Demogorgon - Henen-A Em Amsu demo II 1995
1) Threshold of Hell
2) Crucify
3) Ridiculed Beliefs
4) I Fell for All
5) Hopeful Victory
6) Black Clouds of Death
7) Putrifying Thoughts
8) My Black Innerself
9) Hordes of the Black Circle
10) Buried Soul
11) Eternal Hate to the False
Sendspace / Yandex
...or "Henen-Å Em Åmsu" if you want to stick to the odd spelling on the side panel! So it is time for music (finally) and this is another, somewhat overdue, sending by our brother Wehrwolf and again it is Australian material. Thank you for the rip & scans! Here we have what appears to be the second demo by Demogorgon from Victoria, not to be mixed with the scores of others who use and/or have used the name, best known (well at least in my opinion) being the Greek one, mostly due to connections to other Hellenic cults.
But let's concentrate on this effort. It's a long tape, full album length even if some of the songs are quite brief. And to be honest, it's a bit longer than necessary too. Seeing this is Australian and black metal I suppose folks may expect some form of wild, relentless burst of violence and warfare noise. Not this time. Sure, it does combine some death metal traits with black metal and is of certainly active nature but it'd put it closer to Anatomy than SadEx. Or perhaps more Baltak than Bestial Warlust? The sound comes off initially as messy but either one gets used to it or it actually improves as the recording proceeds. Quick field test indicates that the groovy (strangely almost Spear Of Longinus-ish) "Hordes of the Black Circle" not only sounds better but actually does have a superior sonic quality to the opener "Threshold of Hell". My opinions seem to fluctuate quite a bit while this plays so I suppose you should pay it attention even if the first tracks might seem discouraging. Or put it on shuffle? Anyways, with a bit of pruning this would be a very good demo. Maybe. Recommended to those who enthuse for things down under and those who endlessly seek more mid-90's relics.
One more thing, the third song "Ridiculed Beliefs" sounds extremely familiar, what in the Abyss does it resemble?
8 kommenttia:
Thank you very much Velkaarn and Wehrwolf, I was looking for this demo/this band for years!! I'm so happy to finally be able to listen to it.
Heheh I've looked at the scans you provided and it says "Lyrics/Music: O.Milanović" - that's Croatian/Serbian surname, it's possible this guy's from my homeland - many people from here ran away and moved to New Zealand and Australia in the early '90 because of war.
As for "Ridiculed Beliefs" - oh it does resemble something! I hate this feeling, when something I try to remember is on the tip of my toungue, but the right word just won't come to my mind... Personally, it kind of reminds me of - let's see: the start/first part is kind of doomy and reminds of old Gehenna, and then the faster middle part riffs are like Unholy Black Metal or Ohtar's Dead Desolation or maybe some other Ohtar/Darkthrone songs from that era. But that could be said about many bands... It reminds me of something more specific, old Norwegian or even Finnish, more Finnish than Norwegian. But I just can't remember. I guess that's the bad part/side-affect of enjoying thousands of 90's bands. Horna maybe? Diaboli (song "Chaos")? Heh. Who knows. It sounds great, really love the sound of this demo!
Thanks again and Cheers!
Hahaha, This is my old childhood band.
We wanted very much at the time to do something different than was out there at the time back in 1995 in Australia. But, it is quite disjointed and many varying influences made this what it was.
We were all quite young. I was the oldest at 16/17 I can't remember, the guitarist was only 14/15 and the vocalist/bassist was I think 15/16.
You are right in that it was the second release by Demogorgon.
There was a demo called "King of Fools" earlier that same year and also a rehearsal demo.
Thanks for the nostalgic trip.
Well, this turned out better than expected! I should've really posted it sooner.
@sister Borderline:
Nice coincidence this was one of your sought items, I actually got this from brother W already... in summer? Several months ago, nevermind the exact time! Heh, I noticed the surname too and actually meant to comment on the text but it slipped my mind.
Do not let the track drive you to the walls, I am way more often than I care for in this state and it'll come to you eventually. It's a very familiar track... now I'm thinking about it again, damn it!
@Varrim:
Good to read from you and yeah I kind of guessed it might be a youthful effort. But then again, young people have more heart in their endeavours than jaded old musicians. Many of the classic second wave demos were made by equally young folks. Wehrwolf is really the one to thank for, I just chopped it into tracks and posted, but anyways you're welcome!
Hearty thanks Wehrwolf and our illustrious host. Halfway through the opener I was thinking, well, quite an American thrash sounding thing for an Australian band, then lo and behold on track two it's Black Sabbath to the rescue! The youthful exuberance is not to be discounted here, in fact it's a key sales point. I rather like the heavily overdriven guitar tone, offering some Blue Cheer like sludge-mongering. The whole thing sounds like something on the current roster of the Tee Pee or Southern Lord labels, which is meant entirely as a complement.
@Varrim:
Thanks for the post and the backstory. You and your mates cranked out a very good one here, and I'll sidestep Sir Velkaarn here and argue that in fact it's not at all too long.
Cheers,
@Velkaarn.
If you need Demogorgon's first demo (untitled, 4 tracks) I have it. It's been released "officially" in P2P scene, like this one
Welcome back V.
I've gotten some good headway on your wants list, namely Vacuum. Will keep you posted.
@kingpossum:
Good to "see" you and you're welcome, also appreciate the analysis with interesting namedrops. I'm not going to counter your argument, seeing as I also quite enjoyed the demo. Yet I'd still condense it a bit. ;)
@Grev:
I presume you are referring to the untitled rehearsal demo Varrim mentions? Or "King of Fools"? Anyways, would be curious to hear whichever it was! Has probably same enthusiasm level with worse sound?
@EC:
Thanks, it was a bit overdue! Had a look at some of your wares too, going to grab some more today. If there's a lead on that Vacuum demo, excellent! That damn thing has been bothering me for 20 years! Somehow I feel it's almost bound to be very anticlimatic but that's life for ya.
@Velkaarn Yes, it was titled "King Of Fools" on the cover however some considered it self titled as the title is written in 'Theban'.
...And haha yes very much worse sound, not really "raw" as such but it was recorded with a tape deck in the middle of my bedroom haha.
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