Cultes Des Ghoules - Treading the Darker Paths demo 2007

Cultes Des Ghoules - Treading the Darker Paths demo spring 2007
1) Treading the Darker Paths
2) Supreme Black Illumination
3) Outro

Mega / Yandex

Today I'm posting black metal again, no news there, but deviating from the usual line of the Coven with a relatively "modern" post, this is the second demo by the Polish Cultes Des Ghoules from 2007. I've been a fanboy ever since stumbing into their debut album "Häxan" in 2009, the vile atmosphere and sound of that album reeked of necromancy, medieval devil-worship and old school black metal feeling. Some have complained about the sound and the long songs but for me the murky, bass-heavy sound was a definite charm point, bringing associations to things like Necromantia and old Barathrum to mind and I've always liked lenghty tracks so can't fathom what the problem could be. But enough about that album and back to this demo. I've understood the line-up changed pretty much completely between the debut "Angel of Poison and Death" and this demo, the former personnel concentrating on their original band Bestial Raids. I got a dub of the demo, as well as copies of the covers, from a trader and ripped it a little while ago, the result turned out decent enough.

There are two proper tracks here as well as a quite long outro (3½ minutes) which is unlisted on the cover and was taken from the soundtrack to "The Ninth Gate" so it's by another Pole, the late Wojciech Kilar, known probably best for the Dracula ('92) soundtrack, also widely used for intros and outros. Both original tracks are long, 7+ minutes and the title track is exlusive to this release while "Supreme Black Illumination" re-appeared, re-recorded, on the '07 EP "Odd Spirituality". The sound is a little muffled and the strings somewhat more subdued than on the EP for example but everything is still reasonably audible and Mark of the Devil's vocals are as recognizable and demented as ever. Enjoyable demo if you're into unhealthy, tomb-robbing, infant-sacrificing, devil-invoking black metal. Wojciech Kilar's soundtrack is also recommended, by the way.