Mörkö - Paluu demo II '00

Mörkö - Paluu demo II 2000
1) Mörköperkele
2) Musta surma
3) Totuuden henki

Zippy / Mega

I am late and so decided to further change my schedule. Of which no-one but me knows so it is really irrelevant to you, isn't it? Anyways, here is as promised the Return of the Groke or in case you don't get it the second Mörkö demo discussed back in March. Thank you, once again, to brother Grev for sharing the rip of unknown source (BERC?) he has kept for years. This naturally means we have no cover except for the small Metal Archives image. A proper scan would be neat.

How fares the second coming of Mörkö compared to the quirky first demo? It's a bit more "normal" but by no means polished and nice music. Just not as unhinged and barbaric as its predecessor. The drumming, sadly, isn't as wild either... it sounds a lot like a rehearsal demo so I suppose they recorded everything together this time. First song has riffs that are annoyingly familiar but not quite directly stolen. Second thing you notice is the dual vocal approach, main voice for this being a low bellowing sort of grunt, supported by the high-pitched shrieks in a few places. The second song, which is a slower, ponderous affair, has more of the screamy voice and kind of heralds the change in style to come in later years. Generally this sounds heavier than the grim coldness of the first demo; if that one brought visions of a bleak, wintry landscape this reminds me of trudging through perilous marshlands. Last song, the longest of the bunch, is also on the slow side and features an atmospheric acoustic break. Despite its roughness the first demo did have more such elements and even synths.

I used to favour the debut tape over this on initial listens but it seems to be a grower now that I have it play on repeat and focus better. Well, in the end of the day the debut still wins but by a much smaller margin than before. I assume fans of album-era Mörkö will find this more to their liking than "Mörön maa".