Lamented Souls - Demo '95

Lamented Souls - Demo 1995
1) Var
2) Eternal Existence
3) Nemesis
4) Hybris

Yandex / Sendspace

Bandcamp (compilation)

Did you think it would be something non-metal today? Too bad, it's more doom as we traverse from one land of Vikings to another. And it's also another item that's been sitting idle for five years. This is Lamented Souls fra Norge and to be honest kind of pointless entry as this demo '95 was released as part of the compilation CD 2004 "The Origins of Misery" on Duplicate Records, a label run by Einar Sjursjø whom you may remember from Beyond Dawn, a few other bands and his Dawnrazor 'zine. Hmm, now I kind of want to see issues of that, I don't think I've ever read one? I was thinking about ordering a copy back in the dark ages but didn't as I recall it was pretty expensive like Norwegian 'zines tended to be. I guess they printed those on baby seal skin with oil or something like that. Anyways, the CD version at least has this too, not sure about the digital version on Bandcamp as it looks like it's missing 4 tracks? You may consider this a preview, the CD can be ordered via the Bandcamp page. /commercial messages

Ok back to topic, Lamented Souls is probably mostly known as the former band of Simen Hestnæs aka ICS Vortex whom you might recognize from a bunch of Norwegian bands like Penthouse Petz (I'd really like to hear that) and Artisan as well as being married to the cartoonist Lise Myhre whom I presume to be the "Lise" credited for the cover art on this demo. The line-up also included Ole Jørgen Moe aka Apollyon of Aura Noir and Dødheimsgard fame, among others, and finally Olav Knutsen aka Bestial Tormentor of Infernö who shared the bass duties with Hestnæs here. As an aside, Sjursjø joined later to play drums while Apollyon switched to guitar which has really nothing to do with this demo. Or sort of does, as that line-up re-recorded two of the songs here on their 1997 session which was finally released as the first half of the compilation.

Good demo sound, recorded in some sort of studio in two days, usual doomy slow tempo that speeds up a little but never goes beyond careful mid pace. Well, maybe a little on the groovy ending track Hybris. Their doom is of very traditional sort, even moreso than Tristitia featured recently. Closer to Black Sabbath, Godsend and say Saint Vitus than anything deathly. I must say due to vocals it brings flashbacks of certain grungy stuff to mind like Alice in Chains. Poorly qualified to discuss that so let's not go further. I think that's enough for now, I strongly suggest getting the compilation if you enjoyed this and if you were here for dungeon synth or black metal I guess you were dissappointed. Next time, probably.

Conjured to Baphometh Bandcamp

Conjured to Baphometh - The Spawn of the Lilioth demo I 1995
1) Intro
2) Flowing Through Crystal Lakes and Mountains
3) Dance du Diablo
4) Thus Spoke Lilith
5) The New Age

Bandcamp page

Conjured to Baphometh - ...Wonder? demo II 1996
1) Disturbed Fulfillment
2) Bitumen Journey
3) Within Caverns
4) Behind
5) Flowing Through Crystal Lakes and Mountains (Epic Remix)
6) Evolution - Progress
7) Tribes
8) Behold! (Collision)
9) Chromatic Postludium

Bandcamp page

Sorry the long pause but uncle Velkaarn has been absent in spirit if not in body. Anyways, this post is not of the usual download links and inane babbling sort, though the latter is probably included. Rather, consider it a public service announcement.

Master Lord Azazel Djinn aka L.A.D. which sounds too much like a rapper so maybe Lord A.D. would be better stay on topic old fool has set up a bandcamp page with both Conjured to Baphometh releases, links found above. Some of you lot have already heard half of the demo I as it was mistakenly posted as the second Malitiae tape in the big mix up scandal of December '16, never forget. Now available in full five song glory and more balanced volume, we discover the last two songs continue in similar vein to the first half and indeed fit in the dungeon synth niche.

The second recording, which I had not heard before, features more songs and is... different. Let's keep it at that, a little suspense should do you good and I need to listen to it again in order to make sense. As if I'd let that stop me from writing before, but for now I'm just asking you to check them out and support L.A.Djinn, as well as offer my thanks for making the stuff available!

Lunar Womb - The Sleeping Green demo III 1999

Lunar Womb - The Sleeping Green unreleased demo III 1999
1) The Sleeping
2) The Awakening
3) Through Ages
4) Öinen matkaaja
5) Vaipuminen

Yandex / Sendspace
Bandcamp

Alright, I promised a special post and here it finally is, after ~17 years, the third Lunar Womb demo. Master Sorvali sent me this just a few days ago after I once again pestered encouraged him to get it finished. Well, all he really had left was to do last touches to the covers, if you can speak of such with a digital release, so it was (surprisingly) quickly completed. Thank you again for agreeing to share this recording with us! It should be vigorously emphasized that everything was made in '98 - '99 and remastered last year, so I'll repeat Henri's words from the cover:

"The Sleeping Green was originally intended to be released as a cassette demo in 1999, but due to personal and artistic reasons it was never published.

It describes my deepest respect for the nature, the Finnish vast landscapes and beliefs age-old wrapped into a musical form.

The recordings were found from my personal archives in 2015 and carefully remastered from the original tracks afterwards. All the song-titles and artwork was inteded for the original release and while nothing in this release is matching the quality standards of 2016, I hope the music will take you where it took me over fifteen years ago as well... where I still dwell."

Illustrations for each of the tracks, art by Rudolf Koivu.

As you see, this one has the most songs out of the three but they're generally shorter (compared to the other demos, that is!) so the total running time is slightly over 34 minutes. The music here is more consistent than on the preceeding demos and clearly a concept work instead of a compilation of tracks, while the individual songs still have their own character. Compared to "The Astral Grief" the sound is more refined, part due the remastering I assume and music is generally more varying, complex and sophisticated. It has, depending on the track, both soundtrack-like and neoclassical qualities as well as trollish dungeon synth moments surrounded by an overall folkloric, national romantic feel. Fits very well with the artwork borrowed from Rudolf Koivu. Some sound effects and vocals are used, first one more liberally but not overbearingly and second one very sparingly which matches my policy and tastes.

Was it worth the wait then? Yes. The moods are generally more light, wistful and nostalgic rather than dark, moody or warlike and there is a certain sense of wonder present. Beautiful stuff and essential to any fan of Henri's work and generally recommended if this sort of music appeals to you at all.

UPDATE: Henri has also made it available at "name-your-price" option, lossless files, at his bandcamp page. So if you feel like supporting, scurry over there and throw your currency at screen when prompted!

Susurrus Inanis - The Shadowless Shining demo 1997

Susurrus Inanis - The Shadowless Shining demo 1997
1) Now I Know...
2) Such as This Water
3) In My Memory
4) Keep the Sun
5) And I Shall Never
6) Left Shallow
7) Nam Lux Sum

Rusfolder / 4shared

Bandcamp

Chillout zone presents a request today. Eugene asked me in January if I would rip and scan my copy of Susurrus Inanis' only demo as it seems to be somewhat hard to find presently (it actually isn't). I hesitated for a bit and then thought why not so here we are. After a usual delay, that is. Jason Walton (of Agalloch fame) and Daniel Breyer (former Agalloch member, nowadays a professor) were the men behind this project, both playing keyboards and sharing the vocal duties. I had some sort of an insert to go with this, or maybe even two, with lyrics I think and some kind of a bio/assorted background info but unfortunately I didn't come across it. If it happens to be found I'll scan it/them too.

Very good sound combined with the coloured covers and printed tapes give this a very professional appearance and could make one think this'd be a cassette EP or mini-album but it was quite explicitly stated to be a demo. Opening piece is a pretty instrumental intro piece and the following song is rather gloomy and gothic, complete with deep vocals by... one of the guys, I don't know how they shared the vocal duties, the extra material I had might've shed light unto the matter. Anyways, the vocal presentation varies throughout the release but I'd consider these to be one of the main vocals. Somewhat reminiscent of late mr. Steele at times. Next song features the other prevalent voice, a more subdued and emotionless spoken voice that on a later track also sings some lines. Other variations include vaguely black metallish whispery hiss, a more jaded sounding version of the second main voice and so forth. General feel is more darkwaveish rather than ambient really and not much dungeon synth to be found in my opinion. After actually having a proper look I also noticed that JW has this on a bandcamp page so you might want to consider supporting him by getting this from there. But I encourage you to give this a shot if you enjoy atmospheric gothy sort of keyboard music/darkwave, are an Agalloch fan and so on.

Golden Dawn - Way of the Sorcerer demo 1995

Golden Dawn - Way of the Sorcerer demo III 1995
1) Way of the Sorcerer
2) Enigma
3) Nothing but the Wind
4) The Majesty of My Kingdom Afar

Links removed as obsolete,
Bandcamp

Full cover scan: Mediafire

It's time to continue my excruciatingly slow (I'm the one to blame for that) quest to post all of Golden Dawn's old demos (Stefan's planning to re-release the more recent ones plus select old tracks), here's the third recording from 1995 and complete for change, courtesy of brother Grev and ripped by an associate of his. Thank you gentlemen. The previous versions of the demo I've seen online had only the first two tracks, which were featured on the A.B.M.S.: Obscura Norici Pars - compilation CD. You do the math. Sadly, no cover scan so another tiny, tiny image from Metal Archives borrowed. UPDATE: Discogs had slightly better images of the cover which I promptly stole borrowed, see above and below. Full scan would still be better, brother Fenrirsson hopefully eventually delivers that.
UPDATE II: Got the scan from F, get it here! Thanks again!

The music on this demo is much closer to how the debut album turned out, bit more straight forward and with a rougher production which is better than on the previous efforts, mind you. I'm not sure if the two tracks featured on the compilation CD were re-touched or not (too lazy to dig up the CD now and you don't really care do you?) but I'm pretty sure they sounded slightly different. In case you haven't heard the compilation, the two track version of the demo or the debut album I guess I should try to describe the material briefly. It's semi-symphonic black metal with some avantgardish and even gothic elements in. Or something. Pretty fast paced most of the time, except for atmospheric breaks. Kinda like old Emperor meets Celtic Frost? No, not really. But I bet that got your attention. I recommend you to give it a try except if you only like grim metal of death and/or raw subterranean black metal in which case I guess you need to wait for another post.

UPDATE III: Stefan has put this demo and others on Bandcamp, making the rip obsolete (not the scan though) so I am removing the links. Go to his Bandcamp page instead!

Golden Dawn / Apeiron - Split demo 1995

Golden Dawn / Apeiron - Split demo 1995
Golden Dawn:
1) The Spirit Lives One
2) Until We Meet Again
3) Leben in Nebel
4) The Revelation
5) The Seven Gates of Dreaming
6) Enigma
7) As Above so Below (Act I)
Apeiron:
8) Where Mountains Touch the Sky
9) My Realm Is Not of This World
10) Hymn to the Glorious Dead

Bandcamp

I haven't had much time to attend to the Coven recently so here's a bit bigger post to make up, the 1995 split demo by Austrian projects Golden Dawn and Apeiron mentioned in this post here. Soon after the post I actually got two separate rips of this and I decided to post the one brother Grev's acquaintance had made for him. Thanks to all involved! A scan of the cover sheet is included.

I said a bigger post and this sure is quite a lot for one sitting, the demo takes up a whole 90 minute tape (children, back when we used cassette tapes the most common ones sold in shops were either 60 or 90 minute ones) with GD on side A and the three Apeiron tracks filling side B. And yes, two of them are very long while the third one narrowly missing three minute mark. No, it's not a radio friendly pop song. Golden Dawn continues pretty much from "Lullaby" though with less viking black metal tendencies and lyrics as well as a generic feel closer to the debut album's esoteric black and dark metal experiments. Production is slightly better than on the debut demo, if you've heard the tracks on the A.B.M.S. compilation it's comparable to that. The third track "Leben in Nebel" sounds somewhat awkward compared to others around it, possibly having to do with the vocal style chosen as well as the songwriting. "The Revelation" picks things up again and the GD part maintains a reasonable momentum to its end, even if there are some odd side steps in every other track none stumble as much again.

Apeiron's part opens up sounding very much like an intro to Golden Dawn song would except that it just goes on and on. Ambient y'know. "Where Mountains Touch the Sky" has a running time of almost 19 minutes and sounds for much of its duration more spacey, cosmic and astral sort of ambient than dark, ritualistic or occult. Keyboards and some sound effects are the main components but some electric guitars eventually make an appearence approximately half way into song. Things take, in my opinion, a more dungeon synth-esque turn from there on. Vocals enter the mix and with the quickened tempo and the guitars the song basically becomes metal which is a little confusing when you were expecting ambient. Especially after the drums entered the mix. Quite an odd epos. "My Realm..." starts again with tingling keys, all ambiance which is slightly more dungeon than astral this time, but now you're already cautious and won't be fooled by Dreamlord's shenanigans. Except he doesn't repeat the previous formula. This time the ambient soars into cosmos around third of the track in and strongly effected vocals are added, reminding me of the Black Orchid demo. Or that was the first thing that came to mind. Eventually some guitars are again added in, but they seem to fit better this time and it doesn't sound "just" metal. There are several fade outs and restarts in the latter part of the track with the parts differing a bit from each other while maintaining a uniform overall feel. Unfortunately towards the very end he somehow slips into full on metal again which I really think isn't appropriate here. The contrast is jarring especially for being such a short part in an epic length track. The last short track features so-and-so cleanish vocals and sounds really more like it should've been an outro part for a Golden Dawn demo. I understand Stefan is working on remixing and possibly doing something else to some of the Apeiron material which will be interesting to hear. Recommended to check out if you've enjoyed his other work and for the novelty of me wishing something to be less metal for the Apeiron bits.

UPDATE: Has been released on vinyl (hmph!) by Seed Stock and on Stefan's Bandcamp (yay!) so get it ...somewhere!

Barathrum - War Metal Studio Session 1993

Barathrum - War Metal Studio Session 23rd October 1993
1) Beltane
2) Boundless Arts
3) Sinister Autumn
4) Soaring Up from Hell
5) War Metal
6) Dagger, Seal, Vengeance
7) Moonshine Calls

Narod / Depositfiles

Saturnal Bandcamp

Today's item is another contribution by brother Drowned and quite a rarity, the studio session for what was supposed to be Barathrum's fourth demo "War Metal" but it remained unreleased as something went wrong during the sessions and Demonos was very displeased with the producer and the recording. Later it seems like the band members have lost the tape but luckily some copies had been dubbed to people. Drowned had gotten this from a US trader who possibly got it directly from a band member, whatever the case may be in the end I'm certainly thankful for them having it and sharing it! No cover was made (as far as I know) so I just made up another one. Was a bit torn between using the old logo and the new version but considering the era of the recording went with the old one. See below how it'd look with the more recent one. And I know it's been spelled "Warmetal" everywhere but I went with how I got it, though I have my doubts the spelling might've been corrected by the traders somewhere along the chain.

Tried the new logo too.

All seven tracks were new at the time and like the Barathrum tradition is, would all eventually be recorded and used again on the future albums: first two would appear on 1999's "Saatana", next two on a 1993 rehearsal tape and album-wise as late as on 2002's "Venomous", the title track, with spelling "Warmetal" would be included on 1997's "Infernal" and last two tracks on the second album "Eerie" (1995), with "Moonshine Calls" changed to "Moon Calls". So all tracks are in a sense familiar ones and move mostly in the slower midtempo speeds, the title track being fastest number and others having that black/doom vibe to them.

Yeah but what does this sound like? Well, it is a studio recording and Barathrum stringed section of the time consisted of two guitarists and either two or three bassists, I can't remember if all three were actually there for this recording. So it sounds quite heavy and the bass presence is certainly there. Which fits the slightly slower overall tempo well. It doesn't sound quite as powerful as it might and the vocals are maybe a bit high on the mix, not completely overpowering but the most audible element still. Perhaps the sound isn't the optimal but it sounds good to me, it's a demo anyways, and it's certainly easier to digest than the rather exotic sound used on "Sanctus Satanas"/"Sanctissime Colere Satanas" so I'm not really sure what was the issue with this. Was it something to do with the mix? Or the vocals? Whatever the case, if you enjoy older Barathrum style I'm quite sure you'll like this recording too.

UPDATE: I can't believe I forgot to mention here that Saturnal Records re-released a remastered version of this recording as "Warmetal" on vinyl and digital (Bandcamp link added above) and as "Jetblack Warmetal" on CD, which has the "Jetblack" 7"EP as bonus and is obviously the recommended version! Unless you're an impractical, vinyl collecting snob in which case you need to track down a separate copy of the EP, it was also re-released but limited to 300 copies.

Daimon - Presence of the Past demo 1995

Daimon (aut) - Presence of the Past demo 1995
1) Ouverture
2) Dominion of the Strong
3) Life Is Fight
4) Templar Secrets
5) Eternal Flame
6) Far Away
7) The Evil Inside
8) Presence of the Past

Link removed as obsolete:
Bandcamp

Time to get this blog back on the course. We're getting closer to the usual fare with this quite unusual demo one of my traders once dubbed me. According to Metal Archives, this is the only release of this Austrian project and as it is a piece of trading loot I have no cover for it, the quite bad image from the M.A. page is used. Like always, I'd be interested in proper scans. I'd also be interested in hearing from someone who could confirm my division of the tracks as I had a little difficulty with it. I've probably screwed it somewhere around the middle.

The music on this demo is practically one part neo-medieval dungeon synth-ish material, two parts black metal which brings to my mind several of the project's countrymen like early Golden Dawn, old Abigor, old Summoning and the A.B.M.S. - bands. The sound is crispy sort of clear, very obviously demo level but fitting in a crude manner like an axe blade to the side of your skull. The guitar sound is sharp and clear, vocals (when used) harsh and shrieky, synths endearingly cheap sounding and percussion rigidly mechanical. Surprisingly bass can also be heard, nothing muffled about this one. Some clean vocals (quite ok) are also used. Songwriting on the black metal parts varies from driving, simple gallop to unexpected wanderings unto shadowy offroads. I remember I didn't listen to this much on cassette but now I'm a bit fascinated by it. An interesting demo, recommendable.

UPDATE: No wonder it sounded familiar and like old Golden Dawn; looks like it was another of Stefan's projects and he has added the demo to his Bandcamp page. Get it from there now!

Cernunnos Woods - Tears of the Weeping Willow (1994)

Cernunnos Woods - Tears of the Weeping Willow Cass.EP 1994
1) The Autumn Moon
2) Horned Is the Hunter
3) Hymns to the Summerlands
4) Return to Infra-Green
5) Song of Duryfyddiaeth

Link removed as obsolete; DAP has re-released the CW demos, see here:
Forest Anthology
Bandcamp

And now something quite different. Requested by EcoPagan in his blog where he posted the 1996 album, this is the first recording of the US synth project Cernunnos Woods who played some sort of Celtic ritual/ambient music. I'm pretty lousy with these descriptions. Anyways, this tape features five tracks of quite primitive sounding but still charming ritual/ambient/(at times)folk tunes and was released in very, very limited quanitity by Dark Age Produtions in 1994. That label had several other interesting projects (like Akrabu, Dalkhu Zilittu, Equitant, Profane Grace etc...) whose tapes are also quite hard to find. Need I say I'm looking for them? So let me know if you got any info, ok?

UPDATE: I've removed the download links as obsolete as DAP has re-released the old CW demos on a compilation "Forest Anthology" that comes as cassette, CD and digital download. Head over to their site if interested. There's Akhkharu coming soon too! And perhaps more with time?

This is, once again, a rip of an unknown generation dub I got from one of my tape traders back when winters were colder, summers warm, everything tasted better and cost less. However the quality should be ok, the tape doesn't have bad glitches or anything. The sound quality of the original apparently wasn't too stellar, typical demo level of the era, even though they chose to call this a cassette EP. Obviously I have no covers for it so a pic I found on the 'nets is used. Other than the last tracks silly-sounding samples of Carmina Burana and whatever else there was I find myself enjoying this tape on occasional listens. Not certainly for everyone, but give it a try if you enjoy the 90's atmospheric projects!

Depressive Silence - Demo III 1996

Depressive Silence - Demo III 1996
1) Forest of Eternity
2) Depths of the Oceans
3) Atmosphere
4) Mourning
5) Dreams

Removed, it has been re-released, vinyl for now and CD later - here!
Also Bandcamp!

See the previous post for most info, here I will just mention that personally I find this demo better than the previous one, even though there are no electric guitars or vocals present. The M.A. image above was slightly altered. I hope to update this to include the cover scans in the near future, as mentioned in the previous post.

UPDATE: I found the covers for this & demo II long ago but I've simply forgotten to update this, oops! Sorry about that. Can't be arsed to repack & up the whole shit so I just added a Mediafire link for the cover scan. - Megaupload gone so new upload with cover to Mediafire! - Mediafire backstabbed me so now it's Narod.
- No download link anymore as it's been re-released on vinyl for all you elite collectors and audio wankers and will also be released on CD for us practical people. See Unborn Productions or their distributors, a link is provided above.

Barathrum - Devilry promo tape 1997

Barathrum - Devilry promo cassette 1997
1. Necromantical Ritual
2. Last Day In Heaven
3. Revenge By Magick
4. Angelburner

Narod

Bandcamp

Ok, another tape I bought from Levykauppa Äx in Kuopio, and whatever Metal Archives says I could swear it was 1997 fall/winter when I was there pondering if I'd buy this or the "Jetblack" 7"EP. I bought this one and was really happy about that. You all probably know these songs from "Legions of Perkele" album 1998, but the demo versions are definitely worth downloading.

I know there is at least one other rip of this tape floating around, as I had it, but I have to say my rip is better quality than the one I had loaded before. His tape was probably worn more than mine. Anyways, be sure to check it our if you like "Legions..." and even if you don't still give this a try, the versions are rawer and closer to old Barathrum sound.

UPDATE: If you're a trendy vinyl collector you'll be interested to know Saturnal Records recently released a picture disc of this, see here. Personally I'm a bit dissappointed it seems to be only version made.

UPDATE II: Added Bandcamp link, there's a digital version too, remastered by Zetekh so check that out!!!