Godblood - Flowers demo 1994

Godblood - Flowers demo 1994
1) Twilight
2) Witch
3) Godblood
4) Howling
5) Deceiver
6) Necrosynousia / σιωπή


Reuploaded

Exotic cuisine for today, the 1994 demo by Godblood from Cyprus. First time I get to use the word "cypriot" - I'll want to do that again so I guess I better get to study the other bands from the island... anyways back to this item, I already got a dub of it from brother Grev, but alas! his tape was screwed at the start ruining the sound of the first two tracks. I naturally despaired greatly and lamented until I noticed a copy of this on a small distro's list whom I then immediately contacted and ordered the tape which quickly arrived. Rejoice! Here then is the rip of that tape and scan of the xeroxed cover. Quickest of you have probably already checked out their Metal Archives page which has a cool colour image instead of the rather drab xerox my (and Grev's) tape has. I assume the first bunch of tapes had a colour cover and then the rest had to make do with xeroxed copies of that. Oh well, content counts not the packaging and all that.

About time to get to the content, which is a bit over 25 minutes of black metal in the early Greek vein, except this time it's Cypriot not Greek. I had some trouble with figuring out how to match the tracklisting to the content and as a bonus I had to decipher what the hell was the last title, my knowlegde of Greek being extremely limited and the cover hand written. It'd appear to be "ςιωπη" which I manage to translate to "siopi" which I've no clue what it means... "σιωπή" would make more sense though, as it means "silence" and there is no seventh track, only silence which would make this a witty trick played on the listeners. Naturally, I did not bother to add extra silence after "Necrosynousla" as I'm not at all a fan of silent tracks. Someone fluent with the language could take a look at the cover scan enclosed and confirm my little theory for me, pretty please? - UPDATE: It is "σιωπή" and should be "-synousia" - updated and reuploaded the demo. Thanks for the info!

I seem to have hard time getting properly to the music itself here, ok so it sounds Greek, first track is intro and then the first proper song isn't really that special but the two following ones are, with cool rhythms, riffs and some unusual ideas. Especially the self-titled track manages to work for me even while being over six minutes long, quite simple and repetitive. "Deceiver" stumbles a bit but it's good parts overcome the less fluent bits still leaving it on my good side. Last real song is a lenghty instrumental. A charmingly rough, recommendable release for people into Mediterranean black metal.

Yggtyrhyrkkh Hin Dystre - Hævnfejde demo 1996

Yggtyrhyrkkh Hin Dystre - Hævnfejde demo 1996
1) Storhed
2) Val
3) Ode
4) Hævnfejde
5) Outro

Mediafire

Here's another item dubbed for me by Grev, thank you once again, and my second Danish post, by the way. Yggtyrhyrkkh Hin Dystre certainly had one of the least-likely-to-be-spelled-correctly names ever - I don't what or who Y is or what Hin means but "dystre" translates to dark and/or grim. Yeah. The cover (scan of which is included) proclaims they play "Heathen Black Feud Metal exclusively" which basically translates into viking black metal with very raw guitar sound, raw but clear overall sound in general, some timpani and synths, very long tracks which seem more primitive than progressive and barbaric rather than epic. I'm not entirely sure what to make of this, I'm definitely no stranger to raw and primitive black metal but something in this makes it feel less than satisfying, the songwriting seems almost random at times, musicianship struggling and the drums (except the timpani sounds) are kind of annoying.

The dub I ripped was from an original demo so the quality is good and tape flaws to minimum. Nothing except low tolerance for raw black metal should prevent you from joining these Danish berserkers. Oh yeah there's no outro listed on the cover but as there is one, clearly separate from the title track, and just as long as the intro piece "Storhed" I divided it into its own track.

Grand Belial's Key - Live in North Arlington NJ 28.10.2000

Grand Belial's Key - Live at Hartley's Bar, North Arlington NJ 28th October 2000
1) Shemhamforash
2) In Rapture By The Fenrir Moon
3) Foul Parody Of The Lord's Supper
4) Reflections Of The Coffin Lid
5) Sumerian Fairytale
6) Demonarchy
7) Goat Of A Thousand Young
8) The Holocaust Trumpeter

Reuploaded with The Deceased's rip (full version)

Here's another live tape and one I should've done long ago... (sorry John!) and another one which is not my rip but a fixed one of a rip I got from the inter nets a few (several) years ago. This one, however, has the tracklisting and dividing of tracks fixed as the original one was sort of fucked up with songs ending halfway and whatnot, probably divided by the lengths of the album/studio versions. So, thank whoever it was who originally ripped and uploaded this gig somewhere (probably Soulseek) years ago.

This is the GBK most of you probably know (as opposed to my other GBK lives which were from the Pussyferian age), with Crucifier's Cazz Grant aka The Black Lourde of Crucifixion on vox (ok quite a few of you probably listened to late Wotansvolk's era GBK too). As expected, it has both "Mocking..." and old tracks on it. Neither of the "Tricifixion..." EP tracks yet, though. Sound quality is an ok audience recording, I'm not complaining. Alas, there are some minor flaws and "Sumerian Fairytale" cuts and "Demonarcy" is not complete either, so I suppose the person recording this had a human failure (had to take a leak or something) or something else went wrong. I don't know if it misses actual tracks in between or just parts of those. Let me know if you were there. Other than that little issue, this is an enjoyable recording if you're into this period of GBK. Recommendable, unless the missing bit drives you insane.

UPDATE: Date and venue corrected according to the info provided on comrade The Deceased's rip here. Which you should get as it's not missing the bit between 5 & 6!

UPDATE II: Since Lockjaw is no longer active and neither are the links I've reuploaded The Deceased's complete version of the show here. 

Charnel Winds - Stigma Prior Nefastvm demo 2004

Charnel Winds - Stigma Prior Nefastvm demo 2004
1) Stigma Nefastum
2) Conflagration of Darkness
3) Shadow

Mediafire

You know I seldom post "new" demos such as this one but I do make exceptions. Charnel Winds here definitely is worth making one. This is the first demo, made still as a solo effort (with a session guitarist) and released in 150 copies by Spread Evil. I ripped my original tape & scanned the covers.

The recording has a good, underground sound and production, it's obscure enough for a demo but clear and strong enough. Rip quality is good though the tape has a few little imperfections. They don't make 'em like they used to in the 90's. Fortunately the music is as good as back then, even superior depending of course who you compare to. This is black metal with no artificial sweeteners added to it. It has an occult feel to it and shares characteristics with many of the religious and orthodox bm bands but without going overtly complicated. Recommended as is the following tape I.I.I. which can still be found in several distros and the debut album "Die Teufelsbund" released by Werewolf this year.

Fullmoon - Instrumental Rehearsal 1997

Fullmoon - Instrumental Rehearsal 1997
1) Warcrimer
2) Luciferian Supreme Darkness
3) Warcrimer (another version)

Reuploaded

Some of you probably remember I uploaded a tape with instrumental rehearsal tracks from the legendary (well, at least in certain circles) and/or infamous (rest of the circles, I presume) Fullmoon, here back in last November. Well, I got another rehearsal tape from the same contributor, and actually two different dubs of it to boot. As I was having difficulty deciding which version to go with, I forgot it in my WIP folder until recently when I decided to go with this one and finally upload it. So here we go, thanks to the contributing person!

If you've heard the other similar rehearsals I've uploaded here you should know what to expect; it's not a nice and clean listening experience but certainly listenable and rewarding to the initiated. This tape is no different. The first version of "Warcrimer" is obviously faster than it's supposed to be, but that is how it was on both dubs my contributor sent me. Not the first time Fullmoon material plays at wrong speed. Note that the rest of the tracks are also different recordings than the ones I posted earlier, not sure if they've been available elsewhere. Anyways, recommended for those into old Polish non-PC black metal as well as fans of raw sounding rehearsal tapes.

Susscrofa - Dins Ech Cel D'astertia demo 1994

Susscrofa - Dins Ech Cel D'astertia demo 1994
1) Intro
2) Dins Ech Cel D'astertia
3) Senher Akerbeltz
4) Intro II
5) Pagan, Sacrum Facere
6) Ode A Pyrene
7) Isturitz, Darrie Cant De La Flauto Fadarelo

Yandex

Pagan metal today and another item which is not my rip; this one I found in the internet, don't remember where it was but the person had the whole thing as a single track so I separated it into what you see above. Correction: I think it was this. Note that the cover (quite poor Metal Archives image) does not list any separate intros, I decided to separate them as they didn't blend into the tracks directly. If you don't like that decision, too bad. Note that the band name is Susscrofa as single word, NOT Sus Scrofa as some sources say. There is another band who use that spelling.

I don't know if the person who originally ripped this (Okkultis?)had an original tape at hand or not, but the rip sounds ok. The demo sound itself isn't that great but it's sufficient and everything can be heard clearly enough. There are not glitches and errors either so good result. Music itself is pagan black metal, melodic but not overtly so and with some folk touches which are mostly subtle. One of the tracks, Ode a Pyrene is sung by the band members a cappella, others use mostly the ferocious snarl of the vocalist. A great demo, pity they did not make more music. Well, some of the members apparently went on to form Stille Volk but I'd have preferred they continued this. Recommended.

UPDATE: Looks like they've decided to carry on after a 20 year break. I was informed four new tracks were recorded last year and this was uploaded recently. Have they changed the spelling as well?

Akhkharu - Poisoned Dreams demo 1995

Akhkharu - Poisoned Dreams demo I 1995
1) Prey To God
2) Masochistic Soul Sanctuary
3) Blood
4) Cosmic Ecstasy

Reuploaded (with cover scan)

Akhkharu was a curious case, you see there are/were apparently no less than three separate entities using this monicker and to make matters worse all were from the States! And active around the same-ish period. Currently the easiest to find is the black metal one, which I'm not really interested in, and then there is the ritual/dark ambient one which I've always been interested in yet never heard, with the Dark Age Prod./Absu/Crimson Moon connections. And then there was this third one, whose (probably only) demo I've uploaded here, rip courtesy of brother Suuret Muinaiset, thanks pal! Information (well, sort info) I found indicates this would be another project by Rood, known to readers of the blog from Creepfog and Goat of the Harvest. No covers nor are any scans of any sort to be found. Would appreciate one. UPDATE: Got the full scans, now reuploaded with them and this was a two man project, Rood and someone called Ewing. Thanks for the contribution!

So what's this like? Well, like I suppose the Akhkharu mentioned second to be, this is of the ritual dark ambient school but unfortunately not very good. The recording consists of chanting, sound effects, clinking and clanking things, synth sounds, electric guitar, spoken passages and so on, sounding quite primitive and pretty random for much of the time. Sound is rehearsal tape-like. I'm quite open minded with this kind of stuff but this one doesn't really click with me. It's not utterly horrible but I don't much enjoy it either. So, I am still looking for the 90's tapes by the DAP/Ishnigarrab Akhkharu, leave a note if you got 'em! Meanwhile feel free to try this out.

Funerary Bell - Unreleased Track 2009

Funerary Bell - Unreleased Track 2009
1) Eleanor's Garden

Reuploaded

Here's a seldom seen thing; something from the 00's on this blog. I mentioned in the previous Funerary Bell post I might upload more stuff from them and this (so far) unreleased track from 2009 is just the thing. This is Invoker Of The Shadows (aka Profundiis) performing solo, so far this track hasn't been played with the full band.

The track sounds musically like something off a Varathron recording and soundwise there's no complaining, it has a good demo sound to it. The main vocal is a deeper growly scream, reminiscent of Varathron again. A worthwhile listen if you enjoy FB and/or Greek style black metal. Don't forget to check out the full-lenght album "The Coven" released by Undercover Records.

Mayhem - Rehearsal 1995

Mayhem - Rehearsal 1995
1) Cursed in Eternity
2) Carnage
3) Deathcrush
4) Chainsaw Gutsfuck
5) The Freezing Moon

Narod

To celebrate the date here's another well-known Norwegian name and a rehearsal I got from one of my trader comrades back whenever. This is a (probably) early rehearsal after the Mayhem reformation and I don't know who are the personnel involved... well Hellhammer is kind of obvious and Necrobutcher as well (judging from the tracklisting, it's annoying how the reform Mayhem ignored De Mysteriis... in favour of the old stuff and eventually new) but I'm not sure if Blasphemer is here yet, probably he is. These are instrumental tracks so no Maniac screeching this time. Ok not completely, someone screams "Deathcrush" but that hardly counts, does it?

So how is it? Well, the sound is a very good rehearsal sound and good dub too so no problems there. This is very much a rehearsal tape not a rehearsal demo as you can hear some talking in between the songs and they have some issues getting "Carnage" going. Other than that (and it just adds to the experience, doesn't it?) it's a pleasant listen. Recommended for Mayhem fans, collectors and curious ones.

Enslaved - Live in Ontario, Canada 27.07.1995

 

Enslaved - Live in London, Ontario Canada 27th July 1995

1) Intro 

2) Viking Metal

3) Loke

4) Fenris

5) Glemt

6) Vetrarnótt

7) Hordalendingen

8) Wotan

Reuploaded 

Live tapes continued, this one I ripped almost a year ago but it was forgotten in my WIP folder for quite some time before I got around to finalize it. The incomplete tracklisting was the main reason for delay but as you can see above I figured it out. Finally. I got this one from one of my tape traders and obviously it did not really have a cover, I just whipped up that thing to have something to decorate the post with.

This is an audience recording and not really of stellar sound quality. It is listenable enough for the hardboiled bootleg connoisseur, even if the sound gets muddled especially during the faster moments. It's not the worst I've heard (or posted) but sure not the best either. As you can see from the setlist this is mostly "Frost" with some new tracks thrown in and sadly only "Vetrarnótt" from "Vikingligr Veldi" though considering the track lenghts on the first album & EP (aka split with Emperor) this is understandable.

Not recommended for fans of the later, progressive Enslaved but worth checking out if you like good old viking black metal.

Aurora Borealis - Childhood Memories demo 1996

Aurora Borealis (den) - Childhood Memories demo 1996
1) Ethereal Goddess
2) Danzing Summer
3) Black Tears
4) Childhood Memories

Depositfiles

Another case from the shared band name files, though these guys changed their name to "Aurora" soon after releasing this demo. Also the first item from Denmark I post here. Melodic death metal, almost death/doomy but in general moves in the faster mid-tempo. My dub is from a trader who might have had an original copy or at least early generation dub, judging from the quality which is good. No cover so a Metal Archives image used.

So it has a good sound and production and is far from brutal and/or raw, screamy main vocal, is melodic and Scandinavian. All described so far are one man's pros and the other's cons and the very un-death metal demo title probably further divides the reader base. However, I find this very listenable and am not noted to be a big fan of the NWoSDM-sound so I suppose you can try this out even if you hate In Flames and Dark Tranquillity with passion... odds are you won't like this either, but you can still give it a try. Recommended for fans of the genre and some listeners of (melodic) death/doom might enjoy it as well.

Curse (US) - Blood Rites and Ancient Arts demo 1995

Curse (us) - Blood Rites and Ancient Arts demo 1995
1) A Blackened Plane of Existence
2) The Summoning
3) Mystical Powers of the Night
4) Call of the Demon Wolves
5) Fuck the Whore
6) Blood Rites and Ancient Arts

Reuploaded

[rant]I hate it when there are several bands with the same name. Especially nowadays, the artists of pre-internet times are more easily forgiven but today's punks have no excuses with everyone connected to the net almost 24/7 and with databases like Metal Archives around. It's bad enough with metal bands but then every now and then some assclowns decide to pick up a hip band name, ignoring it's used and associated with a long-standing metal band, like happened with Root (cze). Oh it makes me mad![/rant] But back to the tracks, sometimes I get curious about the other bands sharing a monicker and try to listen to them, even if I personally think one of them to be the "true" one, and this is the case with Curse as well. I'm biased to favour the Finnish one though I enjoy the Swedish death metal band too. This one at hand is the USBM user of the name, long gone now and shrouded in obscurity. Well, you can't find a picture of them or the demo cover on the 'net so that's obscure enough for nowadays standards. Dubbed by Grev who got it from a trader back who knows when. Thanks, bro!

The rip came out well, there is very little hissing and tape wear to be heard and the demo itself has a decent sound, recorded in a studio I'd say. Of course it sounds like a demo but could well pass for a low-budget "official release" too. Music is vicious USBM with a few, tiny touches of death metal sprinkled in. Some of the tracks have almost a militant feel to them which gives character to the otherwise rather generic content. Not bad at all, try it for yourself.

Moon Lore - Rehearsal 1994

Moon Lore - Rehearsal 1994
1) There Again...
2) Vampire

Reuploaded

Today I'm posting another contribution by comrade SuuretMuinaiset, thanks for helping me out! This is a two track rehearsal by Norway's Moonlore aka Moon Lore (I'm certain it was written as one word in the beginning) whose demo 1993 I posted earlier here. This is quite similar to that demo but has already progressed a bit further without yet crossing into the really experimental spheres of the later releases. I still want more rehearsals/demos from the band so get in touch if you got 'em!

Both of these tracks were released on the "Spheres Beneath the Heavens" album but these versions are still more metal, even if they already have elements like female backing vocals and rather unusual main vocal performance on "Vampire". The sound quality is good (especially for a rehearsal tape) and the rip quality is very satisfactory. Some minor wear of the tape is audible but it shouldn't be an issue. Recommended if you liked the demo and/or the album. If you didn't like the album you might still want to try this out.

Innominandum - From the Cradle to the Grave demo 1992

Innominandum - From the Cradle to the Grave demo 1992
1) From the Cradle to the Grave
2) Sleeping with the Past
3) Solitude
4) Shadow of the Holy Script

Mediafire

Here's another death metal demo, this time from Germany and the first one released by the band as Innominandum, they were formerly called Dandruff. I'd say the name change was a good idea. Apparently this would also be their only more serious death metal release as they changed their style to death'n'roll which was a very typical thing to do in the 90's - if not going all the way rock or grunge - and annoyed me to no small extent. I haven't heard anything else from them so I can't really give any first hand comments on how successful their turn was.

This is another tape traded item, no covers I'm afraid, but at least the dub was quite good. The sound on the demo itself is ok, not the best I've heard if not the shittiest either. It comes off a little unclear at times as the music is not exactly straight forward sort, crude and simple hammering (which I personally prefer to technical wankfests) but more complex. I'm not really sure what more to say of this, it's not really my favourite sort of death metal but it has good parts and if you're a death metal fan you should try this out for yourself.