Bal-Sagoth - Rehearsal January 1994

Bal-Sagoth - Rehearsal January 1994
1) Intro
2) Battle for the Topaz Throne
3) Dreaming of Atlantean Spires
4) The Fall of the Gleaming Citadels (Before the Dark Fury of the Elder Gods)
5) Enthroned in the Halls of the Serpent Kings
6) By the Blaze of the Fire Jewels
7) Thus Spake the Silent Halls of Valasia

Mega / RGhost

Today's post completes the gradual shift back to metal and is another thing discovered from the dungeons of our lord Fenrirsson, thank you for the rip! UK's Bal-Sagoth might be a familiar name to some of you, they've churned out six albums over a ten year period, the latest already a decade ago, and a demo back in '93 which got a re-release in 2013. If you've an interest in fantasy metal I'm quite sure you've encountered them before and basically know what to expect from this rehearsal tape. It's surprisingly long, over 36 minutes, but the ambient intro track here is remarkably lengthy, especially when compared to the metal tracks that follow, at seven minutes forty-eight seconds. It's followed, naturally, by the shortest song of the lot which takes slightly less than three minutes. The rest are more in the expected running times of four plus minutes, last one nearly equaling the intro. Pretty clear but not very powerful sound allows necessary elements be observed.

I should mention I've never been much into Bal-Sagoth, my initial experience with "A Black Moon Broods over Lemuria" left me slightly dissappointed and then "Starfire..." went totally over the top with the pomp, silliness, goofy breaks, circus synths and especially the vocals which I really disliked, way too much narration and just aaaargh enough, enough, ENOUGH! Where was I? Yeah, older B-S though sounds slightly more reasonable and ugh, kinda like old Cradle Of Filth I have to say. Bet they love(d) that comparison! Considering how little patience I have for the post-debut B-Sags (though I haven't heard all the albums) this is quite listenable. But enough from me, give it a go if you're thus inclined.

Torech Ungol / Gates of Azharia - Split 2004

Torech Ungol / Gates of Azharia - Split ...CD(-r?) 2004
Torech Ungol:
1) Le Désastre des Champs d'Iris
2) Le Torture de Hurin
3) Le Serment de Feanor
Gates of Azharia:
4) I
5) II
6) III
7) IV
8) V

Mediafire / 4shared

Let's do a split today. This one was sent to me by brother Emptiness Cycle who had scoured it from somewhere in the murky depths of the inter nets, thanks! From France, Torech Ungol and Gates of Azharia. It's not quite the '04 demo "Nirnaeth Arnoediad" that one of my readers requested a few... damn it, over five years ago! Yeah, but it did sate my curiosity about the band at least and perhaps it'll help unearth that tape too. I'm not sure if this should be considered a split album or rather a split demo released on CDr (I'm guessing the format by the cover, real sharp). Whatever, it was released by Inspire Hate Records, as was the demo too, generally better known for their NS-oriented bands in the early 00's.

Torech Ungol's part is wandering in the misty, ill-mapped realms of "ambient black metal" which generally tends to mean black metal vocals and some (usually artificial) percussion over what otherwise might pass as dungeon synth or dark ambient, perhaps with stringed instruments sitting quietly on the backseat while the keyboards drive and vocals make ruckus on the front seat. Must... not... namedrop... Summoning... oh damn it! Besides the raspy default voice we also have spoken parts on the second song, some silly effect-laden growly spoken parts, all in French and this one is actually more driven by acoustics, said voices and wind-effects. Can't forget the winds, no sir. It's very barely metal, I must say. Third one has more spoken words, synth and drum machines. As the band's name and song titles give away, this is very Tolkien-inspired stuff.

Gates of Azharia's segment is slightly longer and divided into five untitled parts which I insist on labeling with the ol' Roman numerals. How I love those! Their part is clearly more ambient of the two and has somewhat pagan vibe to it, even slightly martial what with the first track's drumming and chanted vocals. Reminds me vaguely of the Emglev stuff I posted earlier. II is folky and somewhat upbeat, III in similar vein but moodier, IV is a melancholic piece characterized by acoustic strumming and features some whispery voices. Last part is similar to the first. I must say I prefer Gates on this split, easily. Grab this if the names dropped ring any bells other than alarm ones.

Keep of Kalessin - Skygger av Sorg demo 1997

Keep Of Kalessin - Skygger av Sorg demo I 1997
1) Skygger av Sorg I
2) Ruiner av en Krig
3) Skygger av Sorg II

Yandex

Moving once again to Norway, still more from Henu's pile of contributions this is the first and only demo by the Norwegians Keep Of Kalessin, released by the Greek Demonion Productions, run by Alex from Macabre Omen. Thanks for the rip and scans! Nowadays KoK is quite different from what they used to be in the early days, which naturally applies to a host of their countrymates as well. At the beginning they played melodic, atmospheric even, sort of ...well, Norwegian, black metal highly influenced by fantasy themes, especially Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea-series from where the name is derived. But you could have looked that up yourselves.

All three tracks were renamed, altered and re-recorded for their debut album "Through Times of War" and this demo has been quite readily available in the inter nets anyways so I'm not going to write a novel here, not even a novella, pamphlet or any other form of short story. Let's just say that this kind of fits with the "theme" of sorts with the fantasy-oriented black/dark metal and synth music that has been present on the blog with the Elven Witchcraft releases/distributed material. It's quite enjoyable actually, in certain easy listening sort of way.

Dream Upon Tombs - Dream Upon Tombs demo 1997

Dream Upon Tombs - Dream Upon Tombs demo 1997
1) Black Tears Run From Crystal Eyes
2) Tamora, Moonlight Bride
3) On Tombs Borne Timeless Dreams

Mega / RGhost

Another contribution today, this Australian demo that seems quite unknown was sent to me by comrade Profoundemonium already a while ago, thank you for the contribution! Dream Upon Tombs was a two-man project by Jarrod Taylor and someone called David. P included cover scans that come with lyrics and some information.

Three songs of which two are a bit longer and the last, shortest one an instrumental. Musically I suppose this might be called romantic black metal, based on the lyrics and to a degree the rather atmospheric and melodic music. Or it might be better to just go with dark metal. The ye Olde English lyrics of the first song and the more romantic second one's would suggest fantasy themes so I guess some description monstrosity like "dark, romantic fantasy metal" could be fitting? Unfortunately the source tape seems to be a bit worn and crappy as the sound is somewhat unsteady, teetering from side to side in the beginning of the first track. Fortunately it gets better quite soon and isn't the worst example we have faced. Still bothersome. Otherwise a decent demo sound. If the description and flawy rip didn't scare you away, you might find this a quite interesting listen if you're into melodic stuff. The last instrumental song is a keyboard piece and makes me wonder if either of these guys ever had a neo-classical or dungeon synth project?

Ordo Draconis - When the Cycle Ends demo 1997

Ordo Draconis - When the Cycle Ends demo I 1997
1) A Crimson Dawn
2) Fading Daylight
3) The Gloaming of the Haunted Eve
4) The Nightwanderer

Mediafire

This demo is another of master Sorvali's sendings so thanks to him for the rip + scans and it's the first tape of the Dutch band Ordo Draconis, often seen labeled as black metal but that's not really right as this is straight out fantasy metal with dark/black metal sound. This is also one of those tapes I keep thinking was released by Elven Witchcraft but nope, it was distributed by EW (among others) and released by the band themselves.

The demo consists of four tracks, of which the second one is a short instrumental. Sound is quite good, strong and mostly clear though it does get a bit clogged at the faster bits with vocals on. According to the covers the music was recorded live which certainly contributes to the energy of the performance. Melodic, at times symphonic even, dark fantasy metal, I suppose you know the sort, with atmospheric slower breaks, guitar leads, raspy black metal vocals and some female voices provided by Femke from Gandillion. The main vocalist/bassist Moloch apparently is nowadays in Hell Militia, as a side note. This is quite well performed and I remember liking this back when it was released but it's not really my cup of coffee these days. Though like tea it's not really that repelling or anything, a bit is fine every now and then, but I prefer more bitter, black beverage. Give them a listen if you're into melodic and atmospheric metal or interested in EW-associated material, I'm off to get me some coffee.

Heresiarh - Dragons of War demo 1998

Heresiarh - Dragons of War demo 1998
1) Horns of War
2) The Cruel Bard
3) Lamenting Shield-maid
4) Dragons Domain
5) Wolfghosts (In Winter)
6) Ælfwine
7) Hidden Live Track

Zippyshare / Mega

South of Estonia lies Latvia, our next stop with this contribution picked from the seemingly inexhaustible supply of rips Henri sent me. Strangely enough, I had also ripped my copy already long time ago but it got stuck in the unfinished items folder, so thanks for saving me the trouble! Though I had to work a bit on my audio to add the seventh, untitled "hidden" bonus live song master Sorvali had either forgotten or left off for some reason. But back to business, this is Heresiarh, Elven Witchcraft's Morgueldar Dragonseye's own band with their one and only demo. Scans of the quite fancy covers are included.

Heresiarh labels themselves as "dragon metal" which on this release means melodic metal based on dark/black metal with vague touches of gothic and folk to it. Vocals are divided between the roars and growls of Morgueldar and the female voice provided by Rasa which has a strange divisive quality to it; I remember I used to like the vocals back when I got this tape originally, then much later returning to it I could not stand them. Now I'm somewhere on the fence, but still can't say I'd enjoy this demo like in my youthful days. In theory the sound is good for a demo, but also there something bothers me. Would be interesting to hear this as an instrumental version, or with vocals mixed lower or something. The additional live track sounds frustratingly familiar but I can't remember what it is, I'm pretty sure it's either a cover or some traditional piece that has also been used by someone else. The great Skyforger pops to mind but not any particular song that'd fit timeframe. As usual, if you have knowledge do share. Interestingly, I also enjoy this performance more than the studio recording. I guess that's not really a surprise to people who know me by now. Nice screams by Rasa. Recommended for people driven to collect all Elven Witchcraft releases, fantasy metal enthusiasts and, uh, people who enjoy epic sort of melodic metal I suppose. It just doesn't click with me these days like it used to, though I'm likely to eventually change my mind again.

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.

Druadan Forest - Mirkwood demo 1998

Druadan Forest - Mirkwood demo I 1998
1) Boromir
2) Misty Mountains
3) Mirkwood
4) Ered Gorgoroth
5) Leaping Stars
6) Rivendell

Depositfiles / Yandex

It's been some time since I've last name-dropped Summoning, hasn't it? I thought so! Ok, here's a domestic act, rip and scans courtesy of mr. Sorvali again, who will help me remedy the situation. Druadan Forest was a side-project of mr. Kalma, at the time a member of Azaghal (and various projects of that band) and presently drummer of Oath (who recently put out a debut full-length album). DF released two demo tapes and this is the first of them.

I used to have a pretty low quality dub of this back in the tape trading days of my youth and I remember being quite unimpressed with it. Now that I listen to this I wonder how come I disliked it so in the past, the start of "Boromir" is like Summoning circa "Minas Morgul"/"Dol Guldur" with a rougher overall demo sound, even cheaper synth, clumsier drum machine and less competent vocals. Well, there's that. Despite how negative that description seems, I find this quite charming and if I want to listen to poor man's Summoning I'll pick this over polished, modern junk like Caladan Brood any day! I had recollections this would've been more ambient/dungeon synth than it turned out to be, I suppose I was thinking about some other project, Nan Dungortheb perhaps? Too bad Henri didn't have the second demo as well, would like a quality rip of that as well. You might be surprised that only one of the songs is a long epic (Misty Mountains, 9+minutes) and the others are practically in pop song durations. The last track is very... surprising and different, I'll give it that. But enough of this, I want to get back to playing Baldur's Gate (no, not the enhanced edition) instead of typing crap so have at thee!

DAI - The Advent (1993)

DAI - The Advent CD 1993
1) The Advent
2) Squir Akyz
3) Beasts of DAI
4) Celebration of Second Sun
5) Drink Black Water
6) The Temple
7) Guard of Nobody's Land
8) DAI
9) Attack of Black Bears
10) The Monk
11) 443 Statues of DAI
12) Expedition of Screaming Serpents
13) Prophecy of DAI
14) Born of Harpy
15) World War
16) Marhovly
17) Squir Akyz (Alternate version)

Depositfiles

Today I've decided to post an album I've been looking for a long time but with very little success as I loathe to pay ridiculous amounts of money, which I could invest in booze and Touhou merchandise, for old CDs. Even if they're obscure Czech releases like this. DAI was a Czech band that started in the late 80's like better known, legendary countrymates Törr, Master's Hammer and Root. Early demos were pretty much first wave black metal but the sound and music evolved quite a bit over the years, much like Root. Finding this online was very hard too for a long time so I eventually decided to rip my cassette dub which was made from CD. Of course shortly afterwards brother raf posted a rip in his blog. I left mine laying unfinished for a while but then I thought I'd get it done since I had already started and the end result was ok. Seeing how little known this band and album are I wanted to upload it here as well.

The album has an intimidating tracklisting but since many of the songs are quite short the total duration is less than 55 minutes. I had somewhere a sheet with the lyrics as well as copies of the covers but I've been unable to locate them. Shame. This is a concept album with a quite bizarre fantasy story if I recall correctly. Musically they blend Czech black metal with southern bm style, death metal and some more progressive solutions. Vocals are mostly in the deathly grunt vein, similar to many Greek bands. I could write more but I really want to stop, get up and go to bar so have a listen for yourselves. Recommended.

Oh yeah, the album has a silly ending.

Ewigkeit - Beyond Realms Unknown demo 1996

Ewigkeit - Beyond Realms Unknown demo 1996
1) The Enchantment...
2) Christendom Falls
3) Jewel of My Empire
4) O Elbereth

Mediafire / Depositfiles

Inspired by the recent discussion of oddities in the comments, today's post is Ewigkeit from the UK with their '96 demo. Though this isn't that odd yet really, the project would turn stranger a bit later. I got this dubbed from one of my traders who sent me a xerox of the cover as well which I've scanned and included in the download. The dub is of unknown generation and some tape wear and hiss is present, consider yourself fairly warned. Otherwise the demo has a pretty standard not-pro-studio sound of the era.

At this point Ewigkeit's music had not yet turned to the more experimental paths, this second demo (and I presume first one too - haven't heard it) is more in the vein of atmospheric (black) metal with synths and drum machine... well it sounds a lot like Summoning. Not as epic though, this is a quite short demo at roughly eleven minutes. Actually due that comparison some of the songs feel like they end up too soon, without proper build up. Well, to be honest it's not so alike as this is more guitar-oriented, in the end of the day I suppose it sounds like a cross between some German demo band doing atmospheric bm crossed with an early 90's Greek sound... and a little bit of Summoning. Ugh, listen for yourself and come up with a better description. I'm not going to compare this with the albums and other later stuff as I haven't heard anything more recent for years - I vaguely recall disliking whatever one it was that I heard and avoided the rest. But this one is okay, maybe I should give them another go.

Norseman - Advance Tape 1995

Norseman - Advance Tape for Demo 1995
1) Pathos of Life
2) Rugged Prayer
3) The Healer
4) Aurora Borealis
5) Peter Pan Theme (bonus track)

Reuploaded

Something (not completely) different this time, here's some heavy metal in the vein of Manowar and company from Norseman. The actual monicker they chose to use is fantasy metal and you probably are wondering why am I posting this here as usually traditional metal, thrash and such are left to comrades at Lockjaw and other places. Well, I just am, exceptions happen. I remember seeing this tape in a couple of tape trader lists back in the 90's and idly wondered about it, never actually getting around to have it dubbed for me. Fast forward to last year or year before that and me spotting this in brother Grev's collection, finally deciding to get around to listen to it. Epic backstory. Probably had no cover, if the demo 1995 was actually released it might have one.

Enough of the background babble and the Manowar reference aside, what is it like? It's heavy metal with fantasy themes, moving mostly at epic midtempo paces and sounds actually quite good. I like the voice too, it's a bit more on the raspy side of the scale rather than high pitched banshee wailing. The sound is as expected of demo quality but I kind of like it, it sounds kind of dark and well, heavy. The band's 1996 & 1997 studio sessions were released on a CD, probably remastered and re-somethinged, by Korso records in 2007. This is probably not going to interest the average reader but give it a chance.

Draconis Sanguis - Gloria Draconis demo 1999

Draconis Sanguis - Gloria Draconis demo 1999
1) Chapter I - Chaos of Fate
2) Chapter II - Shadows of the Past
3) Chapter III - Under a Spell
4) Chapter IV - Gezeichnet für die Ewigkeit
5) Chapter V - Sword of Wrath
6) Chapter VI - Verbranntes Land
7) Chapter VII - Der Schwur
8) Gloria Draconis - The Final Chapter
9) Epilogue - Schicksal

Reuploaded

German stuff this time. Sounds a lot like black metal but isn't, this is black metal based fantasy metal and a concept demo to boot. Sounds like melodic later 90s bm strewn with some awkward sounding clean singing (reminds me a bit of early Darkwoods My Betrothed actually) and spoken narrative bits which make me only a little bit uncomfortable. But those spoken parts are always hard to pull off without sounding silly. The grating main vocal does ok.

I ordered this demo with a bunch of others from Elven Witchcraft, who specialized in fantasy/mythology-oriented stuff. Déjà vu, I think I've written about EW earlier so I'm not going to babble anymore, download or don't. Recommended for fantasy enthusiasts, fans of melodic dark metal and curio seekers.

Nargothrond - Moria C-LP 1999

Nargothrond (Portugal) - Moria Cassette LP 1999
1) Middle-Earth's 13th Age
2) Ungolianth
3) Black Realm Of Morgoth
4) Orcish Steel
5) Golden Wyrm Of Angband
6) In The Ruins Of Nargothrond
7) Under The Red-Eye's Banner
8) The Fires Of Gorgoroth
9) Moria
10) The Witch-King Of Angmar
11) The One Ring (Interlude)
12) Return Of The Black Foe
13) Pussywhipped (bonus track - S.O.D. cover)

Depositfiles

Something a little different this time - the cassette album of Portugal's Nargothrond, side project of Firstborn Evil, later known as The Firstborn, members. As you can see from the titles above, this is very Tolkien-influenced material and based on black metal. However, don't dive in expecting material in the vein of Summoning, like the bonus cover track might hint the approach is quite different.

I remember it being referred to as "orcish battle metal" or something on similar lines - it's noisy, chaotic, brutal and warlike on first take and I must admit I was far from overjoyed when I got the tape in 1999. I was (and still am) a big fan of Summoning and Tolkien too and was at least checking out just about anything so themed. Now as I listen to it after a long time I find myself enjoying the punkish yet still very metal racket. There is more than at first assaults the ear so this was a nice re-discovery. Not trve but fun listen, why not give it a try?