Satyrium - Demo 96

Satyrium - Demo 96
1) La voix du malin
2) Desolation
3) The First Power
4) Les brumes énigmatiques
5) Le rêve des Succubes
6) La mort lente

Sendspace / Rusfolder

Alright it's time for some more old black metal contributions, this one is from France and called Satyrium contributed by an anonymous donor already a while ago. Thanks for the rip! Not really much to see on the full scan I suppose so I'm fine with this teeny weeny lil' one.

Pretty decent sound but nothing remarkable thataways. Nor really with the music either. Very much run-off-the-mill decent but unspectacular black metal no matter how you approach it. Kind of long to boot, over 42 minutes so way more than several albums of the era and to be honest longer than necessary too. Underwhelming. For the curious ones, collectors of French stuff and so forth. Next...

Now that I think about it again, a bigger scan would be nice after all so let me know if you have it.

Blackthorn - The Black Vision of Northern Kingdom promo '94

Blackthorn - The Black Vision of Northern Kingdom promo I 1994
1) Winds
2) In Moonlight
3) Gate to the Stars
4) Gloomy Forest of Sadness

Mediafire / Zippyshare

Polish black metal. This is the Blackthorn I was referring to in the Chors post here. We discussed the connections already in that post so I am not going to delve deeper into the mire. Sent by LKS around the same time as the Chors demo, thank you again! Cover image borrowed from the Metal Archives and as usual, full scans would be very welcome.

Old Polish TTF black metal made by two men, I suppose you know what to expect? Raw and crude, yet melodic and atmospheric stuff with obvious influences from their peers and the Norse senpais (read: Vikernes). Sound is a little on the thin side but fits this better than a "good" production would. It's a bit odd, unusual thing really if you consider there is only one "proper" track, the longest of the bunch In Moonlight. First track is an intro with the omnipresent winds sounds, third is a shortish instrumental and last one dungeon synth/outro. I find it more fascinating now than on previous listen a few months ago and recommend it heartily. That is all for now.

Nema - Unreleased Track '96

Nema - Unreleased rehearsal track 1996
1) Nur das Blut erinnert an ein trauriges Zeit

Yandex / RGhost

Alright, I decided to start today a new feature which I'm going to call "Wednesday One-shots" ...or not, I might change my mind and just bury it eventually, but the idea is to do here all these various odds and ends consisting of single songs, be they promo tapes, rehearsals, unreleased or compilation tracks, whatever as long as it's a one track of content. To kick it off, here's a long delayed piece by Germany's Nema, notorious for their very uneven quality of output and an unreleased rehearsal song from 1996. Obviously no cover here.

I got this from a tape trader back in '96 or so and wasn't sure about the title, what I got was Nur das Blut erinnert an ein trauriges Bein which doesn't really make much sense unless it's some sort of saying in which case I was wrong to change it to what you see above, Nur das Blut erinnert an ein trauriges Zeit. That makes more sense and I'm pretty certain he says "Zeit" in the beginning there. Please correct me if you know better!

Yeah, the music. Quite good rehearsal sound, first part of the song is mainly slower midtempo and second part fast. Sounds raw and is somewhat dominated by the vocals which express a certain sense of anguish rather than wrath for example. Later Nema is generally quite good and so is this, not as good as "Way of Salvation" from the split but good nevertheless. Almost five minutes, perhaps intended for a split EP again but never quite finished? Recommended for those into old German demo/rehearsal black metal, obviously.

Satanis Nocturne - Essence of the Dark Age demo 1998

Satanis Nocturne - Essence of the Dark Age demo 1998
1) Transcendental Overture
2) Unholy Ground
3) Desolate Aeons
4) The Conjuring
5) Passage into Shadows

4shared / Yandex

Sunday twilight chillout zone Mother's Day edition with an obscure US project contributed by our comrade master Fenrirsson, many thanks for this interesting treat! We don't have much information on Satanis Nocturne but apparently it was a project of someone involved with Anwyl and it was released by Nicola of Hellflame whom F contacted prior to us uploading this. Unfortunately he's lost his copy of the tape also years ago so no cover but at least we got his blessing for this necromancy. If you happen to possess an original copy please get in touch with scans!

This is neoclassical Satanic dark ambient music, fully instrumental (yayness!) and with touches of darkwave and dungeon synth. Very soundtrack-like also, quite easy to listen to for a neophyte but pleasing enough for a grizzled veteran. Or at least for me. I speculated with Fenrirsson if this could be another project of Mikai Tepesh, he was with Anwyl and was credited among other instruments for synth on the Nephilim cover. The uncertainity is driving me nuts, confirm, confirm, CONFIRM! For now, enjoy this if you like cinematic keyboard music with a flair for dramatic and an affiliation with the Devil, I must rush off to work.

Black Blood - Blasphemy Reigns in Thy Night demo 2002

Black Blood - Blasphemy Reigns in Thy Night demo 2002
1) Howling with Wolves
2) Devotee of Darkness
3) As the Winter Came
4) Blasphemy Reigns in Thy Night
5) Black Metal Trend Killer
6) In the Chambers of Evil Tyrant

Zippyshare / Mega

Why not raid another sarcophagus while we're in the crypt of elder contributions? Next post will be a more esoteric and unique lost relic again, but for now here is the only demo of the Finnish black metal band Black Blood who were active in the beginning of the 21st century, rip & scan courtesy of unholydeath. Thank you!

Six songs of textbook raw underground black metal of Finnish standard as set by the likes of Horna and Warloghe. Well, actually intro, four songs and an outro, roughly half an hour running time. Pretty good sound, semi-thick buzz'n'fuzz with guitar narrowly being the dominant element for change, though the percussions and vocals are not by any means subdued. Bass however remains more theoretical a presence. Very pure in the sense of there being little extra frills present (read: none), just foul black metal rasps and gasps for voice and traditional instrumentation performed by two men. Tempo varies from aggressive upbeat bruising to dreary midspeed passages. Nothing new or original certainly, but slightly above average pure black metal, even if the main songs feel long-winded. Recommended for fans of Finnish black metal.

...and Oceans - Mare Liberum demo 1997

...And Oceans - Mare Liberum demo II 1997
1) Trollfan
2) September (När hjärtat blöder)
3) Uråldrig saga och sång
4) Som öppna böcker

Rusfolder / Depositfiles

Tapping into the vaults again and among old bones, cobwebs and dust we unearth another of master Sorvali's sendings from almost two years ago, this is the second demo of Vaasa's ...and Oceans who'd later change name to Havoc Unit. And yes, I know this demo is not exactly hard to come by, which is the reason I didn't post it among the original patch of contributions late '14 / early '15. I decided to feature it anyway since Henu went through the trouble and it also came out rather well, which is not the case with some of the older rips I've encountered. Cover scan is enclosed.

If you've not encountered ...and Oceans before you should know they got more and more experimental as time went on, adding machines, gadgets, contraptions and appliances, sound clips, samples, snippets... well I guess you get where I'm aiming at. Anyways, in the old days they played pretty straight up melo/sympho black metal, or "black metal" as subject matter does not quite make the cut, let's just say dark metal, not atypical to the sound of the times. The most notable detail was probably their use of Swedish for lyrics, which wasn't very common around then. All four tracks were re-recorded for the debut album which I'm not in the mood to dig up for comparisons right now. Let's make it to the end quickly, sound is good, studio level and everything proficient enough. I remember this got mostly quite positive reviews back in the day, the detractors mainly thinking it was too mellow or Dimmu-clone or something like that. No wonder they got a deal after this. It's okay, but as mentioned I'm not in this sort of mood now. Recommended if you like the 90's symphonic/melodic stuff.

Nocturnal Evil - Altar of Sodomy demo 2004

Nocturnal Evil - Altar of Sodomy demo #3 2004
1) Intro - Procreation of Evil
2) Black Apocalypse
3) Altar of Sodomy
4) Outro - Unholy Worship
5) Penetrator Hammer (Beherit cover)

Sendspace / Mediafire

Another "modern" release today (post-2000) though it sounds very much like Beherit circa '90 which I suppose is the point too. This is Argentina's Nocturnal Evil and the third demo from '04, limited to 66 copies like they all seemed to have been. It's not ripped from an original tape but from a dub I got from a trader with copy of the cover which I scanned, thanks for that!

Intro, outro, two original (well, not really original to be honest) tracks and a Beherit cover, all on the short side so the total running time is around eight minutes. As the band name and cover track give away, this is pretty much a "tribute" band in similar way Finnish Black Feast was. Sound is slightly muffled, a little distant and fuzzy as if recorded with a soft, fluffy towel wrapped around the... whatever was used to record this, let's say microphone. Every element however is easily and clearly distinguishable from one another and the whisper/growl-hybrid vocals are readily audible though indecipherable. On paper it has all the elements necessary for me to like this but I don't seem to feel very enthusiastic about it. Kinda good Beherit-worship, grab it if you've fondness for such and generally neo-old school bestial stuff à la NWN!/Iron Bonehead/similar operators. When out vynil?!

Walhalla - War Over Nordland demo 1997

Walhalla - War Over Nordland demo 1997
1) Battlefield Genesis
2) Black Cross Burning
3) War Over Nordland

RGhost / Yandex

We dig deeper into the back catalogue of unpublished contributions, this is another one by Henri Sorvali and sent already long ago with the various other things, many of which you've seen displayed here at the Coven. As always, master Henu has our gratitude. This is Walhalla of Finland with their late '97 demo "War Over Nordland" which was also released as a 7" vinyl by US The Root of All Evil records in early '98. I think the vinyl is exactly the same as the self-released cassette version and that's one of the main reasons I initially hesitated to post this. So if you have the vinyl itself or a rip you won't really need this version. Unless you prefer slight tape hiss to vinyl crackling and popping? As always with Henri's rips, cover scans are enclosed.

Let's move from my insecurities to the music on this short recording; three songs of black/thrash metal performed by the rather well-known cast of Juha "Agathon" Hintikka, Jussi "Lord" Heikkinen and Tommi "Caesar" Launonen. We featured and discussed the still-active Gloomy Grim here earlier and that's enough about that. Heikkinen plays the guitars, Agathon drums and Launonen bass, vocals duties shared. They play proficiently enough, sure, and songs are quite typical thrash with black metal touches but I can't say I'd like this. Firstly, vocals are again at worst really forced and awkward (except on the last track, whoever is resposible for those performs best here), especially and notoriously Agathon's heavily Finn-accented snarls shine in that department. I've never understood why people actually enjoy his vocal performances. Secondly and the main reason I actually avoided this back in the day is that I'm not really very keen on most black/thrash retro stuff which got kind of popular around '96 or so, though of course a few exceptions exist. So it's not my sack of harvested body parts but perhaps it might tickle the fancy of some disciples out there?

In case you enjoy this, you might be interested in knowing Walhalla released also a split 7" with Macabre Omen in '99 which features just two of these songs again, but M.O.'s part is worthwhile, and an album in '00 where these three songs reappear, re-recorded.