Darkstyle - Cold Charisma demo 1995

Darkstyle - Cold Charisma demo II 1995
1) Castle of Sorrow
2) Cold Charisma
3) Through the Secret Fire

Mediafire

Remember I said I would post this when I did the first Darkstyle demo? Well I suppose it's about time I did. This one is a ripped from a traded tape so it's not entirely flawless but I'd say the quality is good. No covers unfortunately so yet another stamp-sized M.A. image (+logo) is used. I obviously would like a scan of the cover, so let me know if you can assist.

As for the music, it's again three tracks and pretty much what I said about the first demo applies here just as well. Except that all three of these were recorded also for the "Black Crystals" MCD. But these being demo versions you'll want them too if you like Darkstyle. That is all for now.

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.

Thromdarr - As A Wind Cries demo 1992

Thromdarr - As A Wind Cries demo 1992
1) Intro: Dawn of the Samhain
2) Dragonmyrmidon
3) Nocturnal Inner Torment
4) Outro: Prologue of Satan

MediaFire Cover scan & other stuff here!

Enough Germans for now, here's a Finnish demo for change. Remember Thromdarr whose 1995 demo I posted earlier? Well, here's their debut demo released in 1992 which I recently got from J. I could have sworn I have a dub of this somewhere, but it's been very search-resistant so I ripped his dub and scanned the (xeroxed) covers he had. Thromdarr are active again these days, with an album "Electic Hellfire" out soon so keep an eye for that. If name-dropping is your thing, I'll mention the current line-up features members of Skepticism and leave it at that.

So what's this like then? This is the "normal" version of the demo with vocals, an intro, outro and two proper tracks in between. An earlier version with no vox and 5 tracks apparently exists. If you have it, gimme. The music is described as "power black metal" on the cover and in this case means deathly black metal, old school way. Brutal voice and heavy guitars, some keys used on the third track. More direct and in your face than the 1995 demo. The sound is good enough and so is the rip. Recommended if you enjoy old style Finnish black/death like Curse, Barathrum, Beherit and so on.

UPDATE: I've been contacted by Mika from Thromdarr who has kindly promised to supply me with the demos I'm missing, excellent! So look forward to those, meanwhile if you wish to hear more recent material, you can listen to their promo 2008 at Last.fm.

UPDATE II: Mika found & scanned the demo covers, a flyer and a bio sheet for me! I packed them & uploaded to Mediafire, link added up there.

The new album can be pre-ordered from Levykauppa Äx.

Nema - A Step into the Darkness demo 1993

Nema (ger) - A Step Into The Darkness demo 1993
1) Falling Souls
2) In Dream...
3) Lively Obsequiesies

Depositfiles

Deutsche demo Blitzkrieg geht weiter. This is a less-known band featuring Traumatic, who still isn't exactly famous. However, this is one of the tapes I ripped from the stuff J. of Curse provided me with. Unfortunately no proper cover image so we go with M.A. one.

Crude and raw, rehearsal quality slow to mid-tempo black metal. Very good quality rip if I say so myself. Nothing to hoist your flags up for, but worthwhile for German BM collectors. I remember hating this stuff when I first heard it in early 1994, but nowadays I can appreciate its honest and bare in-your-face rehearsal sound. Untight, sloppy musicianship crowns the cake and really enforces the love/hate relationship you will have with this recording. Personally I find certain charm in a lumbering, crude ogre of a demo like this, even if I can't say I'd listen to it with pleasure in a daily basis. You'll know if you want this one or not!

Fulgor - Promotape 06/93

Fulgor - Mystical Black Magic Metal Promotape June 1993
1) Intro
2) A Somber Way
3) Reflection of a Lonely Soul
4) Outro

Reuploaded

German demo legions march onwards with the other Fulgor tape I got via a link from Okkultis. Thanks for that and now someone find me the Promo/reh 1993, Our 10 Urphar Visions demo 1994 & Eyequinox EP 1995 rips/tapes! I'm not sure where O found this one, but I decided to upload it here anyways. So thanks to whoever ripped the tape in the first place.

Whoever it was left the sound a bit muddy and the mp3 quality is pretty low. Other than that it sounds good enough, with no annoying noise or disturbance like present in the other tape. The murkiness of the sound actually works in favour of the mystical atmosphere. This promotape 06/93 or "Mystical Black Magic Metal" as it is also known, though I'm not certain if the guys meant that to be the title or a description of the content, is quite short release compared to the other Fulgor tapes: only a little bit over 10 minutes. Both of the tracks were also on the Promo/rehearsal 1993, which I really really want to hear. I assume the versions on this tape are somewhat more refined. Recommendable tape of old German black metal, not as quirky as "To Be One..." demo but enjoyable!

Fulgor - To Be One with the Stars... Demo 1993

Fulgor - To Be One with the Stars... demo 1993
1) When the Wind Chimes
2) Below the Moon
3) A Castle of Solitude (Part I)
4) A Landscape Is Changing His Face (Face I - IV)
5) Retrospective View
6) World Beyond the Mirrors
7) Lous Ylenol A Fo Noitcelfer
8) The Dream of My Empire
9) A Castle of Solitude (Part II)
10) Profanus Fulgor...
11) Conclusion

Depositfiles

As promised, the German days continue. Here's an item I got from Okkultis, thanks for the link! However, I had another rip of this which I've now up here instead as I find the overall better sound of it at the expense of the slightly messed up intro preferable to the lower quality and annoying noise present in the other one. Still, the effort was much appreciated. There was no cover image so I've used M.A. entry for it. If you have a scan of the whole cover, let me know. Demo archives had an image, which isn't very good either, and it appears to be the whole cover? Or is it? I borrowed a part of it, the tracklisting, which you see below:


Back to the point, Fulgor was the other band of Baxaxaxa/Ungod's former member A.B.G.I. aka Ancient Blasphemic Grave Invocator and released a couple of tapes and an EP in 1993 - 95. Music is black metal with keyboards and atmospheric elements & interludes. The sound is a little rough but good enough and there's no tape failures apart from the intro, which is regrettable but not really a major issue. If it is to someone, I can upload the intro from the other rip I have. Actual songs here are quite long, between 5+ and 9+ mins and differ quite a bit from Ungod's more direct approach. Maybe not a classic, but an interesting demo with mystical atmosphere.

Note: I originally uploaded the version provided by O here but after listening to both versions in row I opted to go with the version I had received earlier and remove the other one. Of course if someone has a flawless version, it'd be very welcome.

Siren - The Calling... demo 1995

Siren (ger) - The Calling... demo 1995
1) Blessing of the First Snow
2) The Troll and the Spirit of the Wood
3) My Queen
4) The Calling
5) Der Wolf

Depositfiles

German assault time, going to post a bunch of German demos next which probably makes comrade THE DECEASED happy. Or not as the quality varies a lot. First off is the debut demo of Siren, who released a bunch of tapes and an EP on Silencelike Death. The Absurd connections of the band might be of interest to some of you, on this effort Wolf does the vocals on the last track "Der Wolf" which is also dedicated to him. I have an original copy so I've scanned the covers and included 'em in the upload.

Ok, this demo contains five tracks of... kind of black/pagan metal with... a different sound. The first track starts off promising enough with a very prominent and interesting bass sound and obvious programmed drums, the semi-clean vocals strongly remind me of some older Absurd material. Overall, this song is quite intriguing. However things start to go immediately worse from here on, the next bit is a short instrumental with AWFUL keyboards and the following track is a LOVE song?!? I mean, what the FUCK?! It's an extremely clumsy effort with awkward performance and embarassing lyrics. If you must make a song to your wife, you could at least use some metaphors. Or just not put it on your supposedly black/pagan metal demo. Of course it also happens to be the longest track on the tape. Horrible. The title track that follows isn't much better to be honest so hopes sink pretty fast I guess. It's just crude, badly written and performed. The last track is again slightly better, mostly due Wolf's vocals. This is probably one of the worst demos I've bought for some time. So why post it? Well, it has of course certain historical value and maybe someone actually enjoys this. I'm kind of curious to hear the rest of the efforts Siren released so leave a note if you know a link or have them. Recommended for people mad about early Absurd material, masochists, diehard German demo collectors and the morbidly curious.

Funeral Chant - Entrance to Dimensions Unknown demo 1998

Funeral Chant - Entrance to Dimensions Unknown demo 1998
1) Entrance to Dimensions Unknown
2) Wrath of Artemis

Reuploaded!

Here's a VERY short demo from the little-known Greek band Funeral Chant and as far as I and the contributors of Metal Archives (from where the less-than-glorious cover image was borrowed) know, it's also their only release. Tape traded item once again.

Ok, so I said it's short. How short? Well, an intro sort of instrumental, keyboard track and one metal track that last together a bit over 7 minutes. However, it's quite good seven plus minutes of music and that makes me wish they'd done more. Atmospheric sort of black metal with Greek touch, some spoken word female vocals and howling main vocal which reminds me a bit of Macabre Omen. Not bad at all, if not exactly legendary material either. Sound is good and dub & rip ok as well, some minor tape wear. Recommended to those who like their bm Hellenic.

Immortal - Live in Wolverhampton 15.09.1995

Immortal - Live in Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton, UK 15.09.1995
1) Intro
2) At the Stormy Gates of Mist
3) Battles in the North
4) Grim and Frostbitten Kingdoms
5) Moonrise Fields of Sorrow
6) Unsilent Storms in the North Abyss
7) A Sign for the Norse Hordes to Ride
8) The Sun No Longer Rises
9) Blacker than Darkness
10) Storming Through Red Clouds and Holocaustwinds

Reuploaded

And here's another band from the same evening, the one and only Immortal. I'm not 100% but I think Moonspell and Immortal were warming up for some big name, Morbid Angel maybe? Anyone remember? Well, that's enough of that, let's get back to this tape.

It's of course an audience recording and I think by the same person who did the Moonspell bit posted previously, but now he's obviously in position already and doesn't miss anything. The overall sound quality is quite good and clear enough for a hardboiled bootleg listener. All instruments can be heard, even if the guitar drowns a little. Of special note is the very audible bass. Long intro and nine songs which are suprisingly balanced as there's only 4 songs from the then last album "Battles in the North", exactly same amount from the previous album "Pure Holocaust" and only one song from the debut. Quite a nice set in my opinion. Recommended if you like older Immortal and can bear the bootleg sound.

Moonspell - Live in Wolverhampton 15.09.1995

Moonspell - Live in Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton, UK 15th September 1995
1) Love Crimes
2) ...Of Dream And Drama (Midnight Ride)
3) Vampiria
4) Alma Mater

Reuploaded

After the Turkish invasion it's time to move to post something more standard for this blog and what could be more standard than a Moonspell live from 1995? Yeah, here's another! Two days before the Beerse gig posted back in Dec 09 and another short one as they were a warm-up act on this tour.

As you notice it's only four tracks and "Love Crimes" isn't all from the beginning so I assume the person who recorded this came in late and most likely missed the first track which must have been "Wolfshade". His recording is okay, the start is less than promising as he probably moves about a little, but the sound settles quite soon and remains very listenable for the rest of the time. Don't know if it's due to my trader's equipment or the original recording, but it favours the right speaker quite strongly. It's not as distracting as I feared while ripping, though. Ok, if you've enjoyed the Moonspell posts so far you'll grab this too. If not, you'll wait for something else I suppose.

Asafated - Humanity Landscape demo 1994

Asafated - Humanity Landscape demo I 1994
1) Humanity Landscape
2) Divine Suffocation

Reuploaded

Still more Turkish material, this one familiar from earlier posts. "Humanity Landscape" is the First demo of Asafated and you probably recognize both titles from later releases - "Divine Suffocation" being re-recorded on both the 2nd demo (which itself was re-recorded too, I'll post later that version) and the album. However, the versions present on this demo differ enough to merit a listen if you're into the band at all. I got a dub of this from a trading friend, however he also provided me with the original covers which I scanned & included here.

The sound on the demo is good, not very deep and heavy but clear. Musically this is more in basic death metal vein compared to the doomy feel of the later demo and album. A bit technical at times but not particularily complex, decent enough musicianship and all that. Strange intro to first track. Not as good as the 2nd demo but ok.

Flying Dirty Clouds - Dispersing... Nothing Has Mean demo 1994

Flying Dirty Clouds - Dispersing... Nothing Has Mean demo 1994
1) Maximum Love Has No Meaning
2) The Horn
3) Slave to the System
4) Died by Rotted in Lies
5) Dream of Iceland
6) Dispersing
7) Maternal Deprivation
8) There's Mask on Your Face

Mediafire

One Turkish demo more, this one, like the previous one, is a mixure of death & grind. However, there are some unusual moments that I might dare call atmospheric scattered about, most notably the whole of track 5. Most of the time it's fast-paced death/grind with ok sound and grunting vocals. I received the cover for this one, so it's scanned and enclosed. Lyrical content would appear to be life metal. As is typical for this genre, the tracks are short and the demo lasts just a bit less than ten minutes. I'll keep the post short too, so go ahead and download it. Or don't.

Obscurity - Child's Play demo 1994

Obscurity (tur) - Child's Play demo 1994
1) Intro 
2) Gipsy Ward 
3) I Hope Not 
4) Boring the Cunt with a Broken Flask 
5) D.I.E. 
6) Cunt (Stamp the Arse) 
7) The Lunatic 
8) Slice 
9) Roasted Human Flesh 
10) Hi Nathalie..!11) Child's Play (Revenge of the Sodomizer)
12) Brain Scratching from Nostril by Corkscrew

Reuploaded

More Turkish brutality and Obscurity. Which is the name of this band here, and a host of others. However, this one played goregrind or death/grind, I'm not so good with these genres, and released only this single demo as far as I know. You might wonder at the image up there? Well, M.A. didn't have any sort of image on their entry nor could I find one so I scanned MySpace for a Turkish death metal or grind Obscurity and found this one. The profile was kind of empty otherwise so I just borrowed this and decided it was meant to be the same band. Anyways...
UPDATE: The Archives page was updated with band pic, logo and demo cover which you can see to the right and is included in the reupped folder. However, I kept the top pic because it's cool.

To the content. No less than 12 tracks here but most are very short, a bit less than 2 minutes average. Raw and brutal sounding death/grind but some of the tracks manage to contain quite a bit of groove in them which is nice. I like the sound and the harsh, snarling main vocals. The lyrics are your usual dumb misogynic splatter stuff, with the odd exception (Gipsy Ward). Since they're mostly incomprehensible, I don't let them annoy me too much. I actually kind of like this, so I guess I can recommend it in pretty good conscience. Oh yeah the dub & rip quality are ok too.

Cenotaph - Promo 1996

Cenotaph (tur) - Promo 1996
1) Source of Suspicions
2) Life Immortal

Mediafire

It's new year and pretty much the same old tricks... though I decided to start off the year with a few atypical posts, first some Turkish brutal death metal and grind demos. Cenotaph from Turkey play brutal and gory sort of death/grind, as you can see from the unpleasant cover image I borrowed from Metal Archives. I got this recording from a tape trader as filler to a tape and that pretty much all the back story I have to give on this. I presume this tape was released right before their debut album.

Two quite short tracks of brutal gore death metal with a pretty good, clear demo sound and ripped from a mostly good dub. The sound drifts to one side a little on the 2nd track's beginning but gets back in line soon. Slow heavy parts aplenty, which is always good, are countered by bursts of speed. I suppose the sound could be a bit heavier but othewise I don't have much to complain even if this isn't really my cup of tea. My disinterest in gore probably affects my opinion here. Recommendable for death maniacs.