The Shadow Dance - Stormy Visions demo '95

The Shadow Dance - Stormy Visions demo I 1995
1) Temple
2) Sea-Horse
3) Hologram Song

Sendspace / Yandex

Ok, time to do something non-metal for change and it's an accidental discovery, sort of, found among the tapes I borrowed from brother Grev some months ago. This is The Shadow Dance from Finland, Helsinki to be more precise. Check out their old school late 90s/early 00s webpage! No, really, you have to see it! Takes one back, that does. And yes children, back in the day pretty much all webpages looked like that. Or worse. Now that's been taken care off let's return to music. This is their first demo recorded in the fall '95. No cover I'm afraid, their site didn't have an image either. But it did have the band photo seen above which I decided to use to decorate the post. That's about as goth as you can get!

Three songs in roughly thirteen minutes, the first one "Temple" was also featured on a few compilations and a 1998 MCD of the same title. It's a slow building, moody and atmospheric piece with slightly ethereal quality and a bit more intense middle part. Main voice is clearly amateurish female singer who comes across borderline awkward but pleasant enough to swing the performance more to "innocent" side rather than "annoying" - that really sounds (reads, you old fool) vague, doesn't it? Second song is more upbeat, almost busy even. It almost brings some new wave song I've long forgotten to mind, almost but not quite! The final song, shortest of the lot, resembles the first one more but generally sticks to the same vein. Maybe a bit catchier, in the end. Reminds me a little of the Finnish Neverwood, less trippy and polished though. But simple is good sometimes and I actually enjoy this on occasion. Check it out, but bear in mind it is neither dark nor grim. Next one will be. Unless I decide to do another re-run, which I actually thought would've been a hilarious post after a hiatus but then wimped out.

Ordo Equilibrio - Live in Turku 19-09-98

Ordo Equilibrio - Live at TVO, Turku Finland 19th September 1998
1) Phosphorous Ascending / Anthem of Venus
2) Where Happiness Ruled
3) In the Grassy Fields, Where the World Goes to Sleep (We Kissed This World Goodbye) Again
4) Reaping the Fallen. The First Harvest…
5) The Perplexity of Hybris. I Glorify Myself
6) Living by the Sword. Dying by the Sword. The Lustrous Banquet.
7) Nature Seeking Equilibrium / War for the Principal of Balance.
8) Cleansing the Tainted Face of Reason

Mega / Depositfiles

Sunday chill out strikes back with a laidback yet very determined vengeance! Yeah, it is non-metal again and an item contributed to me already in '15, thanks to the sender you know who you are! I don't think we've ever featured a CMI artist before (countless Mortiis 'zine appearances do not count) despite the label's huge importance especially in the 90's. This is Ordo Equilibrio of Sweden, later known as Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio, formed by Tomas Pettersson of Archon Satani fame with his then-girlfriend back in '93. I liked the first album and the "I4I" EP quite a bit but was somehow slightly dissappointed in the second album and even though I still enjoyed it I lost interest after that and haven't really revisited them either. Wonder if I should? I'll ponder that later, what we have here is a live recording of their gig at TVO in Turku, organized by Kuolleen musiikin yhdistys aka KMY. KLV (one more three letter abbreviation and I start screaming) performed also but alas we do not have their part.

Eight songs for 38 minutes so it is not a very long gig but should be complete. Unless the person who recorded this took off and missed an encore or something. Don't believe that, I think I've seen this show mentioned or reviewed somewhere back in... another time and I seem to recall a mention of how short it was. The sound would be good if not for the occasionally amusing (provided you understand Finnish) but mostly just annoying and really distracting babbling of apparently the guy recording this and some oafish mate(s) of his. Oh how I hate it when people have friends when they are supposed to record something! Ordo Equilibrio's performance appears to be rather minimalistic yet ample. This might be a good time to mention they play "apocalyptic folk industrial" as the KMY poster puts it. Or in more words, a mixture of neofolk and martial industrial, some tracks being fully of one sort, others the second and some mix both or divert elsewhere. It's quite easylistening stuff compared to Archon Satani or some other CMI names like say Brighter Death Now or Deutsch Nepal but still too challenging to our audio (well, he could video it for all I know) chronicler's peasant pal. Oh well, if you enjoy Ordo Equilibrio or in general are into CMI bands you might enjoy this live recording provided you can successfully ignore the inane banter. Not understanding the language probably assists in the endeavour.

Mord Umysłu - Promo '98

Mord Umysłu - Promo tape 1998
1) I
2) II

Rusfolder / Sendspace

Ok, more slightly unusual stuff and again we are in Poland. Looks like a pattern has emerged, I should probably break it as soon as possible before it binds me. But let's not discuss that, let's rather talk about this sending I got already months ago, thanks to the sender, but hesitated to post due lack of information. This is an obscure 1998 recording by Mord Umysłu which roughly translates as murder of mind, or maybe mental murder? Something along those lines anyways. It was a project, most likely an one-shot, by Aro who is best known from Perunwit though he did have a host of other projects as well. Many of them with very limited discography when compared to Perunwit I should mention. There's not really much info about this two song tape on the internets, just passing mentions of the band on Metal Archives and this entry, in Polish, on a blog written by Zuchu666 who used to contribute on the venerated Raf666underground blog. RIP, it strongly seems.

Where was I? Yeah, that entry, it had a download link too but that's expired so I've been unable to compare. It seems extremely unlikely these would not be same recording though different rips certainly. The recording itself consists of two untitled (probably, no-one at least seems to know the titles!) tracks and runs for a bit over ten minutes. Music is... pretty hard to describe with a simple neat term, let's try dark ambient metal, how's that? Way more ambient than metal, mind you. While Perunwit is very folky stuff this isn't that sort of thing at all. The sound is good, quite mellow and floaty, better than on older Perunwit tapes so it might be a studio recording. Most likely just a result of better equipment and experience. Vocals are in Polish and gravelly sort of half-singing half-snarling with slight variation thrown in. Keys and effects are omnipresent and it has a slightly dreamlike quality to it, whatever-wave touches. To toss a very misleading comparison, let's say My Angel-era Arcturus meets late-90s Christ Agony. No, it's not really like that, I had a better one in mind but it got away. Still, an interesting tape, I should ask Zuchu to reupload that other rip so I could compare quality. Oh yeah, no cover as this probably didn't have one, Z speculated it was never "properly" released, just dubbed to people.

Fulgor - Eyequinox 7"EP '95

Fulgor - Eyequinox 7"EP 1995
1) Silent Waters Leading Deep
2) Art
3) The Flog

Mega

Today's post is the Fulgor 7"EP we discussed at the comments for the demo IV here. This is the rip and scans brother Misfits originally posted in the sadly deceased Lockjaw blog. We decided to make it available again here which means we're only missing the '93 rehearsal/promo from a complete Fulgor discography. Thanks again to Misfits for his work with this!

Merciless Records, known for being the label of several other German pioneers like Desaster, Martyrium and Ungod, released this EP back in '95 and describe the music as "Abusing Pattern Music" which is an ...interesting description, to say the least. The insert included in Misfits' scans states this EP was recorded "two years ago" which would mean '93, like basically all their material. So despite me calling it the trippiest Fulgor release I might be wrong about that, it's not really so drastically different from the last demos. Overall better sound quality than the tapes but otherwise direct continuation of "Our 10 Urphar Visions" and "To Be One with the Stars..." - they say themselves it completes the fourlogy of releases. Even though it is the fifth one. Wonder which one they're not counting in, the rehearsal/promo or the "Mystical Black Magic Metal" promo 06/93? Whatever, I'm not going to ramble on longer, if you liked the other releases you'll need this one too and I need the reh/promo!

Нова генерация - Отвъд смъртта (1992)

Нова генерация - Отвъд смъртта cassette album 1992
1) Йон и ана
2) На прага
3) Последната вълна
4) Момиче без спомени
5) Градината на света
6) Обичам
7) Берлин
8) Част от колекция
9) Отплуване
10) Сто години
11) Яйцето
12) Отвъд смъртта

Depositfiles

No repost so let's do something slightly more unusual again. Roughly a year ago I posted the '92 tape album by the Bulgarian Violetov General aka Виолетов генерал as seen here. Well, apparently today is the not-very-near future referred to in that entry for I decided to post another cassette album from the same year, also from a new / cold / dark wave (don't look at me, I copied that from Wikipedia!) band hailing from Bulgaria, Нова генерация alternatively known as Nova Generacia or even New Generation. Apparently they're a cult band in their own country, possibly elsewhere too, can't really say since I'm not at all well versed in this scene. Cover images borrowed from Discogs and rip from a dub I got years ago tape trading.

Ok, it must be said right away the dub is shitty, there's annoying disturbancy noise in it, very apparent in the first intro track already. For a while I wondered if it could be some sort of really, really stupid effect added to the music but that can't be. The sound would be otherwise fine so that's extra bothersome. If you happen to have a better rip I'd be happy to have it. Music is the usual wave stuff to be honest, with lyrics in Bulgarian which adds value to me since if I don't understand them, their quality can't bother me. The album title translates as "Beyond Death" so I assume it would be gloomy enough. Due the bad dub (I hate tapes, have I remembered to mention this?) not an optimal listen at all, but since I had ripped the damned thing I wanted to post it and perhaps spark someone's curiosity to find more about them. Not to mention possibly gain a better version for myself! Older material also welcome.

I better make the next post proper again.

Fulgor - Our 10 Urphar Visions demo '94

Fulgor - Our 10 Urphar Visions demo IV 1994
1) The Whispering Waters
2) Legend
3) Bachbakuala-Nuksiwäe
4) Fire (The Trilogy of Fire & Ice - pt. I)
5) Ice (The Trilogy of Fire & Ice - pt. II)
6) The Unation (The Trilogy of Fire & Ice - pt. III)
7) October 1844
8) I'm the Tears in Your Eyes
9) Lust, Flesh & Force
10) Mountains

Rusfolder / Mega

Another contribution and a thing I had been after for quite long, this is the fourth and final Fulgor demo, a two-man project already familiar to the Coven. Hmm, with Yappy's blog gone, I wonder if I should post Misfits' rip of the EP here too? But we weren't supposed to talk about that, focus, this rip was sent already early last year but I took my sweet time to get posting as I was hoping for a bit larger cover scan. But we'll make do with the tiny image, thanks anyways to the sender. If anyone can contribute a larger, more clear image would appreciate it. Also, did it have lyrics on the back?

Like "To Be One with the Stars..." this is a long demo, filling up a side of the ol' 90-min tape (with room for an obscure filler track, maybe I should post such next) and giving several albums a run for their money. In duration, obviously, not sound which is decent enough and clear. Musically this is, obviously, between the '93 tapes and the "Eyequinox" EP though nowhere near as trippy as that was. Tempo is most of the time leisurely slow to almost brisk midtempo and varying vocal styles are employed, from singsongy croak to so-and-so clean voice to whispers to howls and so forth. Guitars make a pleasant buzz, synths sound appropriately cheap, the programmed percussion is buried in the soft fuzz. Interludes and parts vary from vaguely ambient to the suddenly wave-y The Unation, the longest track I'm the Tears in Your Eyes sounds almost industrial and Lust, Flesh & Force goes all German in the tastefulness department. The demo manages to sound more cohesive than my description might lead you to believe. Not very evil or even that dark to be honest, but there is a special sort of feel to it. With a few edits it'd be great. Recommended for the fans of Fulgor, old Deutsch demos and the bizarre.

Azag-Thotch - Ritual demo 2002

Azag-Thotch - Ritual demo 2002
1) Прелюдия ночи
2) Cult of Death
3) Порывы холодного ветра
4) Преждевременное погребение
5) Реквием

Reuploaded

Recent posts have been very metal, haven't they? Let's have some belarussian dark ambient to balance that. I bought this tape pretty much on a whim and it does have sort of cool cover drawing too, does it not? Could be a black metal demo! I know little about the performers Belphegor and Sobnack, or label Wauckalack Prod., which seems to have released before this black metal; two demos by the still active Wackhanalija and a split tape of the nsbm bands Totenkopf and Hebrewdead. And a video (!) titled "The Forest" which I admit makes me very curious. At least Belphegor plays also in W and H, Sobnack probably too, under a different alias. I had to do a slight edit to the rip as the third track had a sudden burst of noise which I believe was not supposed to be there, most likely a screw up at some point of dubbing the tape, whatever the case I eliminated it. There are still some brief blippy noises in the last two tracks which I apparently did not prune off. Try to bear with them.

This is a pretty long tape, easily passing into album length. The first three tracks are in the standard 4-5 minute comfort zone while the last two are long and longer. The insert, which also provided most of what I know about Wauckalack prod's roster, describes this as dark ambient and I suppose this is the label I'll put this under. There are plenty of vocals too, as well as elements like percussion that give it a much more active nature than what most might expect from dark ambient releases. Closer to darkwave stuff at times really and some parts come close enough to dungeon synth to justify tagging that too. And to make people look. No but really, the afore-mentioned third track has that vibe aplenty and just listen to the state-of-the-art synth sound! I mentioned vocals, they're mostly whispers and black metal rasps which I find acceptable choices for this sort of music too. I'm not so wild about the first two faster and shorter bits (though the somewhat erratic pounding bits in "Cult of Death" are neat) but the dreary slower ones are more to my liking. It's another of those tapes that's both awful and awesome; terrific and terrible; ...I can't come up with a third similar pair of words... well, you know what I mean, almost equal mix of both components. Should be an interesting listen to at least part of the congregation. By the way, the first Wacky demo has quite similar sound to this, now that I've got it playing.

The Mystickal East - Herbz Niszra Nisa-Inranna II demo 1996

The Mystickal East - Herbz Niszra Nisa-Inranna II demo II 1996
1) The Arrival of Niszra's Hearse (Intro) / Crystal Jewel Zhevana
2) Blissful Void to Janna
3) Sharna Naruntila
4) Enigmaxur's New Hell
5) Eht Herbz, Way Down to the East
6) Rejoice in the Light... Sadness and Despair

RGhost / Yandex

The people voted for the Orient this time so let's do another contribution, this is The Mystickal East I was already referring to in this post and their 1996 demo "Herbz Niszra Nisa-Inranna II" which also might be the only release too. Me and my contributor have no more information on this project than Floral of Forever so anything you can tell is welcome. We suspect these projects might be by same people as there are similarities in sound. No cover obviously either so any image you can provide is welcomed. UPDATE: I was informed that both of FoF and TME are projects by the same person MD Aslan and hail from Brunei, not Malaysia! Aslan's other bands include(d) Rust Sakaraz, Noiratasya and Shadowmirth. Active fellow! UPDATE II: This interview and other sources indicate the name is spelled with a "k" so I've reuploaded it, corrected. I bet the song titles aren't correct either but those can't be verified without the covers.

The rip is slightly poorer quality than FoF, mainly notable on the first track where the sound fails a bit but gets better eventually. Musically this is most similar to the darkwavey parts of the FoF demo (tracks 3 and 4) though a metal influence feels more prominent here, the first track proper could almost be tagged black metal with the harsh voice and percussion. An intro starts the demo in a rather peaceful tone, it has a very nostalgic dungeon synthic feel to it. I should've really separated it from the main track now that I think of it again. Dammit. The tape fail I was referring to manifests in slightly muffled and wonky sound that suddenly gets better and clearer, as if someone had been dubbing this from behind a closed door and then finally gets the bright idea to open the door and enter the room. "Crystal Jewel Zhevana" part of the track is practically black metal, more Summoning that darkwave. Three shorter tracks follow, first more like an interlude and second a short instrumental and quite metal with the percussion. The melody there sounds annoyingly familiar but can't quite put my finger on it. Third one is gloomy, dramatic and more ambientish/dungeon synth, unfortunately a bit messy sounding too, most notably when the vocals are present. The fifth song continues similar to the fourth but is much longer and has more variation with percussion and tempo changes added. It changes more metalesque somewhere before half way. Last track is the longest of the lot and similarily slower tempo but more metal. This is pretty hard to put into a single, simple category. Recommended for people into mixtures of ambient, wave, ds and synth-black metal, collectors of Eastern demonology and the generally curious.

Floral of Forever - Ad Infinitum promo 1996

Floral of Forever - Ad Infinitum promo 1996
1) Prologue for My Own Obscure Nature
2) ...As If There Would Be Another Time to Delve
3) The Mysteries of It's Great Floras
4) ...I Am the King of This Isolated Golden Forest
5) ...Ad Infinitum

RGhost / Mega

Sunday night chill out time is here and we continue with obscure things without covers. This is again a contribution, thanks to the sender, and looks like they had these sort of projects going on over in Malaysia as well for that's where tonight's recording hails from. Or so I've been told. This is (hopefully, spelling?) Floral of Forever and a 1996 promo tape and that's pretty much all I know about it. Possibly shares members with the equally obscure The Mystical East. A cover scan and really any information is welcome!  

UPDATES: 1. I was informed that both of FoF and TME are projects by the same person M.D. Aslan and hail from Brunei, not Malaysia! Aslan's other (metal) bands include Rust Sakaraz, Noiratasya and Shadowmirth.
2. Added a picture of Aslan shot for another project of his as a placeholder for this post. Thanks to Eugene for sending it.

Ok, music: almost seventeen minutes of... well, this is kind of a hard one to say! First track is an ambient intro, second is a short ambient bit that also has what sounds like a wind instrument thrown in while the third track gets pretty upbeat, adds percussion and sounds more like darkwave with a slight sugar high. Fourth continues in the same line but with even more obnoxious "drum" sound. And other sounds. It's kind of fascinating while almost disastrous. It's almost like a metal song gone slightly ambient/wave-y. Harsh vocals make an appearance in the end part, further adding to the speculation that this might be a side project by some metal band. The last and longest song is again ambient and a nostalgic, moody one. Actually I'd say it's pretty much dungeon synth and the first tracks might as well be called that too. A really obscure and odd thing, this. Recommended for the usual curio seekers and I'd really like to know more about this!

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.