Veles - Studio Rehearsal 1997

Veles - Studio Rehearsal 1997 for "Black Hateful Metal"
1) The Dawn of New Empire
2) The Spirit of Ancient Europe
3) Broken Cross
4) Millennium of Disgrace
5) Black Hateful Metal

Mediafire

Another Polish item I gained from my contributor and another horde with cult reputation, Veles. Presented here is a fragment of their studio rehearsal for "Black Hateful Metal" album from 1997. All tracks are obviously familiar from the album, here in instrumental versions and without most of the keyboard/sound effect interludes. Very good rehearsal sound, as my contributor commented the instruments actually seem to sound better than on the album. Obviously had no cover artwork, included in the folder is just a placeholder I made to amuse myself and confuse people who don't read these things. If you enjoy "Black Hateful Metal" or other Veles material, this is essential. I know I like it.

Ordo Draconis - When the Cycle Ends demo 1997

Ordo Draconis - When the Cycle Ends demo I 1997
1) A Crimson Dawn
2) Fading Daylight
3) The Gloaming of the Haunted Eve
4) The Nightwanderer

Mediafire

This demo is another of master Sorvali's sendings so thanks to him for the rip + scans and it's the first tape of the Dutch band Ordo Draconis, often seen labeled as black metal but that's not really right as this is straight out fantasy metal with dark/black metal sound. This is also one of those tapes I keep thinking was released by Elven Witchcraft but nope, it was distributed by EW (among others) and released by the band themselves.

The demo consists of four tracks, of which the second one is a short instrumental. Sound is quite good, strong and mostly clear though it does get a bit clogged at the faster bits with vocals on. According to the covers the music was recorded live which certainly contributes to the energy of the performance. Melodic, at times symphonic even, dark fantasy metal, I suppose you know the sort, with atmospheric slower breaks, guitar leads, raspy black metal vocals and some female voices provided by Femke from Gandillion. The main vocalist/bassist Moloch apparently is nowadays in Hell Militia, as a side note. This is quite well performed and I remember liking this back when it was released but it's not really my cup of coffee these days. Though like tea it's not really that repelling or anything, a bit is fine every now and then, but I prefer more bitter, black beverage. Give them a listen if you're into melodic and atmospheric metal or interested in EW-associated material, I'm off to get me some coffee.

Throes of Dawn - With the Northern Wind demo '94 [new rip]

Throes of Dawn - With the Northern Wind demo I 1994
1) Autumn Winds
2) Outburning Sun
3) Silent Throes

Reuploaded - 2022

Looks like I really did a repost today. Let's go back to December 2008 when I first posted a rip of the debut demo of Throes of Dawn, "With the Northern Wind" released in 1994. Or let's not really since that rip was not very good. The bitrate was so-and-so, the rip was a bit too loud and brickwalled and worst of all I managed to do it in mono unintentionally. Well, that is the price of self-taught things. Especially with people who don't bother to read instructions.

I've made the rip from the same tape as last time and yeah, it is little worn but nothing drastic. To elaborate a bit from the old entry, the three tracks presented here are quite long and pretty ambitious for such a young band they were back then. Melodic, at best moments very catchy stuff with fairly complex song structures. You know, plenty of tempo changes and different parts that just barely connect to each other. Like a Lego structure built by an ambitious child, it just narrowly stays together and does not collapse into a mess of caltrops. Well, the clean vocals are still very, very cringeworthy, especially in the last song which altogether feels like least fluent of the constructions with its I'm-gonna-fall-I-can't-stop-now-oh-jesus-why-am-I-going-this-fast-I'm-gonna-die sort of fast, death metally parts and other clunky bits. The first song, which they re-recorded for the debut album "Pakkasherra" is the best of the crop while the rest follow conveniently in descending order.

Throes of Dawn are still active and have released albums in slow and steady pace while changing to a more mellow, atmospheric and somewhat progressive direction, with the most recent one out last August. To my surprise I found myself enjoying the more recent works better than the late 90's/millennium period where I stopped following them. I'm listening to the 2010 album as I type this and it's more like (new) Tiamat than any sort of meloblack or dark metal of their past and at least initially much better than I recall "Binding of the Spirit" was. The clean singing sounding finally good helps a lot I guess. This really had nothing to do with the demo here. If you liked this before, this is a bit better rip so get it. If you haven't heard them before this is a natural starting point. Let's see if next post would be more death/black or something totally different. It won't be a repost. Probably.

Runemagic - NecroLive Uddevalla 1992

Runemagic - NecroLive Uddevalla, Sweden 1992
1) Necro Metal
2) Fullmoon Sodomy
3) Desecration
4) Nocturnal Creation
5) In Remembrance

Mediafire / RGhost

This year is coming to an end. An era ended on the 28th of this month. I'm out of beer. Inspired by these feelings I felt a need to finish some outstanding projects left to lie in my notorious WIP folder and actually have gotten results. Here's one, a live tape by the Swedish (then) black metal band Runemagic, much better known from their second incarnation as Runemagick from '97 onwards. The "k" makes all the difference does it not? Also, going to play full on dark death metal before it got fashionable again was probably a more notable factor. However, first era Runemagic was black metal, with death metal touches sure but black metal still. I guess this was a more or less official live tape, recorded in their hometown. Unfortunately I have no covers and probably whoever did the Metal Archives entry didn't have either as the tracklisting was somewhat off, above should be correct. Would love a full scan if possible.

Why was this lying around unfinished for long, long time? Because of the rather challenging tracklisting and lack of material to compare to. I had misplaced my "Fullmoon Symphony" dub but fortunately identified it as an untitled B-side of a cassette I recently ripped so I got a kick to start sorting this out. If you remember the earlier "Runemagic" post here I'm now quite sure that is not the same band as it sounds almost completely different to other old material and actually everything else the guys involved had recorded (Deathwitch, who reused some old Runemagic material most notably track 3 here on their second album "Dawn of Armageddon" as Desecration of the White Christ which is the proper title anyways, Swordmaster, Sacramentum) or would record (The Funeral Orchestra, Necrocurse, Death Breath, Robert Pehrsson's Humbucker etc etc...). It would be really nice to know if there actually was another band called Runemagic (not very likely but possible), or if it was a band named something different but close enough to cause a mistake (slightly likely) or if it in the end was the same guys' unmentioned and/or -released demo (highly unlikely!).

Back to this item, the first track here was not that hard to identify as they scream the title aloud several times, the erronous Metal Archives listing has it as last track and "Runemagick - Necro Metal" which quite obviously carried over from someone's rip having been in the artist - song title format. Sloppy! The full title on "Alcoholic Rehearsal" of '91 was Dark Necro Metal. That rehearsal's tracklisting makes it seem a long song, over 5 minutes but this version here is just a quick burst not two minutes long so I went with the shortened title (I actually forgot to change the titles). Live versions may differ quite a lot (looking at you Mayhem and too short Pure Fucking Armageddons!) so that is not too surprising. Second track is easy enough if you have the demo of the same name and third one too. Fourth song was a bastard to figure out, especially as it was not on the most (? source? need to verify) versions of the demo. Fortunately he introduces the song in the beginning but unfortunately they somehow mess up or whatever else happens and it extends to an over ten minutes version with an awkward break in the middle. They don't quite restart it either so for a time I was under the impression it would be two separate tracks and tried hard to identify the second part unsuccessfully. After finally noticing their bandcamp had a remastered demo version up I confirmed it to same song. I originally intended to split it into two parts Noctunal Creation I & II but then decided against that. Last song was again a walk in the park. So there, not so easy, especially when I originally ripped it from a tape that had absolutely nothing written on it.

Fascinating tale of first world problems but how about the music? Getting there, this is old schoolish black metal with some death metal influences which I said in the very beginning but you might've already forgotten, has certain groove present that gives it personality, vocals screamy and good. Sound's not very good, elements get quite buried and somewhat messy but it's still listenable for the fearless relic hunter. Obviously not a soundboard recording, perhaps someone shot this on video and this is the audio of it? I still love it, old Runemagic has definite charm to it. I need the rehearsal tapes and you need to download this.