Grim - Färd demo 1995

Grim (swe) - Färd demo I 1995
1) A Spiritual Journey
2) War March
3) Svävande igenom hallarna

Reuploaded

I've been lazy, suffering away the hangover caused by this year's Nummirock. However, here's finally another post with an item we have again comrade Grev to thank for, thanks! This is the rare demo of the Swedish Grim, listed as black metal in Metal Archives which is misleading enough to warrant a severe caning and possibly a tenure in 3rd world prison. Anyways, this is most certainly not black metal at all, this is pure dungeon synth. You know, like Mortiis, Wongraven & co did at the same time. And of course a ton of bands did little numbers in the same vein for their intros and outros. I could not find a proper cover image so I trimmed a little the one posted on M.A.

The tape has a bit murky but listenable sound and features three long tracks of dark ambient dungeon music performed by a guy in corpse paint seen on the cover above. I understand why the cover might be misleading someone to believe this was bm. The whole demo is a bit over half an hour long with the songs getting longer as it proceeds. The opener is mostly synth sounds, some wind effects plus occasional raw vocals and reminds me of old Ultima soundtracks, while the second one, true to its name, features militant percussion and various marching band instruments. Unlike typical martial industrial apocalyptic moods, the feeling here is more uplifting and even joyous. The third track begins with acoustic guitars and has generally a folksy, trollish feel to it if you know what I mean, this changes to more somber synth based moods with some vocals in the background. Quite a varied offering for three tracks and worth checking out if you enjoy this sort of stuff!

Ascendance #11

Ascendance 'zine, issue 11 (December 1996)Interviews:
Lux Occulta
Lunar Aurora
Majesty (fin)
Officium Triste
Electric Wizard
Cold Mourning
Unsilence
Star Gazer
Trillium
Count De Nocte
Thus Defiled / Shadowlore
Paradigma
Las Cruces
Heavenwood
Catafalque
+reviews & news

Reuploaded

I surprised myself and finally finished scanning this little 'zine the other day and decided to upload it without further ado. Ascendance was a Finnish 'zine which released a large number of issues as you can see by this being #11. Concentrating on various kinds of doom metal with some black metal thrown in (at least this issue and the few preceeding ones, there's some death metal too) this was a well-written fanzine and I wish I'd more of his issues than this one. The reviews are quite good too. I don't know how many more he put out after this one, but I'd be pleased to see any of them. Unusual size takes a little while to get used to but works. Unfortunately some pages feature a white stripe covering some of the text, I guess the printer he used was acting up. Recommeded reading if you're into the bands/genres involved and actually you might want to check it out even if not.

Gospel Of The Horns - Promo 1995

Gospel Of The Horns - Promo 1995
1) Nocturnal Passage
2) The Wolf Lore

Reuploaded


Here's an item I actually ripped already in October 2009 but it was left hanging on my desktop while I was trying to verify it and then I sort of forgot it. Now you ask: for a year and a half?! Well, it was inside another folder... anyways, here it is finally. Those of you with a vinyl player are adviced to grab the Kneel Before the Master's Throne LP re-release of "The Satanist's Dream" which has these tracks as bonus along with another one from 1994. What I'm posting here is what a trader friend dubbed me as "Promo 1995" back in 1996 or 1997. I don't know if a proper cover art even exists, possibly not, but at least I don't have it. I just used the old Gospel Of The Horns logo (which I prefer). Originally I misread the handwritten tracklisting and had the second track as "The Wolf Lone", these things happen, apparently it is "..Lore".

The tape was not perfect I'm afraid, there's some audible wear & tear and it's probably dub of a dub of a dub of... well you get the picture. It's still very much listenable quality, the sound of the recording itself is quite typical demo sound and sounds very 90's Australian if you know what I mean. Thrashing warlike black metal, not as thrashy as the later material though. Very good anyways and recommeded!

Volkh - Alla Pohjolan Moukarin demo 1996

Volkh (fin) - Alla Pohjolan Moukarin demo I 1996
1) Intro / Genital Grinder (Carcass cover)
2) Alla Pohjolan Moukarin
3) Musta Sateenkaari
4) Outro / Revontulet

Reuploaded

Here's another tape I got from brother Grev and another band I know preciously little about. It's most likely a one-shot project by member(s) of some Finnish band impressed by Storm's album and Fenriz' Isengard, perhaps the Finnish Perkele too. Grev did not have the covers for this one and I was unable to dig them up from the inter nets so nothing of the sort included and if you have them let me know!

This is a very short demo, only a bit over six minutes in lenght and none of the tracks crosses the two minute mark. The starter track, a cover of an old Carcass track, is an unexpected way to begin a folk/pagan metal demo but it fits in quite well after all. Sound quality is not the best possible, first of the source tape seems a bit worn, especially right in the beginning and the recording itself is rehearsal quality. The instruments and vocals are audible but not certainly crystal clear. Musically this is, as stated above, similar to Storm, Isengard and Perkele. I'm not sure if this is a "serious" project or just made for the heck of it. M.A. mentions another self-titled 3 song demo which I'd be curious to hear, if such exists. Give it a listen if you're a fan of the name-dropped bands or looking for a brief, entertaining musical curio.

Dim Nagel - Satanic Overdose demo 1994

Dim Nagel - Satanic Overdose demo 1994
1) Vicious Valraven
2) Helvetes Slotten
3) Wheels of Destruction
4) Mett av Dage
5) Through Chambers of Desolation

Reuploaded

This should be an interesting post to some readers, sorry I took my sweet time once again with this! Dubbed me by brother Grev, here's the 1994 demo by Norwegians Dim Nagel who would later evolve into Endezzma and include ex-Kvist personnel while this demo features the session drummer Fenriz whom you probably know from somewhere. Or so I'm told. No covers so I've used the terrible, tiny pic from M.A.

I freely admit my interest in this is based solely in the Kvist connection. There are some similarities popping up here and there but overall this is in one hand more direct and rawer than the Kvist material and in the other gets quite folky at times. Also it would seem like the recording would be somewhat unfinished as the tracks get shorter and shorter and more rehearsal jam-like towards the end of the demo. The sound quality is rehearsal demo type but quite listenable and you can make out most instruments without getting grey hairs. Obviously you'll want to hear this if you're a fan of Kvist and I'd be interested to hear the rumoured other recordings if there indeed are any!

UPDATE: Found info somewhere saying this most certainly DOES NOT feature Fenriz but the Kvist drummer and this recording would be the unreleased EP (1st tracks) and a rehearsal - probably all recorded Dim Nagel material then.

Semen Datura - Demivierge 1999

Semen Datura - Demivierge demo-CDr (?) 1999
1) Wine of Bacchus
2) Finaler Geist
3) Instrumental
4) Bishop of Blood
5) Land ohne Horizont
6) Quellen
7) Die Rache ist mein

Megaupload

Here's a curious release by the Germans Semen Datura - it is not listed in their discography in M.A. nor on their homepage. I got this CDr with xerox covers and the band members' signatures when I bought a lot of black & dark metal CDs a year or two ago and I can't remember for the life of me what the seller had written about this, probably CDr. I'm assuming it's either a demo or a promo of new songs as some of these tracks appear on their debut album "This Love Is Dead" and none are featured on the "Black Wings" EP they released also in 1999. So probably this would've been released between the two. Possibly just spread to a few people, I don't know. If you do, feel free to enlighten me! Scans included.

It's quite obvious this is a demo/promo sort of recording, from the roughish sound (for this type of music, mind you) and production to the quite minimalistic xeroxed covers and CDr. It is full album lenght at 39 minutes. The sound changes a bit half way, so it was probably recorded in at least two sessions. The music is the sort of dark/black metal quite common to the latter part of the 90's, probably influenced by the various symphonic bands and comparable to melodic, more at-the-time "modern" Norwegians like late-90's Dimmu, Obtained Enslavement, Old Man's Child, Morgul and whoever else there was. Just check out some old Century Media, Napalm & Nuclear Blast ads. I suppose you know pretty much what to expect by that? Obviously it has a German touch, whatwith big part of the lyrics being in the language and all. Synths are obviously used, as well as some okay (they sound better on first half) clean vocals too. Not bad, but this sort of dark/black metal hasn't been my favoured sort of poison in years. I do like some of the tracks, like the second one and overall it seems to grow on me a bit with repeated listens. Enthusiasts of the style should be warned that the demo sound might make the music a bit messy at places and makes it a bit uneasier listening.

Parricide - Live in Istanbul 24.06.1995

Parricide (tur) - Live in Istanbul, Turkey 24th June 1995
1) Scatterings
2) Tears
3) Thoughts of Pain

Reuploaded

Another live tape, this one sort of companion to the Asafated one I uploaded a little while ago. Not just as this too is doomy death metal from Turkey, but from also the same date and probably the same venue. As the tracklisting above hints, this is a pretty short one and possibly incomplete. Of course, I've seen bands play very short sets myself, even this short (remember Horna warming up for Gorgoroth at Tavastia in... uh... that one year?) but more likely this is just incomplete. Leave me a note if you happen to know!

Tape traded item, audience recording I suspect but has a good live sound. Quite balanced and audible. Music this particular Parricide performs is slowish and thus doomy death metal, with some synth backing it up. It's not at all bad, I haven't heard their "Scatterings" demo but would like to do so, again leave me a note if you have it! I'm not 100% sure of the second tracks title, that's what I got and he'd seem to say so too. They don't have a track of that name on the demo however. Which naturally needn't mean anything. Anyways, the tracklisting I had didn't include the third track either. But enough about that, this is what I've got for today.

Anathema - Live in London 23.06.1995

Anathema (uk) - Live in Camden Underworld, London UK 23rd June 1995

1) The Silent Enigma
2) Mine Is Yours to Drown In (Ours Is the New Tribe)
3) Sleepless
4) Under a Veil (of Black Lace)
5) We, the Gods
6) 666

Mediafire

A live tape and from a little different genre for change. You're probably familiar with Anathema from England? This is an old show I got from a trader and as you can tell with minimal research, it is dated between their "Pentecost III" mini and the second full album "The Silent Enigma" which means they still play doom/death metal at this era, well with very little death at this point to be honest, but still metal you know. I guess people call them atmospheric/progressive rock or whatever in the later stages of their career.

The sound is pretty good, though it could really be a little stronger. The vocalist isn't really in his prime I'd say, he sounds pretty feeble occasionally when trying to do the more growly strong parts. The gothy moanier bits naturally come easier, you know the half spoken, half clean vocal he does. And My Dying Bride did/does too. Well, whatever. Moving on. I'm not sure if this is a complete recording of the gig, more likely not since it's only about 37 minutes and I find it hard to believe they would've had only that to play. More likely is that this recording is missing something from the beginning. If you were there that day maybe you could tell how much is missing? Till then, give it a go if you like their old stuff!

Freezing Moon - Damned Land demo 1997

Freezing Moon (fin) - Damned Land demo 1997
1) Intro (Kaamos)
2) Lord of Raped Angels
3) Black Moon Is Rising
4) Damned Land
5) Sacrifice for Darklord
6) Outro (Revontulet)
7) Bonus Live Track

Mediafire

Black metal and a demo (+band) I must admit I don't know jack about, this is as far as I know Freezing Moon from Finland and probably their only demo. I got this one from a tape trader, who by the way wasn't Finnish and I base the little info seen above on what I got from him. Metal Archives does list a few other Freezing Moons but not this one nor did I come across them elsewhere. I don't remember ever seeing a flyer or a review for this either so once again any and all info is welcomed with open arms! Well, the intro & outro names are Finnish and the vocalist both sounds Finnish and uses it so at least that bit seems correct.

What is it like? It's melodic black metal with a synth presence, the metal parts do sound a little muddy compared to the clarity of the synth intro. The metal tracks of the demo proper are surprisingly short, there's a little over 10 minutes of metal here against the 8 minutes of intro and outro. Well, then there's the bonus live track which I don't have a title to, that's almost five minutes more metal. I don't know if it's part of the demo release or was it just dubbed after the copy which found its way to my hands eventually. Even if the sound is a bit on the murky side, it's not that bad and the music is better than I remembered. It's a bit more direct and uncomplicated approach than most sympho bm so hipsters into avantgardish boundary-and-genre-breaking, jaw-dropping post-this-and-that will obviously be dissappointed. Recommended if you enjoy obscure black metal demos, doubly if you prefer them melodic.

Demonlord - Unsacred Soul demo 2000

Demonlord (spa) - Unsacred Soul demo 2000
1) Intro
2) Sinister Queen of the Forest
3) Rapture of the Ancient Times
4) A New Age Comes
5) Mankind's Decay
6) Under a Serpent Sun (At The Gates cover)

Mediafire

Another Spanish black metal demo, this one was released first as a CDr and then two cassette editions, later of which had a bonus track. My rip is of the CDr-version which probably does not differ from the first tape edition, the cover of which is seen above. I didn't have a proper copy of the CDr, with cover art I mean, so I used the tape cover. The band later changed their name to Daemonlord and has released some albums and EPs under that name, most recent album actually just this year.

I'm not familiar with their later material so I'm not going to make any comparisons to that. All the proper tracks on this demo are quite short, coming to an average duration of little less than three minutes. As you might guess, the music is fast and in your face, still quite melodic with the occasional background synths. They use two vocals, of which one is a little deeper than the slightly drier croak of the other. There's no human drummer and the machine is quite obviously that. It would sound better with a real drummer, or if the drumsound was different but it's not bad enough to ruin it. Kind of reminds me of some old Greek bands. I didn't much care for this when I first heard it but now after a few years (well, 11) it sounds better than I remembered. Give it a shot, at least it's not sugary and fluffy! I think I should check out their later releases.