Runemagic - NecroLive Uddevalla 1992

Runemagic - NecroLive Uddevalla, Sweden 1992
1) Necro Metal
2) Fullmoon Sodomy
3) Desecration
4) Nocturnal Creation
5) In Remembrance

Mediafire / RGhost

This year is coming to an end. An era ended on the 28th of this month. I'm out of beer. Inspired by these feelings I felt a need to finish some outstanding projects left to lie in my notorious WIP folder and actually have gotten results. Here's one, a live tape by the Swedish (then) black metal band Runemagic, much better known from their second incarnation as Runemagick from '97 onwards. The "k" makes all the difference does it not? Also, going to play full on dark death metal before it got fashionable again was probably a more notable factor. However, first era Runemagic was black metal, with death metal touches sure but black metal still. I guess this was a more or less official live tape, recorded in their hometown. Unfortunately I have no covers and probably whoever did the Metal Archives entry didn't have either as the tracklisting was somewhat off, above should be correct. Would love a full scan if possible.

Why was this lying around unfinished for long, long time? Because of the rather challenging tracklisting and lack of material to compare to. I had misplaced my "Fullmoon Symphony" dub but fortunately identified it as an untitled B-side of a cassette I recently ripped so I got a kick to start sorting this out. If you remember the earlier "Runemagic" post here I'm now quite sure that is not the same band as it sounds almost completely different to other old material and actually everything else the guys involved had recorded (Deathwitch, who reused some old Runemagic material most notably track 3 here on their second album "Dawn of Armageddon" as Desecration of the White Christ which is the proper title anyways, Swordmaster, Sacramentum) or would record (The Funeral Orchestra, Necrocurse, Death Breath, Robert Pehrsson's Humbucker etc etc...). It would be really nice to know if there actually was another band called Runemagic (not very likely but possible), or if it was a band named something different but close enough to cause a mistake (slightly likely) or if it in the end was the same guys' unmentioned and/or -released demo (highly unlikely!).

Back to this item, the first track here was not that hard to identify as they scream the title aloud several times, the erronous Metal Archives listing has it as last track and "Runemagick - Necro Metal" which quite obviously carried over from someone's rip having been in the artist - song title format. Sloppy! The full title on "Alcoholic Rehearsal" of '91 was Dark Necro Metal. That rehearsal's tracklisting makes it seem a long song, over 5 minutes but this version here is just a quick burst not two minutes long so I went with the shortened title (I actually forgot to change the titles). Live versions may differ quite a lot (looking at you Mayhem and too short Pure Fucking Armageddons!) so that is not too surprising. Second track is easy enough if you have the demo of the same name and third one too. Fourth song was a bastard to figure out, especially as it was not on the most (? source? need to verify) versions of the demo. Fortunately he introduces the song in the beginning but unfortunately they somehow mess up or whatever else happens and it extends to an over ten minutes version with an awkward break in the middle. They don't quite restart it either so for a time I was under the impression it would be two separate tracks and tried hard to identify the second part unsuccessfully. After finally noticing their bandcamp had a remastered demo version up I confirmed it to same song. I originally intended to split it into two parts Noctunal Creation I & II but then decided against that. Last song was again a walk in the park. So there, not so easy, especially when I originally ripped it from a tape that had absolutely nothing written on it.

Fascinating tale of first world problems but how about the music? Getting there, this is old schoolish black metal with some death metal influences which I said in the very beginning but you might've already forgotten, has certain groove present that gives it personality, vocals screamy and good. Sound's not very good, elements get quite buried and somewhat messy but it's still listenable for the fearless relic hunter. Obviously not a soundboard recording, perhaps someone shot this on video and this is the audio of it? I still love it, old Runemagic has definite charm to it. I need the rehearsal tapes and you need to download this.

Winter Moon - Into the Dragon's Dark Dominion demo 1995

Winter Moon - Into the Dragon's Dark Dominion demo I 1995
1) Into the Dragon's Dark Dominion (Part I)
2) Into the Dragon's Dark Dominion (Part II)
3) Beyond the Silence of Ancient Winter

Yandex / RGhost

It's been a while since last post that could honestly be called dungeon synth. We remedy that tonight with this contribution sent with a bunch of other things earlier this year, thank you to the sender again! Winter Moon of Sweden, more specific Linköping, was as usual a solo project and apparently on the second demo turned black metal. It was done by one Frederik H. Karlsson whose name I imagine to recognize from somewhere but then again it is sort of a typical Swedish name so I might be mistaken. Unlike the Finnish Wintermoon (who also went black metal on their second demo) whose "dark winter music" was borderline metal this is purely synth stuff. Unfortunately no cover sent nor found so I'd appreciate one!

Three songs over eighteen minutes and running in the order of longest to shortest. First song starts a little abruptly, while the last one ends similarily which makes me wonder if the demo was originally like that or if slight cutting occured somewhere along the chain of trades and dubs. The sound is ok, quite loud and booming. Main instrument sounds like a slightly distorted organ. The music has some sort of archaic simplicity to it and, yet again, brings old Ultima and CRPG soundtracks to my mind. Which I suppose is some sort of sign of bona fide dungeon synth to me. Somewhat repetitive and monotonous, as expected, but quite enjoyably "pure" and fully instrumental as well as devoid of samples and special effects. First and second Lamentation demos come to mind, maybe the promo track too. Will bore many and bring nostalgic feels of pleasure to some.

Eternal Darkness #13 / Canadian Assault #4

Eternal Darkness, issue 13 / Canadian Assault, issue 4 split fanzine (November 1999)
Interviews - Eternal Darkness:
Unpure
Vulpecula / Ares Kingdom
Incubus (old interview)
Nunslaughter
Lust
Order From Chaos (old interview)
+ reviews & Sadistik Exekution live pics
Interviews - Canadian Assault:
Shane's World (porn)
Kaamos
Pagan Records
Immolation
Rites of Thy Degringolade
Damnation Records
+ reviews (including movies & old albums) and assorted filler (rant column, playlists, zine excerpts etc...)

Ulož.to

Here's another scan sent by Pawel, thanks a lot! It's another split 'zine, featuring the 13th issue of the long-runner Eternal Darkness by Keith Dempe and 4th of Canadian Assault made by Dale Roy who had moved to the States circa his 3rd issue. I haven't read that many US 'zines myself, just some black metal ones and a couple of pretty shitty ones I wouldn't really call 'zines the way I understand them, like Grimoire of Exalted Deeds who get a bashing on these pages too. Both editors are old school-enthusiasts and it shows. There aren't that many bands interviewed here if you look at the content above, ED has two re-runs and Chuck Keller is interviewed twice (the second old intie) which sort of makes this feel more like a Order From Chaos / Vulpecula / Ares Kingdom fan club magazine. Well, the editor did run such and released assorted tapes by the bands. Great if you're a fan of the acts. The other interviews are reasonably long too though the Incubus one dating to late 80's wasn't at all my cup of poison. Life metallers to boot. The review section is separate and neat, easy to read like the rest of this side of the 'zine but the high amount of scores over 90 out of 100 really catches my eye. Slightly jarring considering how he writes about other 'zines and the state of the scene in general. From what I gather, his previous issue had been a HUGE two parter which apparently drained him pretty much fully and wasn't that successful in the end.

Canadian Assault side is slightly less tidy and features content I dismiss as filler; playlists taking up a page, rant I didn't bother reading as it was a chunky block of text, a picture collage of Venom, two pages of quotes from 'zines he'd read (though some very quite amusing or interesting, I'll give 'em that!) and so on. There are also loads of reviews which some people don't care about at all and some enjoy, spotting new (well, obviously old) bands to check out so the mileage varies for this content. What irks me is that out of the six interviews here one is the pornstar Shane of "Shane's World" (kids can google it) and two are label interviews which I'm not so keen on. Better still than having other 'zines or distro or such taking the space. Though the Pagan Records one is actually very good and interesting, Tomas being a veteran and relevant. The Damnation Recs one I didn't read. I feel like neither of the editors actually had enough stuff to put up a full issue even together but had agreed on certain amount of pages or something. Despite my bitching, the whole is still above the average and recommendable as 'zines always are to the time travellers, archaeologists and grave-robbers.

 

UPDATE: New upload provided by gratsim, thank you for the assist!

Inkubus Sukkubus - In All Our Names live 2003

Inkubus Sukkubus - In All Our Names (live at Gloucester Guildhall Arts Centre, Gloucester UK 10th January 2003)
1) Wytches 2002
2) Smile of Torment
3) The Rape of Maude Bowen
4) I Am the One
5) Take My Hunger
6) Vampyres
7) Away with the Faeries
8) Heart of Lilith
9) We Belong with the Dead
10) Catherine
11) Lucifer Rising
12) Belladonna & Aconite
13) Vampyre Erotica
14) Paint It Black

Mediafire

AUDIO ONLY: Mega

Enough exotics and time for something non-metal as well, this is again Inkubus Sukkubus of UK and an unusual item for the Coven: video of the whole show (separate tracks) shot from the audience by a comrade of brother Emptiness Cycle who kindly contributed this earlier with other related items. Thanks again! The unofficial IS site tells us this was a combined Amnesty / Greenpeace (didn't really foresee typing that split on this blog) benefit gig with unlisted support bands. I felt the urge to make a cover once again so this might look like a proper bootleg.

Like I mentioned right in the start, this is an audience recording and the full set. The fourteen tracks make almost an hour of music and both image and sound quality are decent. Better than average visual I'd say, EC's comrade has positioned himself quite well, slightly to the side but with a good view. I'm not very good at saying much about live videos since I shoot piss poor ones and generally seldom watch them, including the official ones. I do listen to live albums though, but don't often have patience to sit through a live DVD. Thus it might be convenient for others with similar issues that the video is separated unto tracks. I also made an audio-only version which you may download separately if you're so inclined. The main download includes this too. A few words about the gig itself, nice setlist though I am personally most familiar with the oldest albums, instruments sound a little thin but this is goth stuff not metal! And definitely not Mysticum. Candia's voice doesn't really seem to carry through the whole set, not sure if she's feeling a bit under the weather or what but maybe they should've considered having Tony do a song or two. Then again, she manages "Catherine" which is kinda hard, kudos for that but alas, struggles by "Belladonna & Aconite" noticeably which is a bummer. Anyways, I'm hungry and need to stop typing. Recommended for fans of Inkubus Sukkubus and pagan/gothic rock in general.

Impious Might - Demo 2008

Impious Might - Impious Might demo 2008
1) Slaughtering All Life
2) The Horned Fire

RGhost / Sendspace

Remember I said on the last post "one more" exotic item? Well, I lied, here is yet another and I daresay this should definitely count as exotic. This is Impious Might and I was told they hail from Angola - yes, this is the one I mentioned in the comments section of this post. Preciously little information, my contributor put it in as a filler and did not have tracklisting but seems like they have MySpace page, which, while still extremely lacking in details, included a logo and titles for these tracks on the player thingy. Music is black metal, quite raw and with (very) slight death metal touches.

Angola is one of many African countries colonized by European countries (in their case Portugal) until a war for independance which then lead to a long civil war. First elections were actually held in 2008 when this demo was recorded. Quite fertile ground for extreme music do you not agree? Provided the project really is from Angola, that is! Anyways, both of the two tracks run for a little under five minutes so the recording reaches a passable demo (or EP) duration. Raw, generally midpaced black metal with speedy parts, nothing really remarkable to be honest if you don't consider the (alleged) highly exotic origin. I actually expected more black/death bestial warmetallish approach but this sounds like something anyone influenced by the contemporary (north) European black metal scene might have created. Recommended for the fans of raw black metal, seekers of the exotics and would-be adventurer-archaeologists.

Souls Crematorium - Pre-Demo '93

Souls Crematorium - Pre-demo '93
1) Before the Life Over
2) After Day
3) Terror Diminish
4) Impossible Rehabilitation
5) Until the End of Life

Mega / Zippyshare

One more from an exotic locale (from my point of view) and an obscure death metal offering for change, this was sent by brother Baldemar and it is the only release by Mexico's Souls Crematorium. "Pre-demo" suggests this wasn't probably considered a proper demo but rather an advance version or a promo perhaps. Whatever the intention was, this came to be their only demo (unless they recorded something before this that B. did not mention) as the band split up quite soon after its release, Edgar Garcia and Guillermo Garfias teaming up with Antimo Buonnano to form Disgorge. The guitarist Samuel Olvera joined later another local band Piraña, also still active. Besides Disgorge, Edgar is a member of Putrefact and Hell Execution plus has played or plays live with among others Thornspawn, Funereal Moon, Hacavitz, Morbosidad and Impiety. Baldemar included a scan of the xeroxed cover as well, thanks again for your work!

Music is death metal, of the slightly slower variety with long-ish tracks that have enough variation within to remain interesting while still managing to avoid overtly complex wankery. Second song is a shorter instrumental one which further spices things up. The sound is pretty rough, probably recorded at their rehearsal place. Certain elements get somewhat messy but you should still be able to distinguish all instruments and I think it has more character with an unpolished sound like this. That background research/exposition on the first paragraph sort of wore me out so I'm not going to drop names as heavily here, not to mention my very limited death metal expertise preventing more interesting comparisons. Let's just say that if you like rough old death metal and vintage South American sounds you might dig this.

Behemoth - Remembrance of the Crucification demo 1992

Behemoth (sgp) - Remembrance of the Crucification demo 1992
1) Remembrance of the Crucification
2) Evil Lord
3) Cursed of God
4) Lord of All Gods
5) Doomsday
6) Church of Ghouls
7) Bastard Christ
8) Bleed Upon the Altars

Depositfiles / Yandex

One more from Asia and going back a bit, this is another Singapore kvlt with a familiar name, Behemoth, with their only(?) demo from 1992. Like several of their countrymen and Malaysian neighbours, Behemoth played pretty raw sort of black/death metal possibly and probably influenced by the likes of Sarcófago, old Mayhem, Hellhammer, Samael, Blasphemy, Beherit etc as well as their senpais Abhorer, Sexfago and Nuctemeron. That was a lot of names. Let's drop another, this was send by comrade Nefarious, thank you! He sent the cover scans as well, I suppose the dirty greyish image on M.A. is a xerox of the original red we have here. Or they might have run out of red paper at some point?

Eight tracks makes this look like it could be a full album but they're all quite short so the total run time is just short of 23 minutes. Almost exactly the opposite of the second Blood Angel demo that has four tracks for almost 47 minutes (you should check that band out too)! The title track is an intro, Nefarious had left it and the second track together as they blend into each other in a tricky manner but I saw fit to meddle again and separated them. Quite good sound, loud and clear enough, though it wavers a little which might be due tape wear. I like the crispy yet heavy sound the guitar has. Songs are mostly fast but have breaks and changes enough to keep them from being too linear and boring yet still remain simple and fluent enough for me to enjoy. Vocals are brutal growls and barks, executed with enough ill will to not sound monotonous. Wild solos flutter all around the park, bass can be heard and some mistakes are easy to spot but that's extra charm points for me. Great stuff, wonder when NWN! or someone is going to rerelease this. Recommended!

Funeral Rites - Promo '97

Funeral Rites - Promo '97
1) Weird Tales
2) Moonlight December
3) At the Warend
4) Crucifix

RGhost / Mediafire

Another Asian item today, this is Funeral Rites from Osaka, Japan and their third tape from 1997 simply called "promo '97" though Metal Archives lists it also under "Weird Tales" name. Hard to say for sure since I don't have covers and haven't seen full scans, but my tape trader had named it promo '97, would not be first time a release gets an additional name later. Maybe someone will eventually provide full cover scan that confirms the actual title. I recall this was also released as a MCD in '98 but don't seem to find confirmation online for this. Perhaps that version was called "Weird Tales" and it stuck for the tape too?

Well, whatever the case maybe I'm 100% sure both '97 entries on MA refer to this same recording. There are four songs here, first one being practically instrumental and third one fully so, both interestingly enough reappearing on their only album "Necroeater" released in 2000 by Nederlands' Painkiller records. I'm sure Hellhammer/Frost have been an influence on the guys, apparent both on their visual aesthetics (judging from the demo covers), song titles and to a degree on the music too which alternates between old schoolish, pounding, thrashing black metal and again oldish more melodic and epic black metal with light and effective touches of keyboards in places. The demo has a loud, noisy sound with a notable amount of distorted bass not so much as bleeding as cumming all over everything. It's a little jarring at first until you get adjusted to it and I recall being initially quite dissappointed with the album which sounded much milder or tame in comparison when it came out. Of course I can't seem to find the damn disc now to compare. I would really like to hear the '96 demos too, I think I had a pretty poor rip of either one somewhere but that also refuses to be found. Anyways, I dig this and you should give it a chance if you enjoy your black metal, uh, metal.

Damaq - Whisper of the Night Winds demo 1998

Damaq - Whisper of the Night Winds demo 1998
1) Whisper of the Night Winds
2) Astaruti Azla Nian
3) The Last Wrath
4) Upon Us Beyond the Red Dawn
5) Outro

REUPLOADED

Enough Finland for now, I have a craving for something more exotic! Enter Damaq, hailing from (West) Malaysia with their sole '98 demo sent to me with various other items by Nefarious. Thanks for your contributions! We're still in need of several old demos of the region, see the side panel, as well as 'zines which I added there. Personally I'm interested in all old 'zines from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and so on so feel free to offer 'em. Written in English, though. A cover scan is enclosed and I have to say it doesn't look very black metal to me. I'm more reminded of a slightly older book cover, perhaps in the genre of romance with just a touch of adventure, enough to titillate a maiden heart?

Despite the feelings evoked it is black metal the guys play here. Their music is moderately fast and melodic and despite being recorded in a studio (that's what the cover says) the sound is quite uneven, with the vocals very high on the mix and due the rip being just a bit too loud they overpower and drown out the rest while sounding broken, especially noticeable on the first track. They're less intrusive on the second song and actually at times drown in the music. Perhaps they recorded it live and the vocalist is inexperienced. The music isn't bad at all but the unevenness makes the experience more troublesome than it should be. As an interesting detail the "outro" here is an instrumental version of the second song. It appears the band has reactivated recently and put out an album in 2014. I should get that. Meanwhile, recommended to people into melodic black metal, fans of Malaysian scene and consumers of romance novels who are probably going to be very surprised if they're gullible enough to fall for this recommendation.

Mehazaer - Lucifer rehearsal 1992

Mehazaer - Lucifer rehearsal tape 1992
1) Cross of Blood
2) Ripped to Pieces
3) Reckoning Day
4) Fall of Man (cuts!)

Sendspace / Yandex

Let's do another Finnish post, inspired by The Nocturnal 'zine I decided to post the '92 rehearsal tape by Oulu's Mehazaer dubbed me last year or so by brother Grev, thank you! Unfortunately his dub was incomplete; the last track cuts and probably quite a lot too unless it was short to begin with. Alas, it appears this tape isn't that easy to come by as I remember seeing Mehazaer hardly ever in tradelists back in the 90's. Of course, that proves nothing about how much it was spread. I think this might be their only release as well, the interview in TNz2 mentions they were going to go to record their debut demo "soon" but no idea if this actually ever happened. They did at least five gigs too and I'm sure someone recorded at least one of them, so that might be a possibility to hear further material. Get in touch if you have a complete version of this or anything else!

My interest in this band back whenever sparked from a mention in some Impaled Nazarene interview, if I remember correctly, and the name was unusual enough to stick to mind. Funny how long it took for me to actually hear them. Yet again. So, was it worth the roughly twenty years wait? Not really to be honest. Five, ten years maybe. This is a rehearsal tape with pretty muddy sound, some hiss and it favours the right channel quite notably which is a bit distracting when listening with headphones (my default mode). It's not really too bad though, I should not complain when I listen to much worse sounds without blinking an eye. Music is pretty much just plain old death metal here but I suppose I can call it black/death metal since they did consider themselves a black metal metal band. The tempo ranges from mid to faster pace and it's mostly quite fluently flowing stuff without too many tricks and gimmicks to distract and bother grumpy folks such as myself. I would still want to hear the full version and the "Madaritza torezodu" demo if it ever got recorded or, well, anything anyone might have since I still find myself oddly fascinated with the band. Recommended for those who enjoy delving into the old catacombs of Finnish underground, Oulu-enthusiasts, old death metal fans or fans of old death metal and naturally those who got curious reading TNz2.

Zines in Finnish

The Nocturnal 'zine, issue 2 (April 1994)
Interviews:
Soulgrind
Misery
Curse
Mehazaer
Decoryah
Denial of God
M.M.I. Records
Black Dawn
Slayer 'zine / Head Not Found
Pax Mortis
Sceptical Schizo
Mystification
Hammer of Damnation
Articles:
Necrospiritual
Cerebrum
Salome
Morningstar
+ reviews, gig report

Mediafire

Apocryphal 'zine, issue 1 (1998)
Interviews:
Thyrane
Warloghe
Alghazanth
Unhola
+ Helwetti article, live review Easter Holocaust '98, demo reviews and news

Mega

Today is again Finnish independence day and this year I decided to use it as an excuse to post a pair of 'zines I've scanned written in Finnish so my apologies to our foreign friends. But at least both have pictures to look at if you are still curious enough to download them!

I was wondering if I should write the blog entry in Finnish too but since I've used English this far let's stick to that. Ok, so first one is the second and last issue of The Nocturnal 'zine made by messieurs Poskiparta (of Necrobiosis fame) and Rouhiainen, featuring cover art by Juha Vuorma and contributions by Ari "Sinister Satyr" Honkonen (Metalion interview & Morningstar article/bio) and Oliver Kraupa (live review of Impaled Nazarene / Ancient Rites gig). I borrowed this one from comrade passetiermes, thanks again! Dating to early '94 it is a more nostalgic and pleasant time capsule of the two for me personally, plus it features some more seldom seen bands. The professionalism and informative level might not be the highest though, but like I always say, amateurish 'zines are the best. Browsing through this reminds me I should get a hold of more Mystification (FF) material.

Second 'zine is the first issue of Apocryphal, also made by two gentlemen Jääskeläinen & Kaakkolahti from Leppävesi and in conspiracy with Volante's Artwork Prod. which explains the much fancier look this one has. I have no idea whether more issues were made as by the end of the century I bought less and less 'zines (and more and more booze - wonder if there's a connection?) but they do claim to have plans made for a second issue in the editorial. Right, this is a black metal 'zine, long interviews all of them which explains the smallish number and it was also released in A5 format which would be the other reason. Plus they botched something with the layout so there's a blank page (both sides even) which I faithfully scanned. Several pages of demo reviews as well. Where The Nocturnal 'zine editors joked and fooled around these lads are very serious all around. Trivia: I attended the '98 Easter Holocaust tour at Kuopio (I'm sure they did it at least twice, if not three times?) where it was held at the much smaller venue Valhalla metal bar. I wonder where else the tour went, I think it was like 3-4 places? As I seem to be starting to digress rather badly I suppose I should quit here. Recommended for the Finnish readers and to those who are learning the language. Not for the grammar though.

Putrefaction #5

Putrefaction 'zine, issue 5 (August 1991)
Interviews:
Bolt Thrower
Torturer
Demigod
Therion
Atomic Aggressor
Carbonized
Morbid Angel
Malaphar
Traumatic
Salem
At the Gates
Interment
Sentenced
Merciless
Shub-Niggurath
Misery
Infested Incarnation (guys who made stickers!?)
Infamy (Florida)
Obscure (Spain)
Dark Tranquillity
Baphomet
Agressor
Sadist
Macabre End
Samael
Sadus
Immortal
Death Courier
Impaler
Unleashed
Articles:
Dissection
Repugnance
Marduk
+ 'zine reviews

Depositfiles

Today's offering is an old 'zine again, a classic from the death metal underground, this is the 5th issue of Sweden's Putrefaction made by Tomas known later for No Fashion records. Thanks to Pawel for scanning this! Pdf-format and very clean & clear work, would be easy to read if not for the slightly messy archaic lay out. Which is naturally 110% cooler than late 90's posh computer stuff.

As you can see, there are loads and loads of interviews and no reviews (apparently Putrefaction didn't do these, this is the only issue I've seen so not sure) except for a page with couple of 'zines plus as exceptions he does review tapes of Sentenced and Shub-Niggurath after their interviews. Speaking of which, there are plenty of them but most are quite short and several are just plain bad and uninteresting or uninformative. Worst offenders here hailing from the States, with absolutely shit interview with Trey of Morbid Angel, short and boring one with Baphomet and much better than the previous but still lackluster Sadus. Misery from Switzerland takes the cake for Euro interviewees. Most interesting ones are probably the ones featuring new and upcoming bands At the Gates, Immortal and Dark Tranquillity. Merciless one is among the longest ones but almost completely gets out of hand with nonsense. Well, at least they had fun. Despite the minor complaining there is a lot to read, especially if you're into old death metal scene but personally most value here is nostalgic.