Darkstorm - The Past Forgotten CassEP 1995

Darkstorm (pol) - The Past Forgotten Cassette EP 1995
1) Nocturnal Seeds
2) Of the Old Ones
3) Chains and Leather (Running Wild cover)

Mediafire

Time to post black metal again and once more some Polish material. This cassette EP (well, that's how the trader who dubbed me this labeled it) was the band's third release and yes, the first two tracks were released on the 2008 version of "The Black Stone" CD which you might have. But the third one wasn't so I thought I'd upload this. If you like this, check out the CD. Cover image courtesy of Metal Archives.

It's not the best possible quality dub as the tape is a little worn but very listenable still... if you're a seasoned reader of this blog I presume you're used to less than stellar sound quality. Though the recording itself has a pretty good yet unpolished (heh) and rough demo sound. It's raw black metal with the Polish 90's sound which you either love or hate I suppose. The musicianship is kind of sloppy but in a way it adds to the charm. Recommended for fans of Polish bm, especially of the more radical bands.

At Dawn They Sleep - Red Sun demo 1994

At Dawn They Sleep - Red Sun demo 1994
1) Anguish
2) Dark Sea of Misery
3) Eternal Lies
4) Dead Emotion
5) Army of Darkness
6) Red Sun

Mediafire

Back to Finland and another item contributed by brother Grev, thanks for the dub & scan! At Dawn They Sleep was a melodic death/dark metal (yes, that hybrid again but read on) band, formerly called Brazen and oriented to thrashier style. They released an album in 1999 and split up the following year. There's another demo called "Lust" recorded in 1998, all of those tracks appear on the album. Which I haven't heard.

As I haven't heard their later releases I can't compare this to them, but this one here is like mentioned earlier melodic death/dark metal. In this case it's not bad at all, it's not too sugary if not blackened either. Reminds me at times of the Frozen Tear demo... and well, quite a few Finnish mid-90s releases to be honest, but it's a good listen. And earlier than F.T. for example. I suggest you give it a try if you like melodic death metal and/or dark metal.

Non Divine - Darkend World demo 1996

Non Divine - Darkend World demo 1996
1) Intro / Demons
2) Darkend World
3) Suffering Christians
4) Dark Upon the Light
5) Gates of Hell
6) Outro

Mediafire

Another pictureless post follows, this one metal. Non Divine was a German black/death metal band and I got this demo from a tape trader comrade around 1997. And that's pretty much all. I don't know if they did anything else or changed name or whatever. If you have info and cover for this, I'd appreciate if you shared 'em.

I don't know what generation the dub my trader had was but it doesn't sound bad. Demo sound itself is ok. The audible bass guitar is nice. Musically it's more death metal than black metal oriented but there are still some elements of bm present. More Deicide than Dissection. They use two vocals, a death growl and a screamier one which works nicely even if it's an old trick. I suppose I'd recommend this for death metal fanatics while black metal purists probably will skip this.

Döden - Kapitel I demo 1995

Döden - Kapitel I demo 1995
1) Kapitel döden I
2) Kapitel av ordern II

Narod

Another mysterious item today, all I know of this one is that it's (or more likely was) a Swedish project and this seems to be their first demo. It is also the only one I'm aware of. All further info and cover scan would be appreciated.

I got this from one of my traders in the 90's, I don't think he had an original copy either but the dub is of good quality, as is the sound in general. There's only two tracks but both are very lenghty, the whole demo lasts over 36 minutes. Music is dark ambient with black metallish-voices and desolate atmospheres. I'm not sure I'd call this dungeon synth even if it has elements of that, I'll probably need to consult Andrew about this. This might not be for everyone as it is quite minimalistic and the massive durations of the two tracks isn't going to help, but the patient listeners might enjoy the demo. Granted, the vocals come off occasionally goofy instead of evil and they would generally work better if used more sparingly but despite that I found myself somewhat enthralled by the uneasy feeling and desolate soundscapes. I recommend you to try this if you enjoy dark ambient.

Glamhoth - Reh.Promo 1999

Glamhoth - Rehearsal Promo 1999
1) Blackhearted
2) Shadow of the Scythe
3) Dark Forces of Nature
4) Millennium of Armageddon

Reuploaded

Here's some black metal again, a rehearsal/promo tape from the Finnish black metallers Glamhoth of whom I know nothing except the info on the cover, provided by brother Grev - thanks for the dub & scan! This appears to have been a very limited item, 23 copies.

Like you probably figured out by now, this is a rehearsal recording and thus has quite raw sound. Audible and clear enough worry not. There's some tape fail on the beginning of the second track, might be already on the band's recording. Other than that no issues. Musicwise this is quite raw sort of black metal, moving on midtempo and bit faster. There's melodies and thrashing parts too but definitely no synths or female vocals. Nor will there be any, they say so on the cover so it must be true. It's not bringing anything new to the table but this isn't an issue for me, I can enjoy this sort of back-to-basics black metal without extra bells and whistles just fine. Loved the bass on the last track. Check it out for yourself if you're into rawer sort of black metal.

The Equinox Ov The Gods - This Sombre Dreamland demo 1994

The Equinox Ov The Gods - This Sombre Dreamland demo III 1994
1) Intro - The Beast
2) The Golem
3) DeathWish
4) Into the Slumber
5) Lord of the Crossroads
6) Dance of the Dead
7) Sombre Angel
8) The Obituary

Reuploaded

It's been a little while since the last post, I've been busy attending Black Flames of Blasphemy II event, Death In June gig and some other, more mundane stuff. Anyways now I'm back and here's a bit unusual demo, the third (as far as I know) demo by the Swedes operating under the monstrous monicker The Equinox Ov The Gods. Still active, they have released four albums in addition to the smaller releases. I'm interested in hearing the older demos so you know what to do. Traded item, no cover so M.A. image was used.

The music on this half an hour demo is sort of mixture of doom/gothic metal with some heavy metal thrown in. It's not of the whiny sort of gothic quite a few of you probably dislike and expect, it's more dynamic to say so. The vocals are of an untypical clean sort, they occasionally stumble but generally work fine for me. Quite a good sound for an unknown generation dub and the demo itself has a decent, heavy sound on itself. If you're into doom and/or gothic metal you'll want to check them out. I had something else in mind to say too but I'm in a hurry so it'll have to wait.

Aphasia - The Battle of Armageddon demo 1995

Aphasia (aus) - The Battle of Armageddon demo 1995
1) The Valley of Wandering Souls
2) The Battle of Armageddon
3) Solitude (intro)
4) Lost in a Dream of Lilith

Re-reuploaded - 2022

More black metal and another contribution, this one from comrade SuuretMuinaiset again, thanks mate! This is his rip of a traded tape so we did not have covers and the sound is not totally optimal as some hissing is present. Other than that the quality is more than adequate as the demo itself sounds quite raw and rough.

This demo lasts a bit over nine minutes and is a bit oddly arranged as there's about two thirds of it black metal while the rest is taken by intros (of acoustic sort), the separate, named one being 3rd track. And the last track is the shortest, annoyingly faded away in the middle of the proceedings. Music is, like mentioned above, rough sounding and quite primitive. The vocals remind me of some old Beherit work (and more currently, Black Feast) and that's a plus in my books. The pace of the music isn't actually as frantic as you might expect by such short tracks, instead about half of the metal parts are quite slow in tempo, ranging from mid-paced to actually doomy plodding. I like this, I'll need to check out the Destruktor material if it's anything like this tape. Recommended if you can stomach the poor sound and are into this kind of barbaric primitivism.

Nightside - Demo 1997

Nightside - Demo 1997
1) Frostmaiden's Dance
2) Under a Thousand Stars
3) Where Darkness Shines
4) The Almighty Andras
5) Battlestorms

Mediafire

Another contribution by Grev, here is the first demo of Finland's Nightside who released later a 7"EP and an album before dissappearing. Some people might know this as the band where Serpent did vocals, well, one of the bands as he did that also for Annihilatus. Diabolus Sylvarum from Arsonist Lodge was also a member. Enough vague name dropping, check out the rest from their Metal Archives page, from which is the dreadfully tiny cover image borrowed. I could really use a cover scan for this one!

Almost all of these songs would later reappear on their album but obviously these demo recordings sound different. What exactly do they sound like? Well, like raw-ish, better-than-average demo sound Finnish black metal with more melodic and atmospheric parts thrown in. Generally the impression is more of a ferocious character than melancholic and contemplative, but the slightly folksy melodic bits dull the edge. The sound would be quite good if the drums were a bit more subdued. The dub is not 100% flawless but easily listenable. Final verdict: if you enjoy mid/later 90's Finnish bands like Thyrane, Alghazanth or Flauros give this demo a try, it's not really for the hifi-melodic-metaller nor the necro-catacomb-people but someone in between.