Divine Lust - Promo 1994

Divine Lust (isr) - Promo 1994
1) The Sick Rose
2) Forest

Reuploaded

I need some help with this curious little item - I have next to no info on it and would love to have what little I got verified!

Ok, so this is a short two song promo from (so I was told) Israeli Divine Lust and this is from the 90's, the longer track is based on William Blake's poem "The Sick Rose" and is moody gothic/electronic/darkwave piece which would fit right on the "Plastic Sampler" compilation I posted back whenever. The second, shorter track "Forest" has more prominent synth and a bit different, almost growly, throaty voice. It's probably based on a poem too. And would also fit on that compilation too. That's all I got, if you know anything and have links, images, whatever, please leave a comment.

UPDATE: Was informed this is a 1994 release, post updated to reflect that!

Valor (fin) - La lune noire 1996

Valor (fin) - La lune noire cassette LP 1996
1) Valorian Twilight
2) Enigmatic Hearts
3) Neverseen Depths and Dungeons
4) The Chaining of the Messenger
5) Stones That Wept
6) Sorrow Walks the Forest Path

Depositfiles

Time for a non-metal album, this is one of the DAP releases I've managed to find, Valor from Raisio Finland. This cassette album came with a neat slipcase on it and an insert which I've also scanned. I didn't scan the slipcase fully as I feared it might break, sorry 'bout that. Some of you guys might remember the man behind this, Tommi Rantanen, from such metal bands as Vordven, Forever Winter, Nightside, Uncreation's Dawn and still nowadays Impious Havoc.

This tape album contains just over 30 minutes of dark ambient soundscapes split into six tracks that are quite distinct and carry a strong dungeon synth vibe, at least to this listener. Song titles like "Neverseen Depths and Dungeons" and "Sorrow Walks the Forest Path" certainly scream the genre. The rip sounds good, there are a few places where minor imperfections mar the listening experience but this should not be too distracting, mostly occurring during the last track. There are no real vocals, only some vocal-like effects used in two tracks, this is completely synth sounds. Recommended for people into this sort of material.

Poles Apart - Benevolence demo 1997

Poles Apart - Benevolence demo 1997
1) Intro: Obscure Fog
2) Poles Apart
3) Benevolence
4) Bloodred Skies
5) Outro: Travelling With The Stars

Depositfiles

Today I'm posting another item sent to me by Sascha, the 1997 demo and also only official release of his Poles Apart project. On this instrumental demo he performs melodic dark metal with some avant-gardish touches, very much like early Arcturus or mid-phase Emperor or the like. In the years following the demo the project evolved towards ambient and there are a bunch of unreleased tracks recorded which he sent me as well. But we'll get to them another time. This rip of the demo is not his, he got this from some German fellow who unfortunately went for the lowly bit rate of 128 kbps. He had also ripped the whole demo as one track but I decided to go ahead and split it into separate tracks, still at 128. I hope I got them split right. Another unfortunate thing is the lack of a cover scan as Sascha wasn't sent one nor did he find a cover so we'll make do with the M.A.image (which is obviously recycled from eBay where someone probably asked a ridiculous amount of money for this).

Even though the bitrate of the rip is pretty low, the rip sounds good - it was actually so loud I had to tone it down a little bit. The demo itself has a good and clear sound as well, being instrumental and mostly performed on keyboards and related instruments it might sound a little artificial here and there but I find my ear adjusting fast. As mentioned earlier, this is somewhat black metal based material except for the title track which borrows more from various dark rock sort of bands (and post debut album Katatonia) and brings foremost to my mind Arcturus circa MCD/debut and similar Norwegian atmospherics. And actually mid-period Nomicon a little. Very little. Anyways, it's an interesting listen and seems to grow on me so I assume you should give it a try too.

Christ Agony - Live in Rotterdam 15.09.1996

Christ Agony - Live at the Baroeg, Rotterdam Holland 5th April 1997
1) Mephistospell
2) Paganhorns
3) Moonlight
4) Devilish Sad
5) Abasatha Pagan (Prophetical Part III)

Reuploaded

I'm off to the first festival of this summer tomorrow (Steelfest) and thought I'd upload a live tape to commemorate the happy occasion. Here's a live tape of an old favourite of mine, Christ Agony. I have a soft spot for their 3rd album "Moonlight - Act III" which I've liked since I heard it in 1996. The rest of their material ranges from ok to just fine too but it's mostly that album that does it for me. Once again the venue is the Baroeg in Rotterdam and by the sound of it this is another audience recording.

The sound isn't bad, I'd say it's in the average Baroeg gig range posted here, slightly above the average actually. It's still quite messy compared to nice and squicky clean official lives and soundboard recordings. I'm not 100% sure if this is the complete gig, clocking in around 32 minutes, could be or might be missing a song. As you see, apart from last one all the songs are from "Moonlight" and that being my favourite I highly enjoy the set. Recommended if you're a fan of Christ Agony/Moonlight-album or enjoy melodic 90's black metal with epic lenght songs.

Mortal Agony - The Cradle demo 1994

Mortal Agony - The Cradle demo 1994
1) Infestated by Obliteration
2) The Cradle
3) Crucial Discipline
4) Realm of Hatred
5) Desultory

Mediafire / Depositfiles

Finnish death metal today, here is the only demo of Finland's Mortal Agony, contributed to me by comrade unholydeath - thank you! Not to be mixed with the (later) German band of the same name, Mortal Agony featured on drums and vocals Juhani Holm who would later form Bethel and Devilry as Sir Holm. So interestingly he moved from death metal to black metal to back to death metal within a frame of four years. A cover scan is included.

Like already mentioned, this is death metal, with some thrashing touches and a clear sound which isn't very heavy or dark, more fitting of a thrash demo I think. Overall it sounds very old fashioned and quite charming to me, pretty intense too. Without further ado, give it a listen if you're interested in the bands or genres mentioned or in Finnish underground in general.

The Eerie Sampler (1999)

Various Artists - The Eerie Sampler CD 1999
Wizzard:
1) I Am the King
2) The Night Darkness Rose
3) My Unholy Witch
4) Valley of the Stone Horns
Gravferd:
5) Jeg fornekter jesu' ord
6) Når kristendom er en saga blott
7) Av hedensk blod
8) De tapte sjelers hevnere
9) La oss slakte guds lam
Raven:
10) Quiet These Paintings Are
11) Outro
Darkwoods My Betrothed:
12) Enter My Black Dreams
13) Whispers
14) Dark Aureoles Gathering
15) The Diabolical Eve of the Nocturnal Holocaust

Reuploaded

It's not everyday the Coven fills requests, especially as "fast" as here, but these things happen so do not hesitate to try. This compilation, or sampler as they chose to call it, was pleaded for by one of my readers, comrade pagan and since it's been long sold-out and apparently not readily found I thought I might as well rip it from my CD. I had scanned the covers earlier for the Discogs site and included those images (reduced to about 600x600 size) in the archive.

The CD compiles two Eerie Productions releases, the Wizzard (actually still Wizard when the demo was released but the label went with the changed name for the disc) and Gravferd demos and adds two other demos, the already here posted Raven promo 1998 and Darkwoods My Betrothed (ex-Virgin's Cunt) classic demo II from 1994. I'm not sure how the Eerie guy came to pick the Raven and DMB demos to this compilation, probably out of preference and agreement with the artists, but they certainly are good picks and deserve to be released on CD form too. Wizzard's (or Wizard's really) demo I is also great, dirty blackened heavy metal and definitely worth checking out. Actually the odd one out of the four, the Norwegian Gravferd ends up as the least interesting one with their quite standard Norwegian black metal. It's not bad really, just nothing that special. DMB demo arouses so much nostalgia in me that I can't evaluate it in objective manner anyways. A cool compilation/split/sampler/whatever you prefer to call it.

Azatoth - Thy Angels Fall... demo 1995

Azatoth (swe) - Thy Angels Fall... rehearsal demo 1995
1) When I Touch the Freezing Sky
2) Thy Angels Fall...
3) The Everlasting
4) Mörkrets makt
5) In League with Satan (Venom cover)

Depositfiles

Another item sent by brother Grev at my request and also another one ripped by an unknown contact of his. So credit for the effort to that person and Grev! Azatoth was one of the less-known Swedish bands from the 90's, hailing from Stockholm they released (at least) three tapes around the mid-90's before dissappearing. These tapes popped up on several trader lists back then but for some reason I apparently never got around to hear them. Until I got this from Grev, that is. Unfortunately no cover found, neither band picture or logo either. Would love to get one or all of them.

This is a rehearsal demo which means you can expect a brutish, raw and crude sound, with some charming fuck ups and extra noise between tracks. Authentic experience. It's not that bad really and kind of works with the mostly fast and wicked music, which is, as expected of a Swedish demo from mid-90's, mixture of black and death metal with some melody thrown in. I haven't heard the other demos so I can't comment on how death metal they are (that is the genre they're given in M.A.) but I'm inclined to say this one leans a bit more on the black side of black/death metal. Well, like many of their countrymates, they make it work rather well and the crude nature of the rehearsal recording adds to the charm. I know I like it. I'm curious to hear the other recordings so please get in touch if you happen to have them. Recommended if you don't mind the rehearsal sound and a goof here and there.

Unhola - Beetlehemin Saasta demo 1996

Unhola - Beetlehemin Saasta demo I 1996
1) Beetlehemin Saasta
2) Täältä Tullaan Kuolema

Mediafire / Depositfiles

Here's another contribution by brother Grev, the long-sought first Unhola demo. He didn't dub me this one, this is a rip he got from someone back whenever. So thanks to both Grev and the unknown person. No cover scan, unfortunately, so I'm still looking for that. And an original copy of the demo.

You might remember the 1995 rehearsal tape of basically same name I posted here. This demo is a different recording and my favourite Unhola track "Täältä Tullaan Kuolema" has evolved to Finnish lyrics and almost to its final form, there are little differences to the version on "Mustan Syvyyden Tuulet" demo II. Once again the vocals sound different from their other demos, this time around they're more in the traditional black metal screaming style but with a demented touch. Unfortunately the sound is a bit challenging as it is very muffled and a little murky in general. Don't know how much of it has to do with the rip itself which I decided not to tamper with. So I repeat my desire to grab an original copy of this demo. It's not otherwise that bad and certainly listenable, you just need to adjust the volume and your mindset while listening. The music itself is highly enjoyable and I'll recommend the demo if you enjoyed the other Unhola material and/or melodic black metal with rough sound.

Norseman - Advance Tape 1995

Norseman - Advance Tape for Demo 1995
1) Pathos of Life
2) Rugged Prayer
3) The Healer
4) Aurora Borealis
5) Peter Pan Theme (bonus track)

Reuploaded

Something (not completely) different this time, here's some heavy metal in the vein of Manowar and company from Norseman. The actual monicker they chose to use is fantasy metal and you probably are wondering why am I posting this here as usually traditional metal, thrash and such are left to comrades at Lockjaw and other places. Well, I just am, exceptions happen. I remember seeing this tape in a couple of tape trader lists back in the 90's and idly wondered about it, never actually getting around to have it dubbed for me. Fast forward to last year or year before that and me spotting this in brother Grev's collection, finally deciding to get around to listen to it. Epic backstory. Probably had no cover, if the demo 1995 was actually released it might have one.

Enough of the background babble and the Manowar reference aside, what is it like? It's heavy metal with fantasy themes, moving mostly at epic midtempo paces and sounds actually quite good. I like the voice too, it's a bit more on the raspy side of the scale rather than high pitched banshee wailing. The sound is as expected of demo quality but I kind of like it, it sounds kind of dark and well, heavy. The band's 1996 & 1997 studio sessions were released on a CD, probably remastered and re-somethinged, by Korso records in 2007. This is probably not going to interest the average reader but give it a chance.

Mortal 'zine #2

Mortal 'zine, issue 2 (June 1998)
Interviews:
Simbiotic 'zine
Rotten Sound
Shadows of Michelangelo 'zine
Deeds of Flesh
Retalliation
Delayed Action Bomb
Fleshgrind
Obscenity
Mortal Coil Records/Insatanity
+ Officium Triste article, Polish (death metal) scene report, reviews

Depositfiles

I decided to post another 'zine I scanned on a whim at work not too long ago. Mortal was a Finnish 'zine and distro which specialized in death metal and was active in the mid/late 90's. I ordered two issues of the 'zine around 1999 I think and here is the first of them and second issue overall.

At 32 pages it is nice and compact read though being pretty much all about death metal it might prove a bit boring if you're not into the genre/bands featured. Almost half of the 'zine is made up of reviews which are a bit more varied than the main content and pretty well written (especially compared to crap like SFP's reviews). Simple and readable lay-out. Nice if not very exciting death metal 'zine, not much else to add. Give it a try.