Convulsion - A Pickled Feast demo 1993

Convulsion (nz) - A Pickled Feast demo 1993
1) Lobotomized Whores
2) Bits of Dog
3) Pickled in Pus

Reuploaded

Another contribution by Fenrirsson, this is a demo from the NZ goregrind/death metal band Convulsion. Ripped from his original copy, the sound is obviously of the underground demo sort but quite good and fitting, slightly murky and heavy. Cover scan enclosed.

Even if this is goregrind/death metal, don't expect all-out blasting, there is a good share of slow, heavy, ponderous mauling on display here. Especially the first track is more like Visecral Evisceration than Dead Infection. Pace picks up on the second track but it's still more midtempo than anything which was a pleasant surprise for me on the first listen. There's some dual vocals thrown in for good effect as well and I'm actually reminded of Germany's Mangled Torsos on their debut "Drawings of the Dead" even though it's a later release. Last track continues pretty much where second left off, with a slightly briskier pace. I like this. Recommended for people into heavy and cavernous, murky death metal with a vile atmosphere.

UPDATE: Well, to prove even us ghoulish figures at AC are human it appears the original upload was not correct and tracks 2 & 3 were switched around. Oops. No excuses, just download it again, it's corrected now.

Octinomos - Demo 2 1995

Octinomos - Demo 2 1995
1) Still Those Stars Shine
2) From the Sky
3) Iniuria
4) The Demiurge

Reuploaded

I know this post is sort of waste of time, but I decided to upload my rip of Octinomos' demo 2 (I'd like to see demo 1 very much but I guess it was never released) here. Pretty much everyone and their mother has already done this but since I bought this tape last year from Stratia and I am a fanboy I wanted to rip it for myself. So here it is, recommended like the rest of Söderlund's material I've posted so far.

Lamentation - Promo Track 96/97

Lamentation (gre) - Promo Track 1996/1997
1) Whispers from Carmilla's Tomb

Depositfiles

Non-metal post and a quickie, here's a single promo track from Greece's Lamentation which was later renamed Nachtkaiser and featured Der Stürmer personnel. This track was also released later under Nachtkaiser monicker on a compilation tape, which I haven't heard so I don't know if it's the same recording or different somehow. Anyways, this one I got from my trader around 1997 I think.

There's some hissing on the background but otherwise the dub is of good quality, in a way this is more like "Fullmoon..." and "Eine Symphonie..." than "As ShadowKingdom..." as it is fully instrumental, without the vocals which I personally found more a flaw than a strenght on the third demo. It's synths and piano again, but that's really all you need sometimes. The atmospheres remind me of ancient Ultima IV and weltering in nostalgia is something I enjoy. I think this might be my favourite Lamentation recording (can't comment on the Nachtkaiser material as I haven't heard any!). Let us hope the CD compilation of Lamentation/Nachtkaiser material becomes reality soon. Until then enjoy this track and don't forget the second demo either.

Lacerated Gods - Night of Pain: The Satanic Bloodspraying live 1993

Lacerated Gods - Night of Pain: The Satanic Bloodspraying official livetape 1993
1) Crime (The Glorious Way To Dark Satan)
2) Desecrate The Female Plague
3) Subhuman Christianity
4) Rigor Mortis (Recreate Auschwitz)
5) Into Thy Forest Of Retaliation
6) Your Punishment Is To Be Raped

Reuploaded

Here's a very elusive item, the official live tape, also called demo 1993, by Germany's infamous Lacerated Gods. Ripped by brother Fenrirsson from a cassette sent him by Count Leichenschrei, it came with only a note with tracklisting and line-up which he also scanned. There's also a second version which includes an additional studio track and probably has a cover too.

I wouldn't really call Lacerated Gods black metal, the music is more like death/thrash with anti-christian themes. And some good old misogynism and nazi references thrown in. The sound of the recording is a bit primitive but very audible. The vocals are quite high on the mix and occasionally the sound kind of fades to lower volume but these are not really issues. Should be an interesting listen for many. I'm curious to hear the old Opferblut material too so get in touch if you got it!

Nephilim - Black Earth CassEP 1996

Nephilim (usa) - Black Earth Cassette EP 1996
1) Upheaval
2) The Timeless Void
3) Tehom

RGhost / Rusfolder

Here's another cassette EP, this one metal and USBM, related to this old post as the project shares a member, Mikai Tepesh who does everything but the lead guitar on this tape. It appears there were two versions of this tape as well, the dub I had contains also the instrumental/outro track "Tehom" while the version I got from eBay omits it and they've blacked over the title on the cover (as you'll see from the enclosed scan). I don't know what's the deal with it, was Tepesh unhappy with the track later or what? Anyways, the rip here is a combo of both tapes, the metal tracks are from the original and "Tehom" from my old dub so the quality differs a little. Speaking of quality, the sound is good if very underground but there's a little shift in the volume in the first track. Minor annoyance but it's there.

There's also another little issue with the tracklisting, being the fact that the two metal tracks blend quite seamlessly into each other and I had very hard time guessing where to cut 'em apart. So I sort of gave up and made an educated guess. I'm pretty sure it's wrong. Don't know if it really matters as most will probably listen to the whole tape all the way through, it's only a bit over 11 minutes after all. I should probably say something about the music too? Well, it's USBM of a grimy yet sort of atmospheric vein, borrowing from Nordic bands as well as having touches of Blasphemy and co. to it. Mostly it speeds ahead with a good momentum, though there's time to throw in some quite chaotic leads as well. Audible bass is a nice touch. The last song "Tehom" is dark ambient outro bit, not bad. I like this better than Tepesh's other band Enkil and would like to hear the 1994 demo too. Recommended for black metal enthusiasts and seekers of obscure recordings.

Elfen - To Eldamar from Minas Morgul CassEP 1999

Elfen - To Eldamar from Minas Morgul Cassette EP 1999
Eldamar - The House of the Trolls
1) Mirkwood
2) Lothlórien
3) Minas Morgul
4) Isengard
5) Moria
6) Uruk-Hai
Minas Morgul demo 1997 (bonus)
7) Lothlórien
8) Moria
9) Isengard
10) Minas Morgul

Mediafire / Depositfiles

Tolkien related material today, this tape EP/compilation was released by Elven Witchcraft back in 1999 and I was thinking I'd be getting Summoning-style metal as I ordered this tape. That's not the case even if there are some slightly metal-esque parts, this is more correctly black/ambient and/or dungeon synth. You know, lots of keyboards, some percussion here and there, vocals ranging from whispers to narration to almost black metal style rasping. Not to forget assorted sound effects. Some people apparently manage to see this as a nationalistic or Hellenistic project. Well, whatever you say, the lyrics are included and they are quite standard Tolkien fare. I'm not sure if their later texts could be different? Probably the connections of the project make people go for that assumption.

So how's it like then? Well it's really an uneven sort of affair, ranging from ridiculous to cool parts. I refuse to call it metal even if some tracks partially resemble it. I'd put it somewhere in between black/ambient and dungeon synth categories. The sound of the cassette EP portion is supposedly better than on the demo bit but what it gains in clarity it loses in atmosphere. Both are firmly in the plastic, cheap synth sound department which is not necessarily a bad thing. The demo versions of the tracks are longer, slightly more ponderous and clumsier yet somehow I seem to enjoy them more. I guess their poor-man's-Summoning feeling is enough to amuse me. But enough of my long-winded babbling, download it and listen for yourself.

Absu - Pagan Ritual bootleg 1995

Absu (us) - Pagan Ritual bootleg 1995
1) Intro
2) Cyntefyn's Fountain
3) Apzu
4) Feis Mor Tir Na N'og (Across the Northern Sea to Visnech)
5) Never Blow Out the Eastern Candle

Mediafire

Another tape traded bootleg tape, this one though a bit more interesting as it is a 1995 (don't know the date and venue though!) live show from my old faves Absu. I think this is the complete performance, not very lenghty covering just a bit over half an hour. Unfortunately missing a cover as well, so if you have it a scan would be very welcome!

Like pretty much all the 1995 Absu live tapes I've managed to dig up, this has a great setlist which leaves me hungry for more. This one even more than some of the other ones as it has only four proper tracks along with a pretty long intro. Fortunately all songs are good even if I'm still longing for "The Sun of Tiphareth" and "A Quest into the 77th Novel" - probably they didn't play those back then. The recording has a quite good live sound, better than the average bootleg I dare say. Quality of the dub is rather good as well. Solid performance, with plenty of vocals from Proscriptor too this time. Very much recommended.

Mayhem - Book Made of Human Flesh bootleg 1996

Mayhem (nor) - Book Made of Human Flesh bootleg tape 1996
1) The Freezing Moon 
2) Chainsaw Gutsfuck 
3) Deathcrush 
4) Funeral Fog
5) Necrolust
6) Life Eternal 
7) Pagan Fears
8) Buried by Time and Dust

Reuploaded

Disclaimer: This post is pretty much waste of everyone's time. Now that it has been said, let's move to the item at hand, "Book Made of Human Flesh" is an obscure Mayhem bootleg I got from one of my traders back in 1996 or early 1997 and I have very little knowledge of it. I assume it was a tape released by someone and possibly had a cover of some sort, which my contact did not have. So I made a cover of my own, the book is a photo of a prop Necronomicon I stole somewhere. To my dissappointment back then, the material here is a compilation of Mayhem tracks from various sources ranging from the 1990 studio session (The Freezing Moon) to "Live in Leipzig" and so on. I can't readily identify the source for all the tracks but am sure they've all been released before. So why post it? Well, aside wanting to share the old dissappointment with you, I thought it'd be prudent to post it before someone pays ridiculous bucks for a copy on eBay without knowing what he gets. And I guess if you haven't heard Mayhem at all, this wouldn't be a bad compilation to start with, even though I can hardly imagine such a scenario. That's pretty much all I have to say about this.

Deicide - Live in Bradford 04.12.1990

Deicide - Live at the Queen's Hall, Bradford UK 4th December 1990
1) Sacrificial Suicide
2) Lunatic of God's Creation
3) Dead by Dawn
4) Oblivious to Evil
5) Carnage in the Temple of the Damned
6) Blaspherereion
7) Mephistopheles
8) Day of Darkness
9) Crucifixation
10) Deicide

Reuploaded

A live tape from a well-known name today and an item that is not one of my rips! This rip was made by Matt Witchclan for Balbulus' blog The Woodman's Axe. His rip of the gig was all as a single track, which was the only negative thing about it. I split it into separate tracks for my own use and after a while thought I'd share it here too. So, thanks to Matt (and B) for this and check out it his band Witchclan too, UKBM.

What we have here is a gig by young and hungry Deicide, certainly from my favourite era of them. I liked the first two albums and "Amon - Feasting the Beast" but then lost interest in them around "Once Upon a Cross" and haven't really gotten into any of the later albums. This live recording has a very good sound, of course an excellent tracklisting and extra amusement value as Benton is very pissed off by someone stealing his bass guitar and apparently some xtians appeared on the venue to diss the band. Great stuff, get it if you too enjoy old death metal and give it a try even if you're not much into Deicide as it sounds different.

Dark Prophecy - Promo Tape 1992

Dark Prophecy (por) - Promo Tape 1992
1) Intro (The Evocation)
2) False Church
3) Intro (The Possession)
4) The Judgement Day

Mediafire

An older item today and a traded items, but for change one I got a cover for. Portugal's Dark Prophecy is probably an unknown name for most, yet some might recognize Celtic Dance formed by some of the members after the split of this band. They seem to have been quite fond of intros as the first Celtic Dance demo also featured an intro and outro for each of its two "proper" tracks. But enough about that.

This tape was recorded at their rehearsal place (except for the intros which are taken from movies I can't identify, help appreciated if you can) which is quite obvious. The sound isn't really bad, just very... stripped down and neither very powerful or evil. Certainly old schoolish and crude, sloppy playing, errors and all. So if you enjoy southern style old school black metal with a primitive rehearsal sound check out this tape.

Tunrida - Rehearsal Tape 25.03.1997

Tunrida - Rehearsal Tape 25th March 1997
1) My Finest Hour
2) The Second Coming
3) Praising My Immortality
4) "Astral Majesty" Chapter I. - Pathways to Cosmos Opened
5) "Astral Majesty" Chapter II. - The Calling
6) "Astral Majesty" Chapter III. - Astral Majesty Revealed

Reuploaded

One more rehearsal tape and back to black metal. Tunrida should be a familiar name to the blog readers and this is a rehearsal tape from the vaults of brother Grev who got this directly from Seth back in the day. So the quality of the dub is good and the recording itself has a very good and clear sound for a rehearsal. No cover art.

The first three tracks here would be included on the debut album "Hierarchy" in slightly different versions (and 2 & 3 were retitled as "Your Second Coming" and "Preacher of Immortality" respectively) and the last three tracks are from the second demo "Astral Majesty" these versions of course differing a little from the demo recording, "Astral Majesty Revealed" is also instrumental here for unknown reason. I find myself enjoying these rehearsal versions of the first tracks more than the album. Not much to add, if you're familiar with Tunrida you know what to expect. If not, this isn't a bad place to start from. Very much recommended!

Son Noir - Bloodtears rehearsal 07.10.1996

Son Noir - "Bloodtears" rehearsal 7th October 1996
1) Bloodtears
2) Queen of the Darkest Pit

Reuploaded

I didn't have the heart to break the current rehearsal streak, but I thought it's still time for a bit different release so here's something quite obscure again. This is a two song rehearsal tape, dubbed by one of my tape traders and it was one of those extremely random picks to be used as filler. I think there was at least one rehearsal tape more but probably no official demo. All the info I have is that it was a Canadian project and that's it. I don't know if this supposed to be an official release or not (being named and all) and if there was some sort of cover for this. At least I don't have it. More info would be welcome.

Musicwise we've basically a piano/keyboard and voice combo here, similar to Dutch Christs Nails and later Lamentation material. The longer title track is for me the better one here, using simple piano and a raw, anguished black metal voice. He sounds quite extreme at times and I wonder if he did vocals for any black metal band ever. The second piece is again moody piano but this time accompanied by a half-spoken, half-sung clean voice reciting the lyrics. This does not work as well as it doesn't sound very convincing. And when he goes to singing mode it's quite awful, as are the (fully) spoken parts. This is partially due his accent. Shrieks still work. However, this drops the overall rating for this recording. I suppose I should say something about the sound, which is quite good and clear. Well, it's just the keys and voice(s) so you don't need magick to make it work. I'm not 100% sure what to categorize this, I guess black ambient goes closest to home. I recommend the ambient and dungeon synth listeners to give this a try.

Blasphemous (swe) - Rehearsal 22.04.1995

Blasphemous (swe) - Rehearsal 22nd April 1995
1) Whispers from the Woods
2) Hacked Out of Ice
3) Hidden of Black Clouds

Reuploaded

I decided to stick to the rehearsal tapes and here's more black metal sent me by brother Grev. Thanks & praises! You may remember Blasphemous from this earlier post and much of what was then written applies to this recording as well. I personally think this rehearsal sounds slightly superior to the promo tape as it's less murky (even if this has its flaws and age showing too) but as it is an old rehearsal tape it might sound like white noise to the casual listener. The music is here "more obviously" black metal than the old material, cold and harsh like northern wind in January. Tracks 1 and 3 are familiar from other releases, their 1995 demo and 1994 rehearsal/demo respectively and track 2 seems exclusive to this, unless renamed. Recommended and I'm interested in hearing the reh/demo 1994, "The Obscurity Over Golgotha" demo 1995 and a better rip of "The Eternal Journey" demo would be also welcome.

Thus Defiled - Rehearsal 28.04.1994

Thus Defiled - Rehearsal 28th April 1994
1) Darkness Rape the Tranquil Shore of Eternity
2) The Final Sunrise

Re-reuploaded

Another rehearsal, this one was contributed by brother Grev, thank you! Thus Defiled is one of the UK's longest running 2nd wave black metal bands yet has always remained somewhat unknown, at least compared to certain landmates of theirs. Here are two rehearsal tracks, first of which appeared on their debut album "Through the Impure Veil of Dawn" and second... nowhere, unless they changed the name later (likely). I'm personally more familiar with the older Thus Defiled material, but not intimate so I don't recognize it as something else. No cover for this one, I used the 2nd demo era logo here.

The recording has a pretty good rehearsal sound, though I have to say the (growling) vocals bleed unto everything quite a bit. Or actually they sort of sink into everything else and kind of mingle... well listen for yourselves, I found my ear adjusting to this rather quickly. Other than that I'd say it sounds better than many rehearsal demos. And better than several demos too. The first track is melodic and quite melancholic, while the second one starts a bit more bombastic and turns fast and ferocious, brutal even. Now I feel like listening to more Thus Defiled and writing less so end here. Recommended for both black and death metal listeners.

Emperor - Rehearsal 19.10.1992

Emperor - Rehearsal 19th October 1992
1) Intro
2) My Empire's Doom
3) Witches Sabbath
4) Forgotten Centuries
5) Ancient Queen
6) Moon Over Kara-Shehr
7) Lord of the Storms
8) Night of the Graveless Souls

Depositfiles

To start off another December I decided to go with something that might be readily available but it's something I very much like myself. I suppose all of the readers are aware of Emperor. If not, I'm amazed and not sure if you have the right website in the first place. Anyways, this is an old rehearsal from Emperor and the era I like best myself. Raw and evil-sounding Norwegian black metal played by an enthusiastic and hungry young band, without pretensions of high art, just total darkness. Ripped from a traded copy, this never had any sort of cover in the first place I believe, the one seen above is just a placeholder I whipped up.

I can't recall the exact source for the date, I think it was online on a site that had some old items for trade, I just matched what info I had from my trader source with theirs. Still I'm sure this is now correct. As it is a rehearsal tape you should know what to expect if you've heard other old Emperor rehearsals or the demo. Raw as hell, not at all sophisticated like the latter work and delightful. As I see it, this is black metal in it's purest form. Very much recommended.

Algaion - Promo Track 1995

Algaion - Promo Track 1995
1) The Sign of Evil Existence (Rotting Christ cover)

Reuploaded

A real quick one here, literally, as this Rotting Christ classic covered by one of my favourite bands Algaion lasts less than two minutes. Dubbed by a trader with little info given, I don't know if this was actually ever used anywhere. I got it as "promo track" and am pretty sure it was just recorded at some other session and then dubbed to some people. Sound is a little muddy but okay demo sound and the track is obviously a classic and they do ok job covering it. Recommended if you enjoy either of the bands but if you're more of a hifi-person you might want to try their new album "ΕΧΘΡΟΣ" which features a medley of this and Thou Art Lord's "The Era of Satan Rising" and is a great album overall. /advertisement

Daimon - Presence of the Past demo 1995

Daimon (aut) - Presence of the Past demo 1995
1) Ouverture
2) Dominion of the Strong
3) Life Is Fight
4) Templar Secrets
5) Eternal Flame
6) Far Away
7) The Evil Inside
8) Presence of the Past

Link removed as obsolete:
Bandcamp

Time to get this blog back on the course. We're getting closer to the usual fare with this quite unusual demo one of my traders once dubbed me. According to Metal Archives, this is the only release of this Austrian project and as it is a piece of trading loot I have no cover for it, the quite bad image from the M.A. page is used. Like always, I'd be interested in proper scans. I'd also be interested in hearing from someone who could confirm my division of the tracks as I had a little difficulty with it. I've probably screwed it somewhere around the middle.

The music on this demo is practically one part neo-medieval dungeon synth-ish material, two parts black metal which brings to my mind several of the project's countrymen like early Golden Dawn, old Abigor, old Summoning and the A.B.M.S. - bands. The sound is crispy sort of clear, very obviously demo level but fitting in a crude manner like an axe blade to the side of your skull. The guitar sound is sharp and clear, vocals (when used) harsh and shrieky, synths endearingly cheap sounding and percussion rigidly mechanical. Surprisingly bass can also be heard, nothing muffled about this one. Some clean vocals (quite ok) are also used. Songwriting on the black metal parts varies from driving, simple gallop to unexpected wanderings unto shadowy offroads. I remember I didn't listen to this much on cassette but now I'm a bit fascinated by it. An interesting demo, recommendable.

UPDATE: No wonder it sounded familiar and like old Golden Dawn; looks like it was another of Stefan's projects and he has added the demo to his Bandcamp page. Get it from there now!

Perkele - Erotic Circus (1996)

Perkele (fin) - Erotic Circus
1) Dancing in the Night
2) Where's My Lady
3) Lightning Strikes
4) Summer
5) Red, Liquid Flower
6) Warhorse
7) You're My Wish
8) Summernight (Digital Passion Mix)
9) In Parties

Reuploaded

More unusuality: an album. Well, this has been long out of press so it was a request I thought I'd go ahead and fulfill. Also, I'd hate to see you cough up ridiculous sums for a used copy without hearing it first. Perkele, here a two-piece, was another project band featuring Ari "Sinister Satyr" Honkonen of Morningstar but if you've read this blog for any longer time I shouldn't need to introduce him. The earlier material was Isengard/Storm influenced pagan metal but the project started to get gothier around "Midsummer Murders" promo 1995 and went all in with this, their sole album released by Nederlands' Hammerheart in late 1996 (or early 1997). I've ripped my copy and made a halfassed scan of the outer sides of the digipak.

You might've noticed a certain lack of enthusiasm on the previous paragraph. That is because I don't like this, plain and simple. It's probably the worst release Arska has put out. His wavering clean vocals worked on the "drunken viking" approach of the old tapes and on the more sinister sounding promo tape but here it's just not happening. Granted, I'm not much of a fan of gothic rock and vocals of for example Two Witches make me cringe but I'm not very keen on the music either. If you're a connoisseur of gothic rock you might manage to enjoy this. I advice the rest to approach with caution.

Neverwood - Angel demo 1997

Neverwood - Angel demo 1997
1) Angel
2) Decay
3) Glass
4) Servile

Re-reuploaded - 2022

If the previous post was obscure then I suppose this one is just unusual, though I haven't seen this online either. As someone might've guessed already, another non-metal item and this time not ambient or dungeon synth either. If you remember the Plastic Sampler compilation I posted then you might also recall Neverwood who are/were (not sure if active or dead) an electronic music project. Not to be confused with another, more metal, Finnish project. This might or might not be their first demo, no idea since I don't have covers and haven't managed to find much info from the inter nets.

I'm no good at all with the subgenres in this direction so I'm not going to go guessing too much, let's just say that they perform quite an ethereal sort of electronic music with a female vocalist. I've been told their debut album would be trip-hop or something and I suppose that might apply here too. Whatever it should be called, I like listening to it every now and then. Sound is good and the dub also is of satisfying quality so take a listen if you're into this sort of music.

Iskalde Vinder - Sorgens Tid demo 1995

Iskalde Vinder - Sorgens Tid demo 1995
1) Tåke
2) Bortgang
3) Sorg

Reuploaded

Something obscure from my tape traded items again, this is a demo, possibly only one, of the Norwegians Iskalde Vinder. I couldn't find any information, pictures or the like on the internet, nor do I remember seeing a flyer, review or interview anywhere. Yet they once existed and made this almost 23 minutes of atmospheric Norwegian black metal. Three quite long songs, the middle one being quite non-metal actually, I'm reminded occasionally of the fellow Norwegians Forgotten Woods, Strid and someone else whom I forgot and will edit later into this text. Yeah. Mostly the music is kind of mellow, yet gloomy and moves at a slow midtempo. The sound is pretty typical demo fare and dub quality is okayish, obviously it's not first generation but the minor wear and flaws do not bother at least me that much. The music is very interesting and recommended to pretty much all readers. Any further information, images and cover scans are welcome!

Brainstorm #4

Brainstorm 'zine, issue 4 (September 1995)
Interviews:
In the Woods...
Celestial Season
Mayhem (Hellhammer)
Emperor
Opera IX
Misanthropy Records
Meressin
Orphanage
+ reviews, news & gig reports
Depositfiles

Here's a 'zine post for change. In a temporary fit of insanity I scanned this fourth issue of the Lithuanian Brainstorm 'zine. I haven't seen any of his previous issues nor do I know if he made any after this one as I bought this from one of the various small distros once upon a time in the later 90's. I believe my reason for purchase was the Mayhem interview. Anyways, this is a neat 'zine with pretty interesting artists featured, a tidy layout and decent enough English. The author's music taste seems to be more melodic-oriented than yours truly's (spoiler: the album of the issue is Sentenced's "Amok") and I find myself disagreeing with his reviews from time to time but it's not a big deal. Recommended especially if you're fond of the bands mentioned above or a curious explorer of the past.

Unhola - Beetlehemin Saasta... Rehearsal 1995

Unhola - Beetlehemin Saasta... Rehearsal Tape 1995
1) Mustan Syvyyden Tuulet
2) We Bring Thy Garden
3) Beetlehemin Saasta

Reuploaded

Today's second post is again a contribution, this one from brother Grev, thanks! If you've paid any attention to the side of the page you might've noticed I've been on the look for the first Unhola demo since the beginning of written history and it has steadily evaded me. And still it does, for this recording I got from brother Grev is a rehearsal tape recorded before the demo itself (as far as I know). Note that both of the tracks from the demo appear here as well, "We Bring Thy Garden" is "Täältä Tullaan Kuolema" with different, English lyrics. Musically it appears to be mostly similar. No covers for this one.

Ok, so this is a rehearsal tape and you know what to expect, right? There are some minor flaws and errors and the sound quality is uneven, that can't be helped. Overall it has a good rehearsal sound though and everything is quite audible. They have some problems getting the last track started, that's why the lenght (22:13 of which 10:09 is the last one). I like older Unhola and rehearsal tapes very much so naturally I'm all into this but the casual listener might be left unimpressed. Anyways, I recommend you at least try this out if you like older Finnish black metal.

Lux Axiomus - Oblivion demo 1992

Lux Axiomus - Oblivion demo 1992
1) The Plague
2) Oblivion
3) Unholy Chanting
4) In Nomine Spiritus

Narod

Another contribution from brother SuuretMuinaiset who ripped me his dub of this old & obscure Norwegian demo. Thank you! Since we didn't have the covers another Metal Archives image is used and as always, a proper scan would be appreciated!

To the music, this is thirteen minutes of rough sounding (rehearsal sound quality) early 2nd wave black metal. It's no Kvist, Strid or early Emperor but quite enjoyable material still. Some death metal influences pop up from the witches brew but the overall sound is that of early Norwegian bm scene. I'm pretty sure this has been recorded at their rehearsal room but fear not the sound is still clear and listenable. The last track ends oddly, it sounds like they finish the track once but then it countinues, only to abruptly end soon. Problem with the dub/rip/original recording? I don't know, but tell me if you do. Nice curio worth listening to, especially if you're interested in the old Norwegian scene.

Master's Hammer - Rehearsal 1993

Master's Hammer - Rehearsal 1993 (actually 1992)
1) Instrumental Jam
2) Já nechci mnoho trápiti...
3) Kol prostírá se temný les...
4) Ten dvanácterák zmizel v houští...
5) Mezi kopci cesta je klikatá... (1st version)
6) Mezi kopci cesta je klikatá... (2nd version)
7) Mezi kopci cesta je klikatá... (3rd version)
8) Že vše je podle mého přání... (1st version)
9) Že vše je podle mého přání... (2nd version)

Reuploaded

Here's one of my own rips for change and one of my favourite bands, the Czech cult band Master's Hammer which I hope is familiar to most of my readers. If not, go and listen to their first two albums immediately. Then the demos & new album. Ok, this thing here is a rehearsal tape I got from one of my traders, titled rehearsal 1993 and without a tracklisting. However as you noticed already I figured them out and I believe this to be rehearsal session(s?) for the 2nd album, in which case it'd be 1992 really. Not sure though so I kept it labeled as I got it. I know there is a rehearsal tape called "Hash-Influenced" dated for 1992 which I for some bizarre reason never had dubbed which might or might not be this same recording. If you have that tape get in touch with me right now.

As you've probably figured out, I'm a big MH-fan so anything I write will not be neutral. I'd be likely to listen to an hour of Franta practising a single riff. Keeping that in mind, I'll start by saying this has mostly an excellent rehearsal sound, demo quality easily. The first track might be a bit off a turn off for many as it really is, like it titled it, an instrumental jam. At least I could not identify it as any of the actual songs. The rest of the material are "proper" tracks but tend to sound quite different from the album versions, obviously. Vocals and most of the instruments are present. There are several takes of two of the tracks and all sound quite different. Might not be to everyone's taste, even fellow Master's Hammer fanboys', yet I still recommend it as it is an interesting listen even if things occasionally get a bit out of hand and some elements are missing/different.

Funerary Call - A Comselh De Ors demo 1994

Funerary Call - A Comselh De Ors demo 1994
1) Da I Crip Ors
2) Battle for Conquest
3) With Fire and Blood
4) Fallen Monuments
5) Divine Sodomy
6) A Last Breath Before the Final Sleep

Reuploaded

One more for the road and another contribution, this one by brother Fenrirsson, thanks for the rip and scans! Non-metal material from Canada, this is funereal dark ritual ambient. It has some shades of dungeon synth too but I don't think I'd label this as that genre. Well, I'm not sure actually so I guess I'll wait Andrew's call on it.

Fenrirsson has ripped an original tape and edited the sound so it is clear and listenable, yet still sounds like something echoing from lightless subterranean catacombs. Murky and evil synth music with black metal voices and quite short tracks. I haven't heard the latest FC recordings so no comparisons to them. Listeners of dark ambient, ritual music and dungeon synth should check this out.

Howll - In to My Kingdom demo 1996

Howll - In to My Kingdom rehearsal/demo I 1996
1) Written in Stormclouds
2) At Dawn Came the Silence
3) In to My Kingdom

Mono-version!

Slow posting lately. Well, here's another rarity from brother Grev to make up for it. Finnish stuff again and probably the only release of Howll, a project by Nattasett aka Julma from Darkwoods My Betrothed. I have practically no information about this apart from what Grev told me and he did not have a cover for this either. If one even was made. Unfortunately the quality of this rehearsal recording is far from great, due just about all the sound coming to the right channel. I could not up the volume much and ramming it out mono did not produce a much better result, thanks to the low general volume. If someone absolutely wants to try the mono rip leave me a note.  
UPDATE: Well, seeing that this version was lost with the destruction of an external drive and the Mediafire fiasco back in the day, you'll have to listen to the mono rip for now. I could also ask brother Grev for the other version but let's work with what we have.

I should say something about the music too I suppose. Well, like brother Grev wrote, this is a mixture of synth stuff and black/doom metal. The pace is generally very slow and the tracks quite long, the title track being faster and more aggressive than the preceeding ones. Nattasett uses a clean, semi-spoken voice, the extremely high, hysterical vocal you might remember from DMB material and a more typical, raw and hoarse black metal scream. Some samples are sprinkeled among the music. This would be a very interesting and enjoyable demo if the sound was better. Now it's just very interesting and kind of enjoyable. Still, recommendable if you can overcome that.

Thorns Of Compassion - Dreamless demo 1997

Thorns Of Compassion - Dreamless demo 1997
1) A Soul Full of Sorrow
2) Dreamless
3) Embraced by Darkness

Reuploaded

More Norwegian gothy stuff follows, this an apparently obscure demo is as far as I know also the only release by Thorns Of Compassion who should probably be categorized somewhere between dark metal and gothic metal. They use several kinds of vocals, from mediocre clean singing to effect-laden spoken voice and a harsh snarl which probably works best in my opinion. Music is obviously melodic and has slight folky touches to it. Napalm Records probably didn't get this demo or had their roster full at the time, otherwise I'd expect them to have released the band's debut album. Century Media might've been another candidate. Well, it's not as bad as what I wrote makes it seem. If you dig mid/late 90's melodic bands like Old Man's Child, Dismal Euphony, Trail Of Tears etc... maybe even Obtained Enslavement or Borknagar you could enjoy this.

Tape traded item so unfortunately I don't have a proper cover for it and the only image I could find on the inter nets was the small Metal Archives image. I'd be pleased to get a proper cover scan. The dub itself was ok, a little wear is audible in places but it's not drastic. The recording itself has a pretty good, full sound. Musicianship seems proficient enough to me (well, the somewhat amateurish clean vocals come off pretty awkward like I said) so if you enjoy the style it ought to be listenable.

Shadow Dancers - Blacker Then Better Between demo 1994

Shadow Dancers - Blacker Then Better Between demo I 1994
1) Blacker Then Better Between
2) In the Heart of America
3) The Wasp
4) God Wanted Dead or Alive
5) Untitled

Reuploaded

Some of you might remember me uploading some recordings from Norwegian goths Shadow Dancers in 2009, well here is their debut demo from 1994, courtesy of brother Fenrirsson who kindly ripped me his tape as well as scanned the covers. Much appreciated! He has also provided me with several other rips which will be posted in the future.

But let us get back to this tape, F ripped his original copy and apparently worked on the sound a bit to reduce hissing and whatnot. Anyways, being an old demo tape recorded probably at someone's garage or basement the sound quality isn't going to be dazzling. For a black metal demo (in case you didn't know, the musicians were/are involved with the bm scene) the aesthetic is fitting, for gothic rock slightly higher production values would probably be more appropriate. Well, it gives the recording a certain aura I think. If you listened to the Sverd Storm II compilation, you've already heard one of these tracks and the 1995 recordings I posted featured re-recorded versions of two. Still worth checking out if you enjoyed those recordings. As mentioned in the old post, I like this more than most other gothic rock. One more thing, the tracklisting has only four titles (which are mentioned as chapter I, but that probably refers just to this being the debut demo), the fifth (8 min+) track/outro combo is unmentioned. More info would be appreciated, is this actually part of this demo or another recording dubbed as bonus to Fenrirsson's tape or what? Recommend for open-minded followers of the Coven, fans or Cultoculus and/or Ragnarok, collectors of curios and so on.

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.

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.