Sodom - Live at Metallysee Festival 28-12-85

Sodom - Live at Metallysee Festival, Zaal Jachthoorn, Denderhoutem Belgium 28th December 1985 (received as Live 21.02.85 - it's different recording from 28.12.85 live in Aalst (?) released on Black Equinox bootleg CD which has odd tracklisting in general)
1) Outbreak of Evil
2) Witching Metal
3) Burst Command til War
4) Obsessed by Cruelty
5) Blasphemer (horribly cuts, only beginning!)

RGhost / Depositfiles

I felt, for some strange reason, like doing another thrash item and coupled with a long overdue live attendance this upcoming weekend I decided to post this horribly incomplete but ever-so-entertaining Sodom live tape from '85. I got this years and years ago from a tape trader as filler, unfortunately cut right when Blasphemer is about to kick off and being only 13+minutes long in must be even more incomplete than that. Then again, like this it could be crammed onto a 7"EP. Anyways, it was also misdated to 21st February while comparison and quick research determines this to be another recording of the Metallysee Festival gig and interestingly Setlist.fm gives the same tracklisting as my dub had! Don't know much about the event itself but apparently Blind Fury, Iron Angel and Kreator also performed.

I mentioned comparing this to something and that was the "Black Equinox" bootleg, made by the infamously inaccurate Omerta in 2004 (not 2001 like Discogs suggests, it reads on the damn cover), which I got back a few years ago from Lockjaw blog (RIP). The bootleg's tracklisting contains no less than nine tracks:
1. Outbreak of Evil
2. Deathlike Silence
3. Blasphemer
4. Equinox
5. Witching Metal
6. Burst Command til War
7. Obsessed by Cruelty
8. Witchhammer
9. Sepulchral Voice
It's also clearly a different recording, with much more audience noise and as you see the track order is either for some bizarre reason switched or it actually manages to be a different gig which just happens to have exactly same speeches in between the songs. Oh and it gives same date but as venue Aalst. It's easy to hear the order on my dub is unchanged as I chopped it into tracks without cuts so all flows together while the "Black Equinox" has very subtle cuts in between songs.

Whatever may the case be, this is classic first wave black metal Teutonic thrash hammer and extremely enjoyable despite ending way too soon. The sound is clean, songs great (including my current favourite Obsessed by Cruelty) so if you like German vintage thrash and old dirty proto black metal this is a no-brainer.

Dark Creation - Campaign in the Sign of Evil demo '98

Dark Creation - Campaign in the Sign of Evil demo I 1998
1) Dark Creation
2) Crosses Fire with Light
3) Sacrifice
4) Dark Horizon
5) Mighty, the Other Belief
6) Master of the Dark Eternity
7) Standing on the Steps of Hell
8) The Final Battle
9) Troops of Doom (Sepultura cover)

Yandex / RGhost

Right, we're yet again in Germany and this is one my random investments, Dark Creation and their first demo from '98 which was released by certain Iron Bonehead productions. I hadn't heard their second demo, just picked this on a whim from someone selling old tapes the other year. Cover scans are enclosed and according to them they play "witching metal" so it's safe to assume the band holds ancient Sodom in high esteem. The band, not the city.

As you can see from the tracklisting, this is an album length demo, roughly 38 minutes to be more precise. Sound is on the less-than-stellar, rough side and music is old school-ish brew of black METAL and thrash blending into traditional heavy, mostly moving in a moderate midtempo. As obligatory namedrops let's say it sounds a bit like a mix of Desaster (middle-era music with demo production) and Usurper (all eras). No, not that good really but it's a decent enough start for your imagination. Vocals mix rather poor death grunts and somewhat better harsh half-shriek/shouts. And if you enjoy shirtless, muscular men the cover pics deliver. I suppose that is enough for now, recommended if you're into this sort of ...thing. I really, really need to get some sleep.

Bewitched - Hellspell demo '95

Bewitched - Hellspell demo I 1995
1) Triumph of Evil
2) Deathspell
3) The Witches Plague
4) Burnin' Heaven

Zippyshare / Mediafire

Let's kick off this week with some energetic black/thrash metal fra Sverige, sent by our brother Fenrirsson along with other rips months ago. Bewitched should be a familiar name to people into blackened thrash metal or explorers of Osmose's back catalogue. They started out as a side project by folks from bands like Throne of Ahaz, Ancient Wisdom, Naglfar and Katatonia, eventually changing members and outliving some of the parent bands (well, Throne of Ahaz mainly but I'm pretty salty about that) with five albums and some EPs released over a ten year period. Let's not forget they nicked the band name from the older, already established Chilean band who in the end outdid them in longevity and number of releases. Can't comment on the quality as I'm not familiar with full discographies of either. Where was I? Right, this was the only demo and as F's rip was made from a dub we make do with cover images found on the net, mainly M.A. and Demo Archives.

Even though the band got progressively sillier (and me more and more fed up with bands picking up the retro "old school" sound in the mid-late 90s) this demo is quite raw, old style black metal mixed with thrash rather than just straight up black/thrash. The guitar sound is razor sharp, clear and biting, cold even and vocals harsh shrieks and screams. It's more like old Bathory rather than say, Destruction or Slayer which I'm fine with. Drums are again buried in the background but it's fine as the guitars are the spotlight here. All four songs wound up re-recorded on the '96 debut album, which is pretty good too. I think I'll have to give it a listen next. Give this demo a go even if you've heard the later Bewitched albums and disliked them, it's a different beast. Not like lion versus alligator different, more like... a dingo vs wolf different?

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.

Succulento Borchia - Pure Hate & Madness demo 1998

Succulento Borchia - Pure Hate & Madness demo 1998
1) March of Sorrow (allegretto ma non troppo)
2) Nuclear Law
3) Cacca Cola
4) Jubileum
5) (Glorification of) Intestinal Torment
6) Immortal Song
7) Magri Notturni
8) Sadistik Ekstermination
9) Pure Hate & Madness
10) (Glorification of) True Italian Forests
11) Godcrusher
12) Impalato Everywhere
13) Liquefatto in un cumulo di merda (Per-Version)
14) Nerchia (Per-Version)
15) Dancing with Folletti (Outro)

Mediafire / Rusfolder

Cover scans (achtung! very large!)

Back to our contributors, here is one I've forgotten to post earlier though to my defense I had to do a little further work and research into the track division, with the convenient aid of the enclosed lyric sheets our contributor comrade Chris had included (once again, huge scans - I've included them as separate download this time). So thanks to Chris again and sorry for the lateness, this was sent over a year ago after all!

Lots of tracks here but all are very short, varying between 00:49 and 2:34 in time. One would probably expect the music to be fast, thrashing or grindy or whatever but surprisingly enough this is not really the case. It ranges between quite typical black metal fare and just down strange numbers. Well, seeing their thanks list include a section where they pay respects to Marduk, Cannibal Corpse, Dark Funeral, Impaled Nazarene, Brutal Truth, Satyricon, old Carcass, Bathory, Mayhem, Ildjarn, Desekrator, Gehennah & Infernö might be helpful reference. Overall not very serious stuff, I suppose this is one of those fun projects which I can't count among my favourites. See if you're amused by their antics.

Urn - Promo 1997

Urn - Promo 1997
1) I Am Your Nightmare
2) ...From Beyond
3) Nosferatu
4) Doctrine of Satanic Evil

Zippy / Mediafire

Let's do another contribution tonight and one that fits quite well into a Friday night, this is the first release of Urn, dating to 1997 and re-released in 1999 on vinyl by Damnation Records as "I Am Your Nightmare" with exactly the same content. When comrade unholydeath offered me this among other things he had ripped some time ago I gladly took it as my copy of the tape, which I had gotten some beer-drenched night in bar Valhalla back in Kuopio, is pretty much in unplayable condition nowadays. So, thanks to him for another donation! A cover scan is enclosed.

If you haven't heard old Urn material, the most obvious and easiest comparison would be with old Barathrum, seeing how the founder and mastermind Sulphur, as well as the other founding members Pimeä and Infernus were former Barathrum members this is hardly coincidental. Urn sounds a wee bit more thrashy, despite that unholydeath's comment how this is more like vintage Barathrum than B itself is certainly not without merit. Similar mostly midtempo pace and an aura of darkness combined with rather simple songs. Goes well with beer or another alcoholic beverage of your choice so download already and get hammered, I'm off to work.

Desecration - Satanas Occultas demo 1997

Desecration (swe) - Satanas Occultas demo 1997
1) Satanas Occultas
2) Burning Metal of Death
3) Seven Horsemen of Hades

Zippyshare

I don't usually bother re-posting stuff that has been featured elsewhere, but occasionally I do exceptions and this handily fills the role of the weekend's start filler to boot. This is the 1997 demo of Sweden's Desecration, which was for quite some time on my wantlist, a reader sent me the link to this rip some weeks ago, thanks. Now I don't remember anymore why exactly I was looking for this, sheer curiosity after coming across the name somewhere? A request by a reader? Whatever the case, here it is now. As you may guess looking at the image up there, no cover scans, I'd appreciate getting them if you happen to have an original.

I don't know much about the band (or if I did, I've forgotten) but according to Metal Archives this is the only demo and it was a two-man band with the traditional roles of a drummer and a multi-instrumentalist handling the rest. Three short tracks, total playtime of just seven minutes guarantees you won't have time to get bored with them. Unless you can't stand this sort of music, in which case you're probably reading the wrong blog or at least entry. This sort of music means fast paced black metal with a hefty dose of thrash poured in. I'm actually tempted to call it straight black/thrash. Satanic lyrics leave it leaning more on the black side of the fence than many of their contemporaries who partook in the mid-90's retro wave. Had they released this a bit earlier they would've probably been signed by Osmose or someone. Ok stuff but nothing earthshaking plus my old animosity to the retro trend of old rises its head again so I can't say I'd really recommend it unless you really want to hear every Swedish 90's demo or are a huge fan of thrashy black metal. Likely to sound better when you're drunk.

Wizzard - Promo-demo II 1996

Wizzard (fin) - Promo-demo II 1996
1) I Am the King
2) Demon's Blood
3) Fenris Is Loose
4) Night Hunter
5) Thou Daughter of Fire
6) Sabbath
7) Get Your Kicks on Route 666
8) Possessed by Inferno

Depositfiles / Yandex

Today's item has been lying in one of the Coven's deeper vaults for far longer than necessary and for quite a trivial reason. Anyways, this is promo-demo (I still absolutely hate that abomination of a term) II by Finnish Wizzard, formerly known as Wizard (for their debut demo "I Am the King") and featuring Teemu "Hexenmeister" Kautonen, best known from Darkwoods My Betrothed. I got this dub from brother Grev already long time ago, thank you as always, but little complications delayed the posting. One was me being unable to locate the version of the Wizard logo with two z's - I know I've seen it somewhere, I'm not delusional! In the end I could not find it again and just edited that one to make a cover for this as it (probably) didn't have one. If it actually did and you have it, please share.

To the content: you should already know Wizzard from this compilation, the style here is same. In case you haven't heard them before and absolutely need me to describe the music I'll just call it blackened heavy metal. All but one track (Night Hunter) would appear again on the debut album "Wizzard" which unfortunately got so badly delayed by Nazgul's Eyrie that the second album "Devilmusick" was released much earlier. Enough about the history lesson, I've taken long enough to finally warn you that the sound is piss poor. Ok, not the worst LLN-poor but the dub was extremely quiet and generally faint. I've increased the level somewhat but couldn't do much, there's obviously hissing and assorted charming cassette listening perks to be heard. So, if you want to hear an unreleased song (unless it was renamed later) and rough versions of the debut album tracks and/or enjoy old fashioned black heavy metal check this out but consider yourself warned.

Atanatos - Ancient Blood demo 1995

Atanatos - Ancient Blood demo 1995
1) The Truth
2) Dark Age
3) Pagan Punishment
4) Transmigration
5) Gate of Darkness
6) Heir of an Ancient Blood

Depositfiles / RGhost

Tomorrow is the fourth Black Flames of Blasphemy event in Helsinki which I'm going to attend so I thought I should post metal before I leave. Also, I have to catch up my quota of German demo posts so here's the first and only demo of Atanatos who are more or less active to this date with a trio of albums and a couple of other releases out. To be honest I haven't been really keeping up with them since 1998 so I can't say much of their later stuff. Atanatos was one of the bands signed on the infamous Last Episode label which wasn't exactly known for quality and were never that well known I suppose. My copy of the demo is an unknown generation traded dub but the sound and tape quality was decent enough so that's not an issue. No covers so stuck with a Metal Archives image again.

Six tracks might seem like a lot but as half of them are shorter than average it keeps the total duration at reasonable 22+ minutes. The music is basically black metal but with strong basic and thrash metal tendencies, I also get some Greek style vibes from this demo. Sound is okay if a little muffled and not very strong. Unfortunately this hasn't aged that well or my taste has shifted as I don't seem to like this nearly as much as I did back in the day. It's not really bad but neither is it very exciting. Collectors of German demos, underground enthusiasts and the curious should give it a try anyways.

Warvomit - Sadistic Perverted Majesty demo 1997

Warvomit - Sadistic Perverted Majesty demo 1997
1) Intro
2) Conquerors
3) Nuclear Slut
4) The End of Time
5) Lead You to Your Grave
6) Impale the Usurper
7) Our Lust
8) 1000 Faces Of Evil
9) Flight with the Stormwind
10) Krieg
11) Warvomit (Kaos Mix) [Bonus Track]

Reuploaded - 2022

Going to divert from my original plans, I decided there has been enough lighter or nicer music for now and it's time to post something raw and dirty. If the band's name is Warvomit, you'd expect them hold their end of the bargain when it comes to raw and dirty, right? Things start up with a familiar intro which could have been cut a little and the first proper track "Conquerors" makes clear this is indeed raw and dirty. A bit messy demo sound and musically somewhere in between punk, black/thrash and war metal in the vein of Blasphemy and company. Generally more midtempo than fast and even slows to doomy pace at times. Untight playing, crude rehearsal-like demo sound and rough vocals, what more can you want? Well, at least the first song is too long and overall this is quite a lot to take at one sitting, intro plus ten tracks at 47+ minutes is too much.

This was ripped from a tape traded dub but it doesn't affect the sound quality much. Unfortunately I didn't have a copy of the covers so I've borrowed another stamp-sized image from Metal Archives. Proper scan would be cool. Recommended for people into bestial metal, punky stuff and rough thrashing madness.

Celtic Frost - 1984 fukkin RAW Rehearsals (bootleg)

Celtic Frost - 1984 fukkin RAW Rehearsals bootleg 2012(?)
1) Messiah
2) Visions of Mortality
3) Procreation of the Wicked
4) Morbid Tales
5) Dethroned Emperor
6) Return to the Eve

Depositfiles / Rusfolder

If this band needs an introduction I'm quite sure you're reading the wrong blog. Actually you shouldn't even be on the internet. Or this planet. Now that's been taken care of, back to the item: here's another tape ripped by the contributor mentioned on the previous post, thank you good sir, and a quite rare wandering off the usual 90's (ok sometimes 00's too) fare of the blog. But Celtic Frost are awesome enough to cause exceptions to happen... and if this bootleg tape actually was released last year or so, the average comes within the usual range of the Coven. Rejoice! To be honest I'd wander more often to the 80's except that I don't have really anything that wouldn't have been bootlegged or uploaded elsewhere a hundred times already. But that's enough about that. Includes a scan of the cover, which has preciously little information but enough for a bootleg I suppose.

The title describes the content quite accurately enough, though it's not that raw, certainly rough compared to album sound but not so raw as to merit all caps. If you've heard (of course you have!) Hellhammer demos and enjoy them (how could you not?!?) you'll be just fine with the sound here. Automatic recommendation and no need to write anything else, start downloading.

Absu - Live in Rotterdam 05.04.1997

Absu - Live at the Baroeg, Rotterdam Holland 5th April 1997
1) Apzu
2) Highland Tyrant Attack
3) Swords and Leather
4) The Winter Zephyr (...Within Kingdoms of Mist)
5) Morbid Scream (Morbid Scream cover)
6) Fantasizing to the Third of the Pagan Vision / ...of Celtic Fire, We Are Born / Terminus (...in the Eyes of Ioldánach)
7) The Coming of War (Morbid Scream cover)
8) Drum Solo
9) The Gold Torques of Uláid
10) ...and Shineth Unto the Cold Cometh...

Depostifiles

I could not resist uploading this tape today, especially since I'm going to go see some live music later. As I'm going to see a local thrash band, Unhoped, an Absu live show from 1997 fits quite well. By this time their mythological occult metal was dominated by thrash influences and (unfortunately in my opinion) the lyrical focus on the then current, very good, album "The Third of Cythraul" had shifted more into Celtic (and Scottish) realms of their heritage.

This is a tape traded item and an audience recording again, unfortunately not complete as the it starts with the first track "Apzu" already blasting ahead. Don't know if it's missing anything else except the first minutes of the track, probably an intro of some sort. Let me know if you happen to know better. Overall sound is ok for this sort of an recording. Some dickwad talking is inevitable but of the music everything can be heard decently enough. There's a bit of an pause between tracks 2 and 3, don't know if the person had to take a break for some reason and whether something is missing from there. Setlist is pretty good for the time, though I'd like more Absu instead of playing both Morbid Scream covers. Not sure of the live line-up of the time, I'll wager it was Mezzadurus of Blood Storm and the core trio. Proscriptor does some of the vocals which has always amazed me, considering the drums in Absu tracks. I'm not going to write more, I need to hurry to grab some beer, a good live show for fans of Absu and/or black/thrash metal!

Lacerated Gods - Night of Pain: The Satanic Bloodspraying live 1993

Lacerated Gods - Night of Pain: The Satanic Bloodspraying official livetape 1993
1) Crime (The Glorious Way To Dark Satan)
2) Desecrate The Female Plague
3) Subhuman Christianity
4) Rigor Mortis (Recreate Auschwitz)
5) Into Thy Forest Of Retaliation
6) Your Punishment Is To Be Raped

Reuploaded

Here's a very elusive item, the official live tape, also called demo 1993, by Germany's infamous Lacerated Gods. Ripped by brother Fenrirsson from a cassette sent him by Count Leichenschrei, it came with only a note with tracklisting and line-up which he also scanned. There's also a second version which includes an additional studio track and probably has a cover too.

I wouldn't really call Lacerated Gods black metal, the music is more like death/thrash with anti-christian themes. And some good old misogynism and nazi references thrown in. The sound of the recording is a bit primitive but very audible. The vocals are quite high on the mix and occasionally the sound kind of fades to lower volume but these are not really issues. Should be an interesting listen for many. I'm curious to hear the old Opferblut material too so get in touch if you got it!

Gospel Of The Horns - Promo 1995

Gospel Of The Horns - Promo 1995
1) Nocturnal Passage
2) The Wolf Lore

Reuploaded


Here's an item I actually ripped already in October 2009 but it was left hanging on my desktop while I was trying to verify it and then I sort of forgot it. Now you ask: for a year and a half?! Well, it was inside another folder... anyways, here it is finally. Those of you with a vinyl player are adviced to grab the Kneel Before the Master's Throne LP re-release of "The Satanist's Dream" which has these tracks as bonus along with another one from 1994. What I'm posting here is what a trader friend dubbed me as "Promo 1995" back in 1996 or 1997. I don't know if a proper cover art even exists, possibly not, but at least I don't have it. I just used the old Gospel Of The Horns logo (which I prefer). Originally I misread the handwritten tracklisting and had the second track as "The Wolf Lone", these things happen, apparently it is "..Lore".

The tape was not perfect I'm afraid, there's some audible wear & tear and it's probably dub of a dub of a dub of... well you get the picture. It's still very much listenable quality, the sound of the recording itself is quite typical demo sound and sounds very 90's Australian if you know what I mean. Thrashing warlike black metal, not as thrashy as the later material though. Very good anyways and recommeded!