The Call of the Four Gates - Faturek the Wolf demo 1995

The Call of the Four Gates - Faturek the Wolf demo I 1995
1) Condemned to Burn
2) The Spell of Diana
3) I Call Satans Triangle
4) Faturek the Wolf

Mega / Rusfolder

Ok, like the old Finnish saying goes, "there's no two without a third" (yeah, I know that hardly makes sense, many old sayings don't but they do offer decent excuses) let's continue where we left off last week with Austrian demos. This one is a contribution too, sent by a reader already months ago. I'm posting it this late as I was hoping to get at least a bit larger cover scan than the tiny one included but as it's not happening I thought enough delay, let's do this. The rip is fortunately of very high quality.

If you've heard the "Host of Chaos" demo, or early Hyperion material (you probably have since I just posted some) you might have an idea how TCot4G sound like. Except that the music isn't really much like Hyperion here, sound has similarities though. There's only four tracks here, plus unlisted intro and outro which I didn't go separating from the "proper" tracks this time, but just over forty minutes of material so the songs are of epic lengths and you'd better enjoy repetition or go elsewhere / make 3-4 minute radio mixes of the songs. I am staying and find their raw and rather basic black metal at best enjoyable and sort of nostalgic and at worst drawn-out, uninspired and plain boring. The first track can be a little discouraging to sit through, especially if you're on a restless mood but I say persevere and give it at least one full listen. Stand outs for me would probably be "I Call Satans Triangle" and not just because of the amusing name, and the title track which sounds somehow more intense than the early part of the demo. For people who really, really like long and repetitive black metal songs, collect Austrian blackened relics or want to name-drop really obscure bands while monologuing on their listening habits.

Angizia - Kissarna demo 1995

Angizia - Kissarna demo 1995
1) Ein Scheidelied
2) Heidedamm
3) Im Abendland
4) Schlehdorn einer Schattenwelt
5) Der Walstat Blüte wegen

Mediafire / 4shared

Let's do quickly another Austrian item, this time a contribution sent by comrade RunningWild, thanks! This is the '95 demo by Angizia, another part of the Napalm roster in the label's heyday and while technically this is really the second demo in practice it's the first and only as the March '95 demo "Nordheim" was unreleased. Wonder if anyone has it anyways? That was a subtle hint. Right, Angizia remain active and have released seven albums and a split with Amestigon which is where I heard them first and apparently have continued to progress to even further into avant-garde strangeness. I can't really say much about that as I've only heard some of the 90's albums and promptly decided it's not my sort of circus.

But back to this: five tracks of which three are short ones and the second and third long. Music at this point is still clearly rooted in the black/dark metal tradition and could be categorized either as black/gothic/doom metal or perhaps neoclassical dark metal. Raw black metal rasps and howls are the main voice. At times kinda reminds me of their countrymates Korova but less avantgardishly bizarre at this time. Many of the songs sound straight like classical music with black/dark metal vocals added with extra instrumentation. Not bad really, I should give their albums another go though I remember not being too much into the split the last time I took a listen. I'd love to write more but I must hurry so pick this up if you got curious and/or collect Austrian demonology.

Hyperion - Cor in Therion - From Centauri Section We Came... demo 1997

Hyperion (aut) - Cor in Therion - From Centauri Section We Came... demo I 1997
1) The Reconquest of the Wargod
2) Nortara-Akhkharu
3) Truthin
4) The Fellowship of the Wargod
5) Unto Centauri Section
6) The Lost Wisdom of Alpha Centauri
7) Leaving Centauri Section
8) The Proclamation of the Wargod

Yandex / Zippyshare

I'm back from my leave and with a long overdue project finished due to a popular demand (two or more people asking for the same thing in a few months counts) and seeing that I had already ripped my dub of Austrian Hyperion's demo already in '10 it was about damn time! So, yeah, this band featured members from Amazeroth and The Call of the Four Gates, and changed/edited their name several times over the years, first to Hyperion MSSM (first album, re-recording of part of this demo's content released under this monicker) then Hyperion Deathbionics and finally Hyperion DB 369. They seem to have called it a day last year. I got this demo from a trader comrade and unfortunately that means no covers and also some tape wear plus the oddly uneven and infrequent yet at times absolutely massive hiss can be heard. Though the strange hiss could be considered part of the sound so no biggie.

Another curious thing is the title. As you see above from the epic collage/placeholder combo used to decorate the post there is variety. I got this under the title "Cor in Therion" and my trader wrote: other title "From Centauri Section We Came..." which I interpreted as either alternative title or second part of it. The later versions of the demo were released under the title "From Centauri Section We Came - We Require the Throne for Us!!!" and had at least two different covers: an explosive spacey thing (strictly better of the two, left on collage) and some sort of an Arabian Nights themed one (strictly weirder, on the right). I was somewhat unsure what to call this, options were just "Cor in Therion" which then would be easy to mix with the album (even if it was released with the changed band name), then the one picked and seen above, in the spirit of the later versions and thirdly "Cor in Therion (From Centauri Section We Came...)" which in hindsight I now like best. Too late to cry, though.

That's all fascinating, right, but what about the music? Well, reminds me of The Call of the Four Gates actually quite a bit, the sound is similarily half-messy and raw. Older Golden Dawn pops into mind from time to time too. It's quite melodic and atmospheric black metal with epic leanings, mostly midpaced and general performance somewhere between adequate and clumsy but that is not an issue for me. I seem to enjoy the sound here greatly today, much more than the less charismatic, produced clean sound of the album versions. Similar to Nehëmah's "Light of a Dead Star" recordings the demo is longer than the album. One reason why it took me so long to finish this was the initial difficulty with track divisions as the songs are quite sprawling and have these ambient interludes messing things up. And again the timings on Metal Archives seem to be incorrect. I don't think the content differs between the versions of the demo. Enough text for now, I am a busy man; recommended and be sure to pick this up if you enjoy one or more of these things: Austrian black metal, cosmic/space-oriented black metal, rough demo versions of songs, The Call of the Four Gates, multiple black metal vocalists, long songs, concept releases.

Apeiron - Stardust demo 1997 [updated]

Apeiron - Stardust demo III 1997
1) Posting on Streams of Anti-Matter
2) Pan's Journey to the Cosmic Void

Mega

Haven't I seen this before might be what a lot of you are thinking now. And yes, you have, here. Unfortunately that time around we were operating under misinformation as comrade Running Wild pointed out, a friend of his owning an actual copy of the tape. See below for an image of it, you can (somewhat barely) see the tracklisting there.

This is why we really need full cover scans, readable ones, for everything. The music is naturally still the same, I just divided it into the two tracks. There was even an obvious pause which I did notice when listening to this initially but for all I knew the tracklisting was "Stardust". Well, better to have things cleared up later than not ever, please download this again if you got the original version and if you didn't grab this the first time around, well, do that now if you enjoy "cosmic light ambient" or are a fan of Dreamlord's other work. Next post is going to be something else than ambient, this time for reals!

Golden Dawn - Rehearsal 08/94

Golden Dawn - Rehearsal August 1994
1) Golden Dawn

Mega / Depositfiles

I decided to continue with the Golden Dawn operation and this is actually also the last item I had stashed away unless something more pops up. Might look like another Friday Night Filler when you look at the tracklisting but this old and obscure rehearsal (though it sounds just like all the older GD demos do) recording is actually longer than the previous '96 one! I found this on one of my dubbed tapes while looking for something else and don't really have much more information on it. I presume the "08" refers to August here. Obviously no covers for this one and I wasn't feeling like making one up. UPDATE: Image used sent by reader Running Wild who wanted to make placeholder images for this and the other rehearsal, thanks!

A single track running for over fourteen minutes and even though I got this labeled as rehearsal, there is really no difference at all soundwise to the demos. Yeah, I know I said that already but it's worth mentioning again in case someone feels pussy reluctant to check it out because of the rehearsal title. Looking at the Golden Dawn / Apeiron split tape cover shows the first four tracks there were recorded in summer '94 so perhaps this was from the same session and left unreleased. Though I doubt that, with the slight difference in sound and execution, this might be a later separate session that found no home for itself. That's all really interesting but how about a few words of the actual music, finally?! Slow and quite calm track, almost completely sung with clean vocals, a generally mellow atmosphere all around. Synths are ever-present but not very dominant. Feels a bit different from the other old material yet instantly recognizable. That's enough, download if you're into Dreamlord's other stuff or atmospheric, slightly fluffy material in general.

Golden Dawn - Rehearsal Tape 1996

Golden Dawn - Rehearsal Tape 1996
1) Call from the Grave (Bathory cover)
2) Inwards Leads the Mythic Death
3) A Message [cuts!]

Reuploaded

I was going to post another synth kind of an item today but then on a whim, possibly influenced by the other rehearsal tapes recently posted, I decided to resume my awfully slow Golden Dawn project with this rehearsal tape from '96 ripped by Grev's comrade. Thanks again, gentlemen! No covers exist for this one, at least that's what I think. UPDATE: Image used sent by reader Running Wild who wanted to make placeholder images for this and the other rehearsal, thanks!

No more time to waste, to the music: first song should be familiar to all, a cover of Bathory classic "Call from the Grave" which does have some personal touches thanks to the synth bits that appear in the later part of the song. Decent rehearsal sound quality, not that far from the '95 demos really. Musically not too far removed either, it's getting a little bit more complex with more synth parts, quite obviously as this sits between "Way of the Sorcerer" and the debut album. Or that's what I think, neither of the original titles appear elsewhere, unless they were renamed and I don't right now recognize either being an album track. Then again, it's been a while since I last listened to "The Art of Dreaming" so I might be wrong. Unfortunately the last track cuts, I've no idea how much. If you have a complete version of this recording it would be very welcome. Until then, this would be recommended to fans of Golden Dawn and collectors of Austrian recordings, as well as people into synth-heavy, somewhat avant-gardish dark/black metal.

Chronicles of Elven Witchcraft - Scroll One: Through the Dragon's Orb (1998)

Various Artists - Chronicles of Elven Witchcraft - Scroll One: Through the Dragon's Orb (1998)
Side Lion:
1) Utumno - Orkferd
2) Keep Of Kalessin - Skygger av Sorg II
3) Hypnos - A Lost Piece Through the Mist of Time
4) Zavorash - Return from Grace
5) Valar - At the Gates of Mordor
6) Warloghe - Witch-Song
7) Enid - An Myrrddhinn
8) Raventhrone - The Three-Faced King of Dominion One
9) Maze Of Cako Torments - Kalakiai Opiumis Sizmarshi
10) Horna - Outro
Side Unicorn:
11) Cernunnos - Dasos Ton Tragopodaron Daimonon
12) Heresiarh - The Cruel Bard
13) Slovisha - В лecy
14) Azaghal - Tuonelan porteilla
15) Rakoth - Return of the Nameless
16) Skyforger - Virsaitis Nameisis
17) Svartalfheim - Well of the Highest Knowledge
18) Urospuu - The Black Forest, Part II - Evil Nazgul
19) Kharadrai - My Void Is No More
20) Across The Scarlet Moat - Gold Elvish Tea
21) Trolltjern - Efterord

4shared / Mega

Ok, let's start this year off with yet another compilation tape, but this might be again a bit more interesting as it is the first Elven Witchcraft compilation (though released on the sublabel Engwar) which was sent to me by comrade Eugene who would like us to know this is available due to efforts of two Discogs users, from Finland and Lithuania. So thanks to these people! Cover scans are included. And yes, I recall I promised vile oozing black muck this year but all in good time!

We've come across Elven Witchcraft already several times here in the Coven, usually in connection with fantasy-inspired metal and dungeon synth. Obviously the compilation contains both as well as folky tunes, emphasis more on metal though a few of the metal bands (three to be accurate, Utumno, Horna and Cernunnos) contribute ambient tracks (intros/outros). The music ranges from rather pure black metal (Warloghe, Zavorash - who sound really like Immortal here) to more bombastic fantasy metal stuff (Enid, Rakoth) to folkish/heathen sounds (Hypnos, Slovisha) to pure ambient/synth (Kharadrai, Trolltjern). And as an oddity Urospuu's black/grind. Standouts include Trolltjern's still excellent closer, Zavorash and Cernunnos (I want that cassette album) from the good and the ever-awful Svartalfheim plus Heresiarh (which I used to like but nowadays their female vocals grate my nerves really badly) from the bad. Across The Scarlet Moat suffers from having much lower volume than the rest of the stuff, otherwise the volumes are fine enough and things flow rather well together. Recommendable compilation even though most of the material might be familiar to long time devotees.

Korova - Live in Rockhouse Salzburg (13-01-95)

Korova - Live in Rockhouse, Salzburg Austria 13th January 1995
1) Awakening from Perpetual Contemplation (Yellow Mahogany Tomb I)
2) A Kiss in the Charnel Fields
3) Entlebt in tristem Morgenblut
4) Latin Dreams in Turpentine
5) Nordsciltim - In the Filth Where All Cull Perambulates Pain
6) Sálømeh, des Teufels Braut

Rusfolder / Mega

Break over, back to business and this is a live tape contribution (which I would like to see more) which I actually intended to post already before departing for Black Flames V last week but didn't have time to. Anyways, thanks to the contributor for the rip! This has obviously no real cover, I just felt like making one so there.

I should probably say something about the performer too, this is Korova from Austria which a few people might actually remember while others might know them by the later name Korovakill. This live recording predates the debut album's release on Napalm records (who used to be a pretty interesting label in the early to mid 90's) in May '95 but as it was already recorded in late '94 these are final versions of the songs, well, adjusted to the live situation of course. Korova at this phase played avant-gardish black metal that had some odd elements but wasn't quite massively annoying. Though I'm not really fond of the nu-metallish, bouncy bits that occasionally pop up. I think I took a listen to the second album and immediately fled the record store so excuse my ignorance for their latter development. This live tape features a good sound, you can hear all the instruments without them cluttering the soundscape up and no element seems overtly dominant. Possibly a soundboard recording? Yes, the music is all over the place but still manages to stay together well enough to remain listenable and even enjoyable to yours truly. Recommended for the curious, the Austria-oriented and the handful of people who liked "A Kiss in the Charnel Fields".

Apeiron - Stardust demo 1997 [incorrect]

Apeiron - Stardust demo III 1997
1) Stardust

Removed, tracklisting was wrong
Reposted here

Sunday evening chill out zone and time to resume my project of uploading Stefan "Dreamlord" Traunmüller's back catalogue. Of demo tapes, that is. Here is the third and I think final Apeiron tape, yet again acquired in conspiracy with brother Grev and his anonymous ally who provided the rip. Thank you, gentlemen. I've picked up the cover image from Discogs, full scans as usual requested.

Like you see from above, this demo consists of only single track that lasts almost 23 minutes. The description "cosmic light ambient" written on the Discogs page is fitting enough, this is quite tranquil and otherworldly stuff, not that dark either. Comparisons to Neptune Towers seem justified. The first part of the demo is the more passive build up stage, things get busier later and instrumentation more complex, adding percussion and moving to almost tribal territory. Things calm down again, get busy and so on till the end, last part adding some voices as well. I find this a pleasant listen every now and then, give it a try if you liked the previous efforts and if you disliked elements like electric guitars there this one might work better for you.

UPDATE: As Running Wild informed me, the tracklisting here is incorrect. Or rather, it's not been divided to the two tracks it consists of. Sometimes the laziness and ignorance of people just pisses me off. Like the Discogs entry for this, you're supposed to own the products you add there so how about reading the covers? Jesus. I assume Grev's friend who sent him the rip had a dub and no covers so at least he has an excuse. I'm reposting this as a new entry with the corrected info.

Die Verbannten Kinder Evas - Nachtaugen live 1996

Die Verbannten Kinder Evas - Nachtaugen - Live in Vaduz 1996
1) The Serpent's Voice
2) Shadowvale
3) Requiem
4) Futile Belief
5) House of Glass

Reuploaded!

Get more DVKE here!

I think it is about time to post some non-metal stuff again, here is the long-sought (at least by me) live by Die Verbannten Kinder Evas, or rather the audio part from the VHS. Many thanks to the person who sent me his rip! This however is not the rip as it was sent, I have adjusted it a bit. You see, it appears the audio on the video was mono so I've cheated and made it "stereo" by duplicating the mono audio track. End result is fair enough for me, it was very annoying to listen to with headphones as mono. There was no tracklisting but I'm pretty sure I got it right. The cover you see above mentions Weltenbrand but their part is not featured here so it's a bit misleading.

The performance was recorded live in Vaduz which is the capital of Liechtenstein, can't remember the venue or much other details. Playtime is a bit over 25 minutes, I don't know if this is the whole set or was it cut to make the total video 60 minutes, which seems likely. There's a part of this on Youtube and it featured mainly Richard Lederer aka Protector and one of the women, not sure which one, his sister Julia I believe. Not sure about Michael Gregor (Silenius) but I suppose he's there too. The sound is ok, though the volume is still quite low, I should've probably increased it a little more. Obviously one can adjust the hardware to remedy this. All the songs are from the self-titled debut album which I like very much. So naturally if you're into it, you're likely to enjoy this too. The live versions differ enough to merit a listen. And it says kult right on the cover so naturally you need to grab it right now!

UPDATE: Well, didn't quite get the tracklisting right, the last song was not Darkened Skies at all, it's House of Glass from "Come Heavy Sleep"! Reuploaded with corrected tracklisting.

UPDATE II: Not really directly relevant to this post but just found out a digital compilation of remastered and complete '94 demo and a live performance from Rotterdam '97 was released in late '14 and can be found on Bandcamp at name-your-price. A link has been added, go get it.

Apeiron - A Separate Reality demo 1995

Apeiron - A Separate Reality demo 1995
1) Durch die Unterwelt
2) Nicht = tun
3) Emationen des Adlers

Mediafire / RGhost

A logical continuation from the previous post, this is yet another slip into non-metal side of the Coven and more material from Stefan "Dreamlord" Traunmüller. You should remember Apeiron, his cosmic light ambient (I stole the description from Discogs page for "Stardust" demo, not sure if Stefan's own description) project from this split demo. Rip was again made by brother Grev's comrade and delivered by G to me. Thank you! Sadly I could not find any sort of cover image for this, so anything would be appreciated. UPDATE: It was since added to Discogs and I borrowed the image from there, thanks to Borderline for the tip!

I wrote in length about Apeiron's sound on the split demo post but now I'm kind of in a hurry so I'll settle to say this continues quite directly from where those tracks left off, more purely ambient this time though some electric guitars are again used. Almost instrumental, there are some voices mainly used like a background effect. All three tracks are long, ticking just over ten minutes each. Sound is good and rip mostly free of defects so no problems in that department. Recommended if you're into ambient, space black metal, space rock or other assorted weird sounds.

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!

Golden Dawn - Lullaby demo 1995 (complete)

Golden Dawn - Lullaby demo I 1995
1) Midgard (The Forsaken Kingdom Parts 1-6)
2) Lullaby
3) Memento Mori
4) Funeral March

Bandcamp

I don't often repost but when I do I usually have a good reason to do so. This is one of those cases. You see, the dub I had earlier ripped [see here for more] was so horribly incomplete it didn't actually have even the first, six part track complete! Fortunately, Stefan came across that and informed me it was missing about half of the content. Even more fortunately a contributor who had sent me a bunch of rips happened to have a complete version of this and contributed the rip you now see here. I cut it up to tracks and now the total running time is 31:50. He also had a xerox of the cover but unfortunately no access to scanner so we'll make do with a photo of it. Thanks again for saving my ass!

I'm not going to add much to what I wrote earlier, the incomplete rip was the first four parts of "Midgard" which is a sort of Viking black metal epos and side B is the other two longer tracks and "Funeral March" which is almost more like an outro. Enough written talk, download this now.

UPDATE: Available on Stefan's Bandcamp since January '17!

Golden Dawn - Lullaby demo 1995

Golden Dawn - Lullaby demo I 1995
1) Midgard (The Forsaken Kingdom Parts I - VI)
2) Lullaby
3) Memento Mori
4) Funeral March

Temporarily unavailable, will upload the complete version soon!!!

Time for some more black metal, don't you think? Here's a demo that seems surprisingly rare, the first one by Austria's Golden Dawn, whom people probably remember for the bit odd and experimental overall ok debut "The Art of Dreaming" and the second album "Masquerade" which I recall being horrible. It's been a while I tried listening to it and no, I'm not in the mood to do so today either. Besides these Dreamlord released in 1995 a split demo with his synth project Apeiron and another demo "Way of the Sorcerer" of which brother Xexanoth uploaded an incomplete version here. I want a full version of that and the split demo. Plus other Apeiron recordings. There are also demo and rehearsal recordings done between the albums, of which "Sublimity" was supposed to be the actual second album but apparently Dark Matter Records screwed up and it ended up being given out as a demo. I don't know if this demo actually had a cover, never seen one, the one seen above is yet another placeholder whipped up by me, using the logo from demo III and a band image from "A.B.M.S. Norici Obscura Pars" compilation.

UPDATE I: Had a few words with Dreamlord and alas it is as I feared, this demo is incomplete: the first track should be several parts and about 15 minutes (if he remembers right) long so looks like most of that is missing! Get in touch if you have a complete version ASAP.

UPDATE II: I got the GD / Apeiron split demo, no less than twice actually, as well as the Apeiron demos '95 + '97 and Golden Dawn's "Way of the Sorcerer" demo + rehearsal 1996 so stay tuned for more and thanks to the contributors!

UPDATE III: I have the full version now, I just need to sort it out into separate tracks and upload. Sorry for the inconvenience. Boys are now preparing, please wait warmly until it is ready~ 

UPDATE IV: Done. Decided to repost so people who got this incomplete disaster might notice and download the full version. Here.

As you must have guessed by now, my copy is a dub from a tape trader, decent enough quality but clearly not ripped from an original. The music is melodic, lofi, a little on the crude side yet with epic elements black metal. Wonderfully cheap'n'cheesy synths add to the atmosphere. There are some "clean" vocals performed which I could really do without. They manage to sound strangely appropriate on the first track, less so later. It's somehow more entertaining a listen than it should be but check it out for yourself

Die Verbannten Kinder Evas - Demo 1994

 

Die Verbannten Kinder Evas - Demo 1994
1) Requiem
2) The Messenger
3) May No Tears Stain This Holy Ground
4) Einleitung
5) Quod Olim Erat
6) Untitled (unknown title)

Depositfiles / RGhost / Mediafire

GO BUY IT DO IT NOW!!!

Something non-metal for change and an item that has been sitting on my HD's for way too long. This is the 1994 demo by Austrian darkwave/neoclassical/atmospheric/addmorewords project Die Verbannten Kinder Evas, who also happen to be one of my favourite non-metal artists and was ripped from a dub sent by a trader back in mid 90's. And like most probably know already, DVKE feature(d) the Summoning members plus additional female vocalists. The recording had no tracklisting and I had some difficulty figuring the titles out and the last one evaded me totally, could be it's a fragment of a track from the debut anyways it sounds extremely familiar. Help anyone? Tried asking Protector already, no reply. Obviously it had no cover art either, again I just made something. Actually several variations of it, decided to go with the artsy off-center logo version.

Another version of the cover.

If you have heard the DVKE debut album, the content of the demo will be familar to you though these are very, very stripped down versions of the tracks. They do have vocals (Richard & Julia) and are quite easy to recognize... well except the evasive last bit that is. Almost decent sound with not too much tape wear and impurities. If you haven't heard the first DVKE album, well the music there and on this demo is more like medieval darkwave with some slight dungeon synth feeling even (though the vocals take this away from the genre) and some pure ambient tracks (on the album) rather than the more neoclassical feeling of the later works. And I like it very much. Of course I too prefer listening to the album, but it's interesting to hear these rough early versions. Enough typing, you'll know by now if you want to download this or not, it's not like I could force you to do it or like DVKE. But I still recommend both.

UPDATE: How was I not informed before?!? Apparently an US label has released a digital compilation of this demo, complete mind you, looks like my tape was missing three songs, and a live from '97 remastered and it can be grabbed from their Bandcamp at name-your-price. Link above. I just bought it and am not really 100% pleased with the resulting sound on the demo part but screw that, it's complete! Get it now! Haven't yet heard the live songs but the setlist is amazing.

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!

Summoning - Promo 1994

Summoning - Promo/demo III 1994
1) Intro
2) The Valley of the Fallen Kingdom
3) Lord from the Shadow Realm
4) Where Winters Cry Forever
5) Der Sieben die Schlüssel

Reuploaded

Here's a bit more interesting post. Summoning from Austria is among my favourite bands, especially from "Minas Morgul" onwards but I also like their debut album which is stylistically closer to their comrades Abigor's old sound. So is this promo recorded before "Lugburz" which was sent to me by brother Grev, once again. Big thanks for this one! No covers and I'm not sure if there even was one in the first place. Would love a scan if it exists.

The sound is a bit on the crappy side but still listenable if you're not expecting polished sophisticated black art. I'd say it's comparable to the old Abigor demos. Everything is audible enough but the volume is kind of low and the growly sort vocals used at times are a bit overbearing, bleeding over the rest of the music. Other than that it's fine, if a bit thin and raw. The intro and five tracks, like mentioned above, are in the same vein as the debut album and actually most were on it as different versions. Obviously mandatory for a fan of Summoning and/or Austrian bm and probably interesting to other freaks into 90's underground black metal. Just don't expect epics in the vein of the later albums!