Thromdarr - Winter of Flames demo 1993

Thromdarr - Winter of Flames demo 1993
1) Northstorm Arrives
2) Path Leads Over the Stone Bridge
3) Forest of the Black Diamonds
4) By Thy Arrows
5) Rainbow in a Red Desert
6) Winter of Flames

Mediafire / Full cover here!

After posting their 1992 debut demo recently I was approached by Mika of Thromdarr who has provided me with the rest of the Thromdarr demonology and insights into the band history, big thank you for that! So now I'm posting the 2nd demo "Winter of Flames" which I had as a very incomplete version before (first three tracks with the third one cut!). Unfortunately he didn't find the cover for this, but if he does I'll upload it, till then we'll make do with the logo.

Alas, this is still not the "perfect version" of the demo - but it's just about the only one at the moment, the last track cuts a little due the inattentiveness of the drummer who was supposed to dub it and apparently couldn't be arsed to dub the track in full on side B. There's also some imperfection at the start of the first (intro) track. This is very brief however. Overall the sound is a bit muffled but clear enough. It comes of a bit strong on the low end in comparison to the guitars, which then serves to enhance the pounding nature of the old schoolish black/death metal they play on this tape. Some synths make brief appearances to spice things up a little bit which is a tasteful way to use them. If you have heard the other demos I posted you should know what to expect as this one was released right between them. Definite standout track is the third track "Forest of the Black Diamonds" which is also the longest at 7+ minutes. For the majority of its duration it hammers on like a freight train without brakes headed towards a victim bound on railway tracks. There's an atmospheric break about four minutes into the song but that is but a brief respite before the doomtrain is again set on motion. Great song, I wish they'd re-record it in the future!

The band still has the original reels of the demos and will hopefully convert them to useful format and possibly unto vinyl/CD format in the future, but for now we'll settle for these versions. I'd recommend this demo if you like the other Thromdarr material, obviously, and it's also a good starting point if you haven't heard any yet but enjoy old 90's Finnish black/death material like Barathrum, Belial, Curse und so weiter.

UPDATE: Mika found & scanned the covers for me! Uploading them to Mediafire and a cut version to decorate the post.

Impaled Nazarene - Live in Riihimäki 1992

Impaled Nazarene - Live in Urheilutalo, Riihimäki Finland 9th May 1992
1) Goat Perversion
2) (Intermission)
3) The Black Vomit
4) Condemned to Hell
5) The Crucified
6) In the Name of Satan
7) Damnation (Raping the Angels)

Mediafire

I don't think Impaled Nazarene needs much introductions. They've released an album "Road to the Octagon" last November which makes them topical in a way and apparently are in killer form live. This however is the old, still black metal Impaled Nazarene performing in Riihimäki. I'm not sure of the venue but could be Kino Sampo? - UPDATE: Venue verified by Mika of Thromdarr (who also played there) as Urheilutalo. Thanks Mika!

The quality is very good, this was probably originally recorded with a video camera. It appears slightly incomplete as the start of "Goat Perversion" is missing, I don't know if they played anything before that - being as early as this is the gigs were pretty short. 2nd track Intermission is just Luttinen speaking to the crowd & the start of the track screwed up as someone blunders onto their equipment, detaching some of the cords which pisses Luttinen off. Things proceed onward with track 3. Impaled Nazarene are always enterteining live and this is no exception. Recommended.

Emperor - Rehearsal Track 1994

Emperor - Instrumental Rehearsal Track 1994 with Hellhammer
1) Moon Over Kara-Shehr

Mediafire

I believe you guys know both Emperor and Hellhammer (the drummer guy) quite well. This one is a just one track instrumental rehearsal bit with (unknown) Emperor staff rehearsing with Hellhammer on drums. As you might guess the sound is not hifi shit. However the track in question is great, one of my faves from the demo and sounds good to me. I don't really have anything to add here. You know if you want this or not, I can't remember it being published officially, most likely on some bootleg.

Hödur - The Majesty demo 1995

Hödur - The Majesty demo 1995
1) The Shadows
2) Master
3) Eternal Night
4) Wilczyca z SS

Depositfiles

Now some long time readers are probably wondering "What the hell, didn't he post this on already in Dec 2008?!?" and yeah so I did. However, last year I got full scans for this demo and also made a superior quality rip off my tape so I thought I'd reupload the better, improved version and make it a new post instead of just slapping a new link to the old & moldy post. After all this is one of my fave demos so I think it deserves a little extra attention that way. It's my damn blog anyways.

Their cassette album was released on vinyl titled "Salve Sathanas", remastered and with new intro so that way Hödur are actually quite topical. Too bad their label can't spell the band name correctly. Extremely recommended if you enjoy raw black metal!

Asafated - Lonely re-recording 1995

Asafated - Lonely re-recorded demo II 1995
1) Goner
2) Lonely
3) Divine Suffocation (re-mix)

Reuploaded

Before you start moaning and proclaim me demented, let me state that yes, I know I have posted the second Asafated demo back in last February and I would like you to pay attention to the word "re-recorded" up there. Like I said in that old post, which was the original version, the band wasn't 100% pleased with the demo and redid it... in the same year, I don't know the details! Anyways, this now is the second take on the demo and I agree this is better than the first version. I got this from my trader who was friends with the band so it's a dub of an original I believe. I don't know if they used the exact same cover for this version or if there was an altered one so I just placed their logo up there. So if you liked the demo first time around, or their other stuff you'll want this. If you haven't heard them but like doom/death then you should try this.

Drawned In Tears - Deep demo 1996

Drawned In Tears - Deep demo II 1996
1) Temptation
2) Bloodgates
3) My Wings Are of Steel
4) The Song of Wounded Love

Mediafire

This post is a bit redundant as this bands' material is available at the Portugal Underground, but since I had ripped it already (and P.U.'s link seems to be dead) I decided to go and upload it anyway. My rip is made from a pretty good dub I got from a trader friend in late 90s, no cover image and the one at Metal Archives once again makes a stamp look like a goddamn wallpaper so I'm not bothering with it. Instead, I picked their logo. Which is kind of cool.

The band plays what would be best described as death/doom with gothic touches on this demo. They're from Portugal. No, I wouldn't say they sound like Moonspell. It's quite easy on the ears stuff, with good production and mostly moves ahead at frisky midtempo. Music that Century Media, Nuclear Blast & Napalm started to spew out like it was a competition in the late 90's. Not from the fruitiest end of the scale still, yet think it's kind of pop, not gloomy and doomy enough for my taste and definition of doom. But it's really not bad so you might want to give them a chance.

Svartsyn (nor) - Aandens Melankoli MLP 1996

Svartsyn (Norge) - Aandens Melankoli MLP 1996
1) Forhekset av Nordlyset / Den monumentale Horde
2) Mektighetens herskere

Discontinued as obsolete!

I hesitated to upload this one for quite long, even though I promised to get it done already in September (sorry Megaborea!). At least I had a semi-decent reason for it: I don't have this on vinyl, only a dub from a trader I got without tracklisting back in 9-something and I was very uncertain how the presumed three tracks were supposed to be on what appears to be only two tracks! I was first thinking the (much!) longer second track was supposed to be two, changing to one somewhere on the go but then I read the review of the original vinyl and apparently it's just brief intro and two mammoth songs. I also remembered I had the Incitatus demo which features an early version of "Den monumentale horde" which helped me to determine the first track's proper is that very song. I think my tape seemed to have all of the mini-album there so I'm guessing the "Forhekset av nordlyset" - bit is just a very short part at the beginning. It'd be great if someone could verify this!

It'd be also great if someone would present me with a rip of the vinyl itself. Like I mentioned this here is a rip of an unknown generation dub of the album. However, it's still quite decent quality and it's not like we had much alternatives is it? So until that happy day we are stuck with this one. Music on this is atmospheric, slow, at times even oppressive mixture of Norwegian black metal and funereal death/doom. It's pretty awesome. Shame they didn't release anything else, of course comparing to several other Norwegian bands and musicians it is a good thing someone knows when to quit their band. Recommended both for gloomy doom fanatics (not traditionalists though) and morbid black metal personnel who enjoy the slow stuff.

Nebiros (col) - Rehearsal 08/1995

Nebiros (Colombia) - Rehearsal August 1995
1) Misa Negra
2) Reconocimiento, Repudio y Aceptación
3) Nebiros
4) Undressed (Tiamat cover)
5) Fgmenth, Thy Gift (Rotting Christ cover)

Depositfiles

It was my birthday, so to sort of celebrate I'll post several things, rejoice. First we have the Colombian black metal cult Nebiros, not to be mixed with Polish/German band, the French one-man band (their split demo is quite good - and I want the rehearsals mentioned on the M.A. page!!!) or the UK black/noise one-man wonder. I'm not going to start debating about which one is the true/best Nebiros since I haven't even heard all of them, let's just concentrate on this one for now.

This is a rehearsal tape I got in my tape trading years and it has a quite good sound, featuring first three tracks familiar from their "Guerreros de Lucifer" album (1995, re-released 2005, buy it) and then two quite interesting covers. I'm assuming the 08 meant August, not 8th rehearsal, but not sure about that. Obviously as it is a rehearsal the sound is raw and primitive but it works well for me and I've heard plenty of demos with less listenable sound. Nebiros' black metal is more of the old school sort, taking occasionally influences from old heavy metal as well as their peers. Mostly mid paced and quite simple, I've always found it very satisfying, but as seen from the pussy review on M.A. not all will agree. Decide for yourselves and check it out. The band has also a more recent album (2008) out and released a 7"EP last year so be sure to check them out too!

Crystal Age - Promo 1994

Crystal Age - Promotion Tape January 1994
1) Far Beyond Divine Horizons
2) Star Destroyer
3) Retaliations

 Reuploaded

Technical melodic death metal of the NWOSDM-school isn't really my favourite type of metal, but here's anyway a lesser known band representing the genre and this time actually from Sweden too. Crystal Age released a full-lenght album in 1995 and personnel involved could be found in the line-ups of bands ranging from Ceremonial Oath to Hammerfall. I've received this one from one of my traders so I've no covers except for the image Metal Archives had.

Three songs, which would also appear on the album, probably sounding slightly different. They were recorded in Studio Fredman and have a good sound. The dub has some slight faults but these should not be critical. Music is obviously very melodic and technical, without going overboard but clearly treading the fine line. There's quite a bit of aggression found and their concept appears to be sci-fi related. I suppose I leave it at that. You should know by now if you want to try it.

Scalprum - Inner God demo 1995

Scalprum - Inner God demo 1995
1) Discharge
2) Psycho Monstrosity
3) Refused Grossly
4) Oppressions for the Sheep

Mediafire

Some more death metal from Turkey and a band I don't have covers, logo or band photo either to go with the post! So you have to excuse me the lack of visuals this time. You might have figured out it already, but I'll tell you anyway that this is again another piece of loot from the good old tape trading days. Cover scans/band logo/pretty much anything appreciated.

UPDATE: Apparently the drummer of this band moved to Norway and started a band there, called Ominous Grief. The tracks I took a listen to sound more like melodic dark metal than death metal. I will investigate further. I'm hopefully getting a copy of the Scalprum demo covers soon so keep an eye on this.

UPDATE II: Reuploaded, link above updated. Contains the cover, flyer & pic scans given me. Thanks!

The demo contains four songs of fast & noisy death metal which however has melodic and mid-paced parts as well. It's actually very thrashy at times. You know, screaming Slayeresque leads and all that. Sound quality is ok, a little chaotic perhaps but mostly clear. Audible bass which is nice. Not really that much to add I guess, if you like death metal, deathrash - hell extreme metal in general - you might want to give this obscure demo a listen. It's quite good!

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.

Prophecy (fra) - Jadis demo 1997

Prophecy (fra) - Jadis demo 1997
1) Tir Na Nog (Intro)
2) Gwenved - The Final Beautitude
3) K.R.N. - For a Crown
4) Jadis...
5) Dawn of the Promethean Revolt
6) Epilogue

Depositfiles

I am now posting, after several requests, the last demo of the French pagan black metallers Prophecy. You may remember the previous post even if it was a while ago. I've hesitated with posting this one ever since I got this tape last summer or so, as the tape I have, supposedly original, has a really poor sound. I bought this and a bunch of other old tapes from a guy and I'm suspecting he's sent me a less than original demo here. The cover enclosed was a rather shoddy xerox, which may actually be the case with the demo they spread around.

The bad sound manifests mainly on low level volume which leans strongly to the right speaker. If not for that, it'd be actually quite clear. The music itself shows more a natural development from their previous demo than the genre-hopping the band had earlier engaged in. Intro, four tracks and an outro that clips, the proper tracks are quite long, between 6½ and 8+ minutes. As expected, they focus more on the atmospheres than aggression in their mostly slow to midpaced speed, though fast and furious parts are added as spice. Keyboards and sound effects help build the moods and the songwriting would seem to have improved quite a bit from "Gorsedd" and everything in general is better. Performance and taste are both superior comparing to the previous effort. So, recommended if you liked their previous demo. Celtic/Gaelic heathens and pagan bm enthusiasts take notice also.