Messier - Live at Võit Cinema, 4.4.1997

Messier - Live at Võit Cinema, Nõmme, Tallinn Estonia 4th April 1997
1) Ohverdus hingekopsude toojale
2) Kopsud ja valu ja saatuse raskus
3) Surm neile kel kõrv
4) Püha osmidus armastab loomi
5) Iisraeli rahva kõlbeline laostumine

RGhost / Yandex

Following the previous post I decided to upload right away another Messier item, this is a live recording, also from 1997. The line-up for the gig was same as for the first demo, minus Pallisõber (I think) and added our contributor Mihkel Kleis playing the synth. Mihkel recalls Messier performed live only two times. The venue was in a suburb of Tallinn and was quite popular for rock and metal concerts at that time. No cover, the pic up there is the Messier guys sans Känd hanging around at Harju Mägi, Tallinn - there was a record market every Sunday. Mihkal in the middle, Noka to the left and Lauri on the right.

The five song performance lasts a little below 17 minutes and has a pretty good sound in my opinion. Vocals are a little high on the mix but this might have to do also with the nature of the instrumentation. Some of the tracks don't seem to appear elsewhere, including the first one which sounds quite like progressive rock with the synth and guitar doing what they do. The second and third track are among the more bizarre and noisy sort and live especially so. An interesting performance for sure. I had something else I was going to write but now I'm kind of in a hurry so just download it. Or don't.

Messier - Rõõmurikkuja demo 1998

Messier - Rõõmurikkuja demo 1998
1) Rõõmurikkuja
2) Hani
3) Keskaja kaitseks
4) Vahepala
5) Enne hommikut
6) Hoge jage
7) Kui nad olid...
8) Lõpu lugu

Mediafire / RGhost

Ok, time for the last part of the Messier saga, which you might remember from the earlier months and kinda sorta keeping with the semi-mellow direction of the blog recently. This is the second demo, more professional thing than the material posted so far and also kindly contributed by Mihkel, thanks once again! With cover scans.

Like on the first demo, plenty of tracks again but this time around it's a more consistent effort and some of them are quite long at 5+ mins for a total time of over half an hour. Pretty nice demo sound, but still quite lo-fi, worry not. Longer tracks which are a little less adventurous than the things happening on earlier recordings but they still make sure to comb the bushes and backroads of Estonian wilderness and folkscape. Possibly a bit of a dissappointment to the people expecting the wackiness of previous recordings but still not the most easy-listening chewed up ready for consumption folk stuff. If you liked the previous ones check this out too. If you didn't... well quite possibly you won't like this either.

Messier - Tagasi Egiptuse lihapottide juurde demo 1997

Messier - Tagasi Egiptuse lihapottide juurde demo 1997
1) Tagasi Egiptuse lihapottide juurde
2) Infixus sum est in limo profundi et non est substantsia
3) The Stones, Where the Haft Rotted
4) Ja kopsud ja valu ja saatuse raskus
5) Seal surm on neile kel kõrv
6) Jotros poemas ja teisi luuletus
7) Sõja mõttetusest
8) Kui käib lahingulaine
9) Hodina u rak polesu
10) Õnnis, kui taevased, neistki õndsam veel Catullus

Rusfolder / Mediafire

Contributions again and quite recent one for change plus it's yet another "different" item. This is the rare first demo by the Estonian folk/something band Messier, sent to me by Mihkel Kleis, thank you, and I presume it is ripped from his tape. Scans were also provided so we're all good here. He wasn't sure how many copies were made but estimates roughly ten(!).

This demo is in a sense a compilation as it gathers recordings from 1993 - 1997, all home-recorded with a tape recorder for extremely bad, amateurish sound quality. Though I've heard worst and so have you if you've read this blog long enough. Line-up for this tape was Indrek Pauls aka "Noka" - vocals, flute & guitar; Lauri Õunapuu (now in Metsatöll) - guitar & vocals; Känd - percussion. Apparently a guy called Pallisõber participated in the band, but Mihkel had no idea exactly what he played or how he contributed. Music here is... uh, I guess it's best described as some sort of Baltic folk/neofolk, very lo-fi and as underground as such comes. Main voice is kind deep chanting one, while another voice is a bit lighter and more... ehh proper singing? Singsongy? I don't seem to be on my best descriptive edge today. Anyways, those are later expanded to spoken word and frantic, very punky sort of vocals which are surprising and cool. Instrumentation is acoustic guitars, flute(s - possibly various kinds but I understand preciously little of such!) and percussion, which you of course could already tell from the line-up I wrote earlier. Some of the songs are very traditional kind of folk while others have more of a neofolk character and yet others are plain silly/very eccentric. Listening through the tape leaves me a little confused and undecided to what make out of it. It's not very long, just over 24 minutes, despite containing ten tracks, most of them are quite short. In the end of the day I find this strangely fascinating at parts, I clearly need to give it more attention as it seems to grow on you with further listens. Or maybe I'm finally losing it. Recommeded for the more adventurous and open minded readers.

Messier - Unreleased Tracks 1997/98

Messier - Unreleased Tracks 1997/98
1) Vaateleivad
2) Seal surm neile kel kõrv
3) Suur valaskala. Katkend

RGhost / Mediafire

Here's a little more Messier, you remember them from last month I presume? As before, contributed by Mihkel Kleis, thank you! This recording is 2½ unreleased tracks, he wasn't sure when these were recorded but definitely before the second demo (which was done in autumn 1998) so circa 1997/98 anyways. Obviously no cover for these. Track 2 is familiar from older recordings, here again little different.

These have a decent sound, recorded probably in rehearsal conditions, but so was the material on the first demo too so it's entirely comparable. The recording of the first track sounds a little different so it might be from another session, no idea of the truth. Last track would appear to cut a little, unless it was an actual choice to fade it away like it does. Not much more to add really, if you liked the previous recordings you might enjoy this too.

Cradle Of Filth - A Pungent and Sexual Miasma Split 1992

Cradle Of Filth - A Pungent and Sexual Miasma ½ Split tape 1992
1) So Violently Sick (From Demo 2)
2) Funereal (Ipswich 13-03-92)
3) Dawn of Eternity (Reh 03-03-92)
4) Circle of Perversion (From Demo 1)
5) Chewing on Your Guts (Reh 03-03-92)
6) Loathsome Christ (Ipswich 13-03-92)
7) Darkly Erotic (From Demo 2)
8) This Fetid Dank Oasis (Ipswich 13-03-92)
9) Our Father Which Art in Earth (actually "Foul Winds Threaten" from Demo 2)

Mediafire

Here's some more old COF sent by comrade Ruptured Souls, thank you. Unfortunately this is only a half of the "A Pungent..." tape, side B being Malediction's part which he did not have. I don't think I've ever heard Malediction so I can't say if we're missing much but it's a matter of principle so if you have their part of the tape please get in touch! The folder includes various images of the covers so that's covered.

As you may see from the notes, COF's tracks are compiled from the first two demos and from a live show and a rehearsal from March '92. Malediction's part would've been compiled from a live show and a rehearsal from '91 so in essence this split was a compilation. Death metal era COF so fans of their black metal or symphonic extreme metal periods might not be too enthusiastic listening to the content. On the other hand, those who can't stand later stuff and love more brutal and crude metal might enjoy this. The sound ranges from the good demo sound to slightly messier but still listenable live to crude yet (barely) audible rehearsal. Nothing sounds utterly horrible, at least if you're a seasoned listener of old tapes. Material itself ranges from good to pretty boring, I'm no death metal specialist after all. Cautiously recommended to those who think they like old COF.

Jarowit - Za dawne dni demo 1996

Jarowit - Za dawne dni demo 1996
1) Zew umarłych legend
2) Płomień
3) Za krew naszych przodków
4) Wicher

4shared / Yandex

Let's do some non-metal material again, this is a contribution, from the same source as the Brunei stuff posted earlier - thanks you know who you are - and a rather obscure project from Poland called Jarowit with a four song demo released in 1996. As far as we know, that is. Seems legit, considering that quite a few similar projects appeared around that time in Poland. Most likely inspired by Perunwit who were among the first to pioneer a sort of mix between (neo-)folk, ambient and some metal elements with a pagan and often nationalistic ideology. Well yeah Lord Wind obviously did something similar too but I feel it's a bit different from what most of these sort of projects put out. Sadly no covers nor is there anything online that my extremely lazy and half-hearted search would've discovered.

You might've noticed I approached describing the music herein somewhat cautiously but I suppose best short description might be low-fi pagan folk/ambient. This is a pretty long demo, that is it feels kinda long running 23+ minutes spread over the four parts here. First song consists of quite monotonous and slightly erratic guitar strumming and tape hiss for almost five minutes. Second one features more guitar, slightly muted clean-ish singing, some sort of percussion (he might be drumming on his guitar case with his hands for all I know) so there's more going on there. It's still kind of sparse and most likely performed "live" or "rehearsal" so to say, whatever he (they? but it's probably, almost certainly, one guy) used to record this just set up running and capturing the result on tape. Third track seems to follow in same vein but has variation by adding what I guess is supposed to be a wolf howling (I'm almost certain it's the artist himself) as well as harsh black metal rasps for more aggressive parts. Those moments make me imagine this as some sort of extremely stripped down pagan metal solo performance in street corner or small square in less-than-presentable part of town. If this was properly recorded in a studio it would have none of the oddly compelling charm present in this forme, though it's a very trying listen, mostly overstaying its welcome and demanding a certain amount of patience from the listener. I'm not really sure whether to recommend this or not as my own reactions seem to vary from one listen to another. I suppose if you're into old Perunwit, Svantevith, Nirnaeth, or other of the several similar projects I can't seem to recall now when I'd need to you'll want to check this one out too. Though those are really not very good name drops as they're so much more, um, refined? This is closer to Messier than December's Fire, to offer some perspective.

Troll - Studio Rehearsal 23.05.1995

Troll (nor, Aafjord) - Studio Rehearsal 23rd May 1995
1) Naar Trollet Sprekker

Reuploaded

A quick one today, once again an item from Grev, this is a single track rehearsal recording by the other and less-known Troll from Norway, the Aafjord band. Unlike Nagash's project which was basically guaranteed a deal these guys just made a demo in 1994 (which is quite original sounding "troll/forest metal" or whatever, recommended listening anyways), recorded this track, probably rehearsed a couple of times in between, before and afterwards, and then just dissappeared. Which is a shame since at least I would've liked to hear more.

This song is in style similar to the 1994 demo, meaning melodic Norwegian black (well, not very "black" really) metal with folky touches. Very catchy and "trollish" stuff. Unfortunately it suffers a bit from the weak sound quality, manifesting mostly on the very low sound levels, the recording itself is quite clear if lacking in power. The demo sounded a bit messier and more powerful. They use some clean vocals here which aren't the best around but manage their job. Recommended if you liked the demo.

Thromdarr - Winds of the Fall demo 1997

Thromdarr - Winds of the Fall demo 1997
1) Thromdarr
2) An Eclipse Over the Mountains
3) The Embrace of Cold
4) Winds of the Fall
5) Eyes of Crystal
6) Frozen as the Moon
7) October

Mediafire

Those of you who have heard Thromdarr's debut album "NorthStorm Arrives" will probably recognize again several of the titles from this, their fourth demo under Thromdarr name. I got this too from Mika, thanks again to him and it has no proper cover art so once again just the logo to decorate the entry.

Seven tracks might look a lot at first glimpse but the self-titled first track and last one (which would seem to cut but that's how I got it) are more like an intro and outro while three of the five proper tracks are rather short clocking under 3 minutes. This makes the whole demo just a bit over 20 minutes in duration. Musically still based on the Finnish black/death sound but adding more bits and pieces from thrash and traditional metal into the soup. The absence of the raw, cold guitar sound and more prominent synths present on the previous demo are the most immediately notable changes along with the change in the vocals from the more growly main vocal to a hoarse half scream. The songs are more melodic, faster and slightly catchier, at the expense of the brutality. Soundwise it's somewhat messier than the "Silverthrone" was but by no means bad. Quite typical 90's demo sound. You can still make out everything even if the vocals and synths are buried a little deeper this time.

I actually enjoy this very much. All three tracks used later on the debut album work very well with the two longer ones maintaining their momentum while having memorable riffs & melodies and "Eyes of Crystal" has certain frantic quality to it that appeals to me. Well ok, "The Embrace..." stumbles a bit to its end but manages for most of its lenght. "Frozen as the Moon" kind of combines the qualities of the three album tracks being shorter and more intense like "Eyes.." but less repetitive. A good demo definitely recommended to those who enjoyed the other Thromdarr posts and others as well!

Infernal Destruction - Death, Violence, Satanism demo 1996

Infernal Destruction - Death, Violence, Satanism demo 1996
1) Satan's Anarchy
2) Song of Satan
3) End of God
4) Christ Is Drunk

Mega / Sendspace

It's been a bit quiet at the Coven this month as I have been preoccupied with other things. But to show we're not completely on a summer vacation here's a curious contribution sent by master Mihkel Kleis (you might remember him from the Messier items of the other year) a little while ago. And this should be pretty obscure again, a demo tape by Tartu's short-lived (1996-97) Infernal Destruction. He found the tape in a thift store among a pile of other demos and got curious, to our benefit. Scans of the covers are included and the rip quality is very good.

The music here sounds... unique. It's black metal, sure, but more like old Venom, first album Bathory and such rather than the peers of their era, Scandinavian or Estonian. The extremely lo-fi but clear and crispy "production" brings also to my mind some German stuff like Siren or Sacrifice Slaughtered Jesus. But this has more punky vibe to it and once again the enthusiasm level is much higher than skills. The guitar distortion is raw and strange, drums extremely bizarre and stripped down, but definitely played by human hand. Vocals are as crude as the rest. There is certain attractiveness to their cooking that really even should not be there but just happens. I should probably drop Sacrilegeous here also as a reference, though these are younger, eager men fumbling about. Fascinating.

Mihkel managed to get in touch with Sven Reimaa who was credited on the covers by his full name and got further information that enabled him to reach Satanizer who apparently still is active, not with metal though. He had played in a few other bands between 1997 and 2002. Apparently this was recorded in an apartment with a dictaphone, considering that the sound is quite good! Mihkel wanted to know what kind of equipment they used for recording and here's what Satanizer told (in rough translation): "...It is possible that at that moment I didn't have proper guitar amp and instead I played directly through home stereo and for distortion there was an old soviet tape recorder where turning up the recording volume caused the effect of overamplification. But maybe I already had Peavey 10w trans amp and DOS FX58 Metal Maniac pedal. The "drum set" was nothing but two so called pioneer drums made of saheet metal and pot lids for cymbals" - which does explain a lot! Gotta love their ingenuity. He also asked how many copies were made, after all the demo had full lyrics on sleeve and was dubbed on exact length tape, instead of standard TDK, Maxell or whatever. Satanizer replied there were about 20 copies made and mostly spread among friends, never really advertised or distributed. It was played once in radio though - in Raadio 2 metal show "Metallion" hosted by Enrico Kaljurand with whom our contributor used to trade with. So there, this is obviously for people into rarities, lo-fi enthusiasts, collectors of Baltic obscura and maybe even for people into punk. Thanks again to Mihkel for both the contribution and the detective work!

Minotauri - Metal Magic rehearsal 1998

Minotauri - Metal Magic rehearsal tape 1998
1) Crazy Man
2) Steel Is Stronger Than Love
3) Poltergeist
4) Living Alone

Mega / RGhost

Another part two today, here's the second old Minotauri recording brother Grev dubbed me, thanks! This one doesn't seem to have covers and I wasn't in the mood to make a placeholder so we just have to do without a purty decorative pic here. See "Axe Attack" post for more background banter.

Decent enough dub, minor wear present and it unfortunately gets more frequent as the recording proceeds. The rehearsal sound itself isn't half bad. It's a little messier perhaps than "Axe Attack" was but has more power to it too so I think the pendulum swings to Magic's advantage over Axe. Two songs from the reh/demo return and two new ones appear, shifting the style slightly to doomier realms. Annoyingly most of the glitching also appears during these "new" tracks. "Living Alone" (now with a g!) still remains a hit song. I can't come up with anything else right now so have at thee!

Bestial Summoning - Rehearsal 17/10/91

Bestial Summoning - Rehearsal 17th October 1991
1) Unholy Horde of the Abyss
2) Raping the Holy Virgin
3) Blaspheming the Church
4) Dark Metal
5) Demon Baptism in Hades
6) Pleasures in Sadism
7) Unholy Master
8) Sadistic Torture
9) Christ Impalement
10) Angel Rape I
11) Angel Rape II

RGhost / Mediafire

Long overdue, here is more Dutch black metal madness as promised, in the form of another rehearsal tape by the notorious cult of Bestial Summoning. This was also among the rehearsal and demo rips our brother Baldemar sent. Thank you! I hesitated to post this a little since it's been around with the same bitrate for several years, but then in the end decided to go for it. There was no cover, I just made up a placeholder with the same principle as last time.

Eleven tracks for over half an hour of music, comparable to their demo "Sodomistic Rituals" and notably all songs seem unique to this recording. At least going by the song titles (which The Unsane conveniently bellows out loud before each track) but then again they could've been easily renamed and reworked... or re-improvised? for the demo or album. The sound here is a little messier than on the '90 jam session. Generally this is similar, at least partly improvised ruckus as the rest of Bestial Summoning material, total unsane black metal filth not suited for the seekers of sophisticated black art.