Barathrum - Rehearsal for 3rd cd "Infernal" (1996)

Barathrum - Rehearsal for 3rd cd "Infernal" rehearsal tape 1996
1) The Night of the Demon Lord
2) The Blasphemer
3) Warmetal
4) Deliver a Battle
5) Death is Saviour
6) Leaving the World of Mortals
7) Deadmarch
8) Ethereal Guest
9) Immortal Warrior
10) Demon Est Deus Inversus

 Reuploaded - 2022

Here's another big post and one that got a lot more delayed than originally intended, here's a rehearsal tape/promo by the one and only Barathrum for the third album "Infernal" which I borrowed from comrade passetiermes along with a bunch of other cassettes and 'zines last year. Thanks again to him for cooperating with the Coven! Obscure Barathrum tapes just keep showing up, I don't remember seeing mentions of this before I got it but at least this one has a good old fashioned cut-and-paste cover by Sova which has been scanned for your convenience that provides enough information.

Here's the info bit from the cover.

What was the reason for the delay in getting this done? Well, I was wondering if the tape ran at correct speed after ripping this as it sounded a bit slower than expected and I was left wondering if I should increase the speed and if so how much. After letting the rip sit for a bit I decided that was just delusional horse manure, the tape was fine and it merely sounded different for being a rehearsal recording made with a three man line-up and all that. So here it is, without any further meddling.

Skulls are cool. Notice the extremely faintly visible contact address and symbol.

Enough of your background exposition and other crap, what is it like compared to the album? Different. If the album is like scrying on a black mass ceremony performed at the altar of some abandoned Orthodox church, rickety and drafty yet still possessed of a warped magnificence, this is more akin to wandering in lightless catacombs and hearing the echoes of a bizarre ritual performed by madmen rumble somewhere in the murky gloom. Yeah, sure, not "Sanctus Satanas" crazy though. It's messy, heavier and simply quite different beast from the album. Some songs are longer, others shorter, many are more stripped down versions while others have elements present not on the album. The sound is kinda cool once you adjust to it, though the fastest parts tend to curl up to a ball and roll downhill uncontrollably. As you see from the tracklisting this is the whole album minus the almost fifteen minute title track, still almost an hour of material. It can be a bit daunting task to sit through a rehearsal recording that long but don't be a pussy, it's worth your while. Recommended for fans of Barathrum, obviously, and to any who enjoy low-end heavy, old schoolish black metal with doom touches.