Drunemeton - Recital to the Shinning Moon demo '96

Drunemeton - Recital to the Shinning Moon demo '96
1) The Wolves of Winter: Part 1: Chorus During Early Nigth
2) The Wolves of Winter: Part 2: Leaving the Forest
3) The Wolves of Winter: Part 3: The Hurting
4) The Wolves of Winter: Part 4: The Last Breath
5) The Dancing Fost
6) The Hand's Cuting
7) Triumph of the Ice

Zippyshare / Yandex

Today I wanted to do an item that has been bothering me for almost twenty years but finally some weeks ago the matter was lain to rest, thanks to the contribution by comrade Dead Christmas! The bothersome item in question was this '96 demo by "Polish" (so I was told back in the tape trading days) synth project Drunemeton of which I had a very questionable dub. Fortunately DC had acquired the demo during his quest for Nazgul Productions items and judging from the information on the covers I believe this too was a French artist after all. The rip also revealed how hopelessly lacking my dub was. Cover scan is enclosed and I have uploaded a very slightly edited version of the rip; I increased the volume just a notch and cut away a bit of noise after the first song that was not part of the demo.

At roughly 42½ minutes this easily reaches album length and is divided into two halves so to say, first twenty minutes consisting of the epic The Wolves of Winter parts 1-4. Instrumental, somewhat neoclassical sounding dungeon synth mixing (I'm taking this from the covers directly) Akai, Oberheim and Roland synthesizers with grand piano and some flutes. I've cut each part into individual tracks as the tracklisting gives them separate running times and they divided easily enough. The second half is made of three tracks with slightly more individual character to each of them. The Dancing Fost (I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be ...Frost but I didn't go and correct the titles, like I always say it is Necromansy and that's it!) starts almost harshly and proceeds to change to more introspective moods before slowly picking momentum again, only for it to drop while approaching the end. Synthesizer sounds rather than piano dominate The Hand's Cuting (again, should be ...Cutting but no correcsies!) giving it an aura of menace that changes to desolation as the instrumentation gets scarcer and more minimalistic, developing to a trippy dark ambient end. Last song Triumph of the Ice is the longest of the lot and reprises some of the moods from the first parts while featuring a very distinct classical guitar part in the middle before a long build up to a slow but triumphant ending with percussive elements and orchestra hits. Wintry, melancholic and rather nostalgic stuff, decent enough sound though not by any means polished. Reminds me at times of Emglev (again!) and in places even Lamentation. Few places. And just a little. But much more Emg than Lam. Recommended for fans of French synth projects, dungeon explorers and Nazgul Productions enthusiasts.

Secrets of the Moon - Rehearsals '96-'99

Secrets of the Moon - Rehearsals '96-'99
1) Praise the Kaos
2) Day of Doom
3) The Morbid Dying of the Universe
4) Intermezzo
5) Vanitas
6) Idolize Me
7) My Life for Yours
8) Sailà
9) Under a Funeral Moon
10) Through Golden Spheres
11) Fanatica
12) Thrash Song
13) His Fire My Flame
14) Lonesome in Forest at Nightfall
15) Fanatica
16) Orion in the Nightsky
17) Leichengott / Under the Sign
18) Sodomatic Rites
19) Absu Song
20) Possession

 Reuploaded

One last post for a year ending and again me and brother LKS are in Germany, in familiar company too. For the third time, I present you Secrets of the Moon and this time there is A LOT of stuff, a compilation tape (just over 90 minutes) of various rehearsal takes and bits the band had dubbed to some folks back in... I guess 1999 since that's where the last material on it dates. Scan of the tape cover, just a simple handwritten thing, can be seen above and within. Many thanks for sharing this, LKS!

Since you can see the cover right there I'm not going to go track-by-track saying what is recorded when... I wonder why I actually bothered typing the damn tracklisting in the first place? Because you always do that. Right, let's get back on rails, bro LKS sent this ripped as side A & B and I further meddled with it a little, some strategic normalising and a bit of silence cut here and there as I chopped it into separate tracks. Thanks to my troublesome ways, the sound level is considerably more even than in the original dub but does not really differ otherwise. Most of the time they've a good, pretty clear rehearsal sound . Please note that majority of the tape is instrumental! I should probably add it to tags as it's well over half of the content. More like three quarters actually. The two covers are no surprise as versions exist on other tapes. Tracks 12 and 19 have obviously very rough working titles to them and I think both 2 and 3 appeared under different titles on albums later, but can't right off the bat identify 'em. They were probably further processed too. Same with track four I think. Someone better at this game might do us all a favor and identify what became of them for much rejoicing and facepalming.

Ok, I'd love to drone on, seeing how this still is one of my favourite bands, but some of us have work to do tonight and I think I should sleep too. I bid you farewell now and wish you success, prosperity, darkness and perversion for the upcoming year!

Malitiae - My Inner Blasphemy promo '96

Malitiae - My Inner Blasphemy promo 1996
1) Goathead (Intro)
2) Förintelsens tron
3) Baphometh

links deleted as it wasn't correct item!

More contributions follow, this is Malitiae from Sweden, loved by a few, dreaded by a couple more and unknown to vast majority. Not devotees of the Coven though! This is the second tape, of which Lord Azazel Djinn himself commented: "About the other tapes, the second one was in many ways worse (though completely different), whereas the two following ones were standard black metal." Thanks for the chance to hear it go to my collaborateur, the man who originally ripped and scanned this, monsieur Ronan of Psychopathological zine and my lovely assistant not doing a magic show my collaboratrice, the good sister Borderline who forwarded the rip to me and acquired permission to feature it here. Merci beaucoup! Hvala vam puno!

Ok, enough banter, let's move to business: three songs, first being an intro and two "regular" ones, total a bit under ten minutes. Good sound but unfortunately Ronan has ripped it at slightly too loud volume so it sounds a bit more abrasive and broken than it should. This is fully intrumental and resembles most fellow Swedes Landscape and actually a bit Emglev too, now that I listen to the second song while typing this. This might pass as metal, ambient/black metal of some sort perhaps, if one is feeling generous, with the percussion and all. Third track not so much, it's basically keyboards on the background and piano that is beaten played like percussion on the forefront. At the end of the day I can't agree with the artist's assessment of this being worse of the two early demos. And now I'm really curious to hear how he progressed on the stardard black metal demos III & IV! Not obviously for everyone but much easier to recommend than the first effort.

UPDATE: Lord Azazel Djinn sent me his rip of this promo and it's not the one I got from Borderline who got it from Ronan!!! Almost same running time but different material! It has vocals and sounds more like a continuation of "Azazel" demo, I'll probably upload it here as soon as I get some sort of clearence what the hell the item Ronan had ripped is then, as he had provided scans I wonder if he somehow managed to do wrong side of the tape or what ever else may have occurred. Damn it! Now I wonder if it could be a Conjured to Baphometh recording, also by L.A.D. and in that vein.

UPDATE II: Yup, it's partial Conjured to Baphometh demo, not "My Inner Blasphemy" and links are removed. I will make a repost with Lord A.D.'s sending, stay tuned! And eventually CtB demo too.

Moonrise - Rehearsal Track '96

Moonrise - Rehearsal Track 1996
1) Untitled

RGhost / Yandex

Let's do another short instrumental rehearsal thingy from a Finnish band and this is also a partial fulfilment of sister Borderline's wish from spring '15. I finally found the single rehearsal track of Finnish Moonrise, which could rightfully be considered an Unhola sideproject I guess, we discussed in comment section for... Realm of Frost rehearsal track I think? I had no title for this and have not heard either the instrumental rehearsal '95 mentioned on the Archives nor the '96 promo so I can't say if this would be one of the tracks from either. Or actually the '95 recording itself for that matter.

Sound is very good, less bass-heavy than some of the Unhola material and it's more Norsecore than mid-90's typical Finnish. It sounds very familiar too, I thought for a moment that this might be a Burzum cover but nope, it's a bit different and faster than the track I was thinking about. Knowing the accursed cassette media it could run at wrong speed though. Oh well, anyways it's a brisk midpace song with an urgent drive to it and quite straightforward nature. Would really love to hear the '96 promo and see what variation of vocals Margoath used for this project.

Gorgoroth - Rehearsal Tape '93

Gorgoroth [fin] - Rehearsal tape 1993 (probably)
1) Trapped in Icy City
2) Mournfull Gathering
3) Mournfull Gathering (pitkä versio)

Zippyshare / Yandex

Sorry, it's not the better known Norwegian Gorgoroth but the quite obscure Finnish one. As usual, I'm posting a Finnish item for the 6th December which, in case you've forgotten, is the independence day of Finland. So yeah, this is actually obscure enough for both me and brother Suuret Muinaiset, who dubbed me this and some other things some time ago, to not know what year it is from. Or that's how I remember it, I seem to have misplaced brother SM's letter that came with the tape (a letter is like an email written on a sheet of paper, possibly manually, and sent via the postal services, kids) but I'm almost certain he couldn't recall it anymore. Anyways, it's early 90's and I've seen it before on some trading list or another but fail to recall if it had a year listed or just "9x" or perhaps "9?" instead. I'm thinking '91 or '92, '93 at the very latest. Brother Grev, have you heard about this? Got any clues? Anyone?
UPDATE: As expected, Grev replied quickly and thinks this is '93. Let's go with that until proven otherwise and thanks to both SM & G

Obviously no cover for this, I believe they just dubbed it to some people like was a common practice at the time. All the three songs are instrumental and as you probably notice, the third one is just a longer version of the second track. And yes, I know it's misspelled, but if that's how they did it so do we! After all, it's "Necromansy" and "In Conspirasy with Satan" (though some heretics go "correct" the latter) and that's it! Everything is instrumental and music is sort of black/death metal hybrid, the reason we're calling it black in the first place is that I'm under the impression they considered themselves that. Rehearsal sound is a little messy for the bass, especially on faster parts (typical), but generally clear enough to distinguish all the necessary details. Kind of booming and echo-y. The last song's sound differs a little from the first two, being a bit more subdued. Another take with equipment slightly moved I suppose. The music isn't as crude and simple as you might expect, it's actually pretty melodic, more on the melancholic side rather than brutal and actually interesting enough for me to wonder how they would've sounded on a proper demo.

Well, that we're probably never going to know, unless somebody appears with another recording, perhaps done under a different monicker. I don't expect that to happen so let us just enjoy this for what it is. Or not, if you dislike instrumental stuff with rehearsal sound. Personally I like instrumental recordings better than ones with bad vocals so I can go ahead and give this a seal of Approval, Recommendation, Support and Excellence. "Excellence" might be going a bit far but I'm on a jovial mood today.

Blackthorn - Instrumental Rehearsal 95

Blackthorn - Empire of the Ancient Time instrumental rehearsal tape 1995
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX

Rusfolder / Mediafire

Another lengthy one for today, let's return to Poland with the last of the Blackthorn releases sent to me by LKS. Thanks for the contributions! This is a 40+ minutes instrumental rehearsal tape from 1995, most likely post-"Ancient" material and lacking a tracklisting. It might be the same as the one featured on the 2010 compilation tape listen on Metal Archives as "Empire of the Ancient Time" though that one lists only seven songs. But just how many instrumental rehearsal tapes did they record and dub people in '95? Well, it's actually quite possible the answer may be "a lot" as we've certainly seen examples of that. Unless I come across a rip, or a physical copy, of the "Empire of the Ancient Time" compilation we remain uncertain.
UPDATE:
A reader verified it's the same recording, the version on the compilation is a bit cleaned up and tracks  I & II (the aborted takes) were left off it.

Alright, like a proper scholar I started to write and upload once again before taking a refresher listen to the item in question and now I must say I'm almost certain this is the "Empire..." rehearsal as tracks I & II are merely "false starts" for III and I must assume the compilation's tracklisting lumps them all together. Not going to meddle with this anymore so we go with it as it is!

The sound is quite easy on the ears even for a novice, drums get buried to a muffled rumble leaving guitar dominant. It's a slightly messy yet pleasant sort of buzz which is nice seeing this is a rather stripped down effort as fully instrumental recording. I was going to write a bit longer entry for this but a brief yet annoying episode with my inter nets browser made me want to get done with this quickly. If you like old Polish black metal, especially the other Blackthron releases, you'll want to check this out.

Alviss - Fafnir demo I '96 (?)

Alviss - Fafnir demo I 1995 or 1996?
1) Eternal Forest
2) Aura
3) Übermensch

RGhost / Sendspace

It's already Sunday again, time passes faster than necessary. Let us chill then with some German dungeon synth contributed by, once again, brother LKS. Thank you! This is the first demo by the rather obscure Alviss of which I know practically nothing about and the covers aren't helping much. Just the band name, demo title, "demo I" and tracklisting. And some "borrowed" Tolkien art for cover and a sunwheel symbol inside. I was supposed to post this already long, long ago but had issues dividing it into tracks.

This is a very short demo, a bit less than eight minutes for the three tracks which also again blend into each other except where they don't; there's an unfortunate cassette-related fail on the second song "Aura" with the sound dropping out for almost two seconds. I included a "fixed" version with simply the blank bit removed but that does not sound right either. Blessed tapes, have I cursed them often enough already? So unless the artist originally managed to botch up all the demos I'd appreciate a rip with unblemished audio.

Music itself is minimalistic, simple and purely instrumental dungeon synth. That probably does not read as a very exciting description but once I got over the track division issues and the audiofail on "Aura" I've found myself enjoying this probably more than I should. Why not try it if you like minimalist one-man forest ambient?

UPDATE: I've been told that the Alviss material is to be re-released this year so look forward to that! I will return with further info once I learn more about it.

Satanis Nocturne - Essence of the Dark Age demo 1998

Satanis Nocturne - Essence of the Dark Age demo 1998
1) Transcendental Overture
2) Unholy Ground
3) Desolate Aeons
4) The Conjuring
5) Passage into Shadows

4shared / Yandex

Sunday twilight chillout zone Mother's Day edition with an obscure US project contributed by our comrade master Fenrirsson, many thanks for this interesting treat! We don't have much information on Satanis Nocturne but apparently it was a project of someone involved with Anwyl and it was released by Nicola of Hellflame whom F contacted prior to us uploading this. Unfortunately he's lost his copy of the tape also years ago so no cover but at least we got his blessing for this necromancy. If you happen to possess an original copy please get in touch with scans!

This is neoclassical Satanic dark ambient music, fully instrumental (yayness!) and with touches of darkwave and dungeon synth. Very soundtrack-like also, quite easy to listen to for a neophyte but pleasing enough for a grizzled veteran. Or at least for me. I speculated with Fenrirsson if this could be another project of Mikai Tepesh, he was with Anwyl and was credited among other instruments for synth on the Nephilim cover. The uncertainity is driving me nuts, confirm, confirm, CONFIRM! For now, enjoy this if you like cinematic keyboard music with a flair for dramatic and an affiliation with the Devil, I must rush off to work.

Weakling - Live Practice '98

Weakling - Live Practice 25th May 1998
1) No One Can Be Called as a Man While He'll Die
2) Disasters in the Sun
3) This Entire Fucking Battlefield
4) Cut Their Grain and Place Fire Therein

Depositfiles / Sendspace

I decided to do one of my own tape rips for today, this is Weakling from USA and their 1998 rehearsal tape or "Live Practice" as they labeled it. There have been rips around before but since this turned out quite nicely enough I decided to share. And no, it's not ripped from an original copy, it's from a dub I got from an American person. Cover image from Metal Archives if you didn't guess already.

Weakling is best known for releasing an album in 2000 with five staggeringly long tracks and four of them appear also here, meaning this has a running time comparable to most albums at over fifty minutes. The long, long instrumental songs combined with the rehearsal/live sound which is very clear, I must mention, even with all the feedback and so on present, can make this a bit hard morsel to chew, swallow, digest and eventually defecate. I like the sound here though and the unedited nature of the recording with the false start, little screw-ups, feedback and all. The drums are slightly more subdued than on the album and everything seems to have a bit more space and room to breathe. I said instrumental but one can hear some sort of screaming in the background occasionally, perhaps as a result of getting carried away? I tagged this progressive which might be a little misleading, but it feels somewhat justified. Recommended if you like long instrumental recordings of somewhat black metal nature and are not afraid of being stamped as a late-to-the-party hipster by people with callous, embittered characters.

Graveland - Carpathian Wolves Rehearsal '94

Graveland - Carpathian Wolves rehearsal 1994
1) Barbarism Returns
2) In the Northern Carpathians
3) Impaler of Wallachia
4) Witches Holocaust
5) At the Pagan Samhain
6) Unpunished Herd

Mega / RGhost

Without further ado, here's more Graveland rehearsal material courtesy of Baldemar, thanks for the rips! This is the '1' in the 1½ posts promised, a 1994 rehearsal for the "Carpathian Wolves" album, with all the metal tracks in instrumental versions. Convenient for your karaoke evenings. Had no cover either so I made another placeholder while I was at it. Regrettably, I had to use the logo on the album cover for it. The previous one is just better but we must strive for accuracy.

Enough about that, to the music. This is essentially a condensed version of the album, ideal if you dislike things like vocals, keyboards and intros. Which seems quite silly to me but to each their own. Condensed actually isn't correct as the songs run their full durations (and over), let's just stick to instrumental. Very good, thick and powerful sound. Makes me think this is probably recorded in the studio. Dub quality is excellent as well so there is nothing to complain about. Recommended to all Graveland enthusiasts, old Polish black metal nuts, people who collect instrumental versions of recordings and karaoke hosts.

Graveland - Celtic Winter Rehearsal '93

Graveland - Celtic Winter rehearsal 1993
1) In the Glare of Burning Churches
2) Through the Occult Veil
3) For Pagan and Heretic Blood
4) Instrumental

Sendspace / Yandex

Poland won the poll, with a reasonable margin of 1½ votes which accounts for 1½ posts so here we have a sending by brother Baldemar, a rehearsal tape from the one and only Graveland dating to 1993 and titled for some reason "Celtic Winter rehearsal" even though the tracks are from the "In the Glare..." demo?! Well, I decided to roll with it whatever the case plus it made it easy for me to whip up a mock cover and a good excuse to include my absolutely favourite version of the logo as seen above. I've always liked that one best, a pity they(/he) didn't use it more. This counts as a ½ post as there's been a low bitrate rip circling around of the same recording.

First three songs are all very short, less than three minutes and last one, title of which being quite ironic as this is an instrumental rehearsal, runs for almost six minutes. Obviously these are stripped down rehearsal versions, devoid of keyboards, effects and other extras as well as vocals. Very good rehearsal sound, rough but clear and generally strong. Performance is guaranteed full-band Graveland material. Actually this is relevant to present times as master Darken has gathered a band to perform live for the first time at Hot Shower 5 in Italy, 2nd April which is very soon actually.

Winter Moon - Into the Dragon's Dark Dominion demo 1995

Winter Moon - Into the Dragon's Dark Dominion demo I 1995
1) Into the Dragon's Dark Dominion (Part I)
2) Into the Dragon's Dark Dominion (Part II)
3) Beyond the Silence of Ancient Winter

Yandex / RGhost

It's been a while since last post that could honestly be called dungeon synth. We remedy that tonight with this contribution sent with a bunch of other things earlier this year, thank you to the sender again! Winter Moon of Sweden, more specific Linköping, was as usual a solo project and apparently on the second demo turned black metal. It was done by one Frederik H. Karlsson whose name I imagine to recognize from somewhere but then again it is sort of a typical Swedish name so I might be mistaken. Unlike the Finnish Wintermoon (who also went black metal on their second demo) whose "dark winter music" was borderline metal this is purely synth stuff. Unfortunately no cover sent nor found so I'd appreciate one!

Three songs over eighteen minutes and running in the order of longest to shortest. First song starts a little abruptly, while the last one ends similarily which makes me wonder if the demo was originally like that or if slight cutting occured somewhere along the chain of trades and dubs. The sound is ok, quite loud and booming. Main instrument sounds like a slightly distorted organ. The music has some sort of archaic simplicity to it and, yet again, brings old Ultima and CRPG soundtracks to my mind. Which I suppose is some sort of sign of bona fide dungeon synth to me. Somewhat repetitive and monotonous, as expected, but quite enjoyably "pure" and fully instrumental as well as devoid of samples and special effects. First and second Lamentation demos come to mind, maybe the promo track too. Will bore many and bring nostalgic feels of pleasure to some.

Caduceus - Middle Ages demo 1995

Caduceus - Middle Ages demo 1995
1) Intro (Legends Fall)
2) Middle Ages Part 1
3) Middle Ages Part 2
4) Middle Ages Part 3
5) Outro (Seeds of Desire)
---
(Unknown):
6) Untitled (bonus/advance track?)

Mega / 4shared

Since there were requests (well, one by comrade kingpossum) for dungeon synth in the recent vote I thought I'd post that next. This another sending by the same person who contributed the Daoine Sidhe rip. Thank you! Any and all extra information on Daione Sidhe would still be welcome, by the way. This one fortunately had a bit more informative cover, it's a project by a Lithuanian fellow who called himself Lord Caduceus Xul and according to Discogs has at least one more tape released under this banner. He has also been involved with a few other projects performing electronic, industrial and ambient sorts of music, including Drama with the late Lord Ominous of Anubi fame. (Large) cover scans are included.

There's five tracks of the demo proper plus an untitled track which is not mentioned on the covers and which we're not even sure if it's the same project or not. Could be a bonus track, advance of upcoming material or whatnot. It's a bit different from the demo material, more in... uh, pure ambient mode? I'm actually somehow envisioning some sort of 80's action film or TV show in my head while hearing this? Not the car chase with explosions and jumping over collapsed bridges bit, mind you. Still the overall sound is similar enough to believe it'd be from the same source. Would really like further info on this. The actual "Middle Ages" consists of intro and outro tracks and three parts of divided quite unevenly as the third part runs for over eleven minutes. But the durations are on the booklet so it's no mistake. Completely instrumental, very soundtrack-like (as in game soundtracks rather than movie) and obviously keyboardic sounds, no real attempts to masquerade as harpsichords, lutes, violins, horns or what have you. It does have an almost neoclassical feel to it at some moments but mostly it's rather upbeat pseudomedieval synth music fit for old game soundtrack from a person with connections and influences from the 90's black metal scene as a quick look at the thanks list reveals. Not bad, especially if you grew up with old computer games there is extra nostalgy involved. If you're looking for refined, dramatic soundscapes this will not be your serving of enemies' blood in their own skulls. Others might want to study this item a bit further, I seem to find myself enjoying the demo more on repeat listens.

Dianom - Candledance demo 1996

Dianom - Candledance demo I 1996
1) Veil of Woe
2) Candledance
3) King of the Caves
4) Beauty of Withering

Zippyshare / Mediafire

Remember when I used to do atmospheric/ambient/dungeon synth stuff on Sunday evenings? Well, I do and to honour that neglected tradition here is, once again by the grace of brother Grev and his associate, Dianom from Finland and their (or more likely his) first and possibly only demo "Candledance" from '96. Don't let the overwhelmingly artistic vision of the cover fool you, the content isn't quite that bleak. Good sound on this rip despite the low-ish bitrate and a full cover scan is enclosed.

Four tracks for slightly over seventeen minutes, so we are firmly set in the standards of Finnish 90's demos. The music is dungeon synth, pure and instrumental, atmospheric and mostly rather melancholic and nostalgic. No special effects or samples here which for some is a dissappointment while a relief to others. Piano and keyboards, somewhat neoclassical feel at times while vaguely soundtrackesque at others. Mostly quite simple and pretty, perhaps it could be said it's easy listening synth instead of challenging and evocative but I like it. Now that I more think about it, kind of reminds me of that unreleased Emglev demo at times, not quite as melodramatic but there are similarities. Recommended for dungeon synth enthusiasts, people into calm, purty music and those who love really obscure artists and tapes.

Kharadrai - III - Hexapteron demo '99

Kharadrai - III - Hexapteron demo III 1999
1) Aethera Omega
2) Beneath the Core
3) Akhomalon I (Regression)
4) Akhomalon II
5) Akhomalon III

Rusfolder / Mega

Let's chill out for one last time with Kharadrai, this is the third and final demo from '99, contributed by master Sorvali, just like the previous ones. This one was initially missing the covers so he sent me smallish images as placeholder (the one above is one of these) and then later larger images of the special edition. All included in the download. Thanks again for delivering the complete Kharadrai saga!

Musically this demo continues where we left off with the compilation track Akhomalon I and in general where the music started to progress to on the second demo: a mixture of dark ambient, industrial and neo-classical elements. Actually, Kharadrai would've fit pretty well in the Cold Meat Industry roster of the era. I said this continues where A.I left off but that's misleading as that song was much more active in nature than the first two tracks here, especially the longer Beneath the Core. Akhomalon I (Regression) is a very different thing from the compilation track, much more in line with the more... let's say contemplative mood of this demo. Things do pick up towards the end and more so on the second part, while the third one is longest and combines elements from all parts. All the tracks are instrumental this time around and that's just fine and dandy by me. An enjoyable ending chapter for this thing and obviously recommended if you enjoyed the previous tapes.

Kharadrai - Compilation track 1999

Kharadrai - Track from Anomalous Silencer 4. compilation (1999)
1) Akhomalon I

Mediafire

Today's quickie might seem like a filler, being a single track released on a compilation back in '99 and yeah, it kind of is, but there's a very good reason for this post. Or at least a pretty good reason? Well, however the jury decides, it's because I'd for once like to post something more or less complete, in chronological order and these contributions of Kharadrai material by master Sorvali allow me the opportunity. Isn't it nice to hear something in appropriate order for change? Also, this track/recording is exclusive to this compilation so it has a place here in that accord too. Please notice the whole compilation is not featured here, only the Kharadrai track! Thank you.

Ok, actually a version of this track also appears on the last demo but I think it's a re-recording or remix or whatever, a different version at the end of the day. It's a four-minute song, rather bombastic ambient/industrial blend of music this time around. Have a listen if you liked the previous Kharadrai recordings and/or enjoy this sort of industrial-tinged stuff. I kind of wish I had the whole compilation, though, this feels a bit lost all by itself.

T.O.L.K - Entropia demo 1996

T.O.L.K - Entropia demo 1996
1) Raspi
2) Simpance homous

RGhost / Mediafire

And now something different, still Finnish but really quite different. This is another sending of master Sorvali, thanks for the scan and rip! I don't remember it but I was told I'd been looking for this or asking about it. Must've been drunk. So, it's a demo by the... I don't know what to call it, progressive weird ass project T.O.L.K which apparently recorded two (not 100% sure about that) demos and at least this one is instrumental and features the trio of Santeri Saksala of Alamaailman Vasarat on drums, Nipa Ryti playing bass (don't really know him from elsewhere) and an Aleksi Laiho from Inearthed on guitar. That band split up pretty soon after getting a deal in '97 but he started a new one, you might've heard of it. They actually played live with this, there was a clip from '97 on Youtube which I'm now too lazy to look up again. But it was there.

Enough stalling, to the music. Only two songs but both are of moderate length so there's ten minutes of stuff to chew. I still don't know what to accurately call this, progressive metal I suppose might be a suitable catch-all description I can shove this under and flee. The people obviously are proficient with their instruments and I suppose they know what they're doing. I wish I could say the same. Well, it's not that outrageously bizarre but still outside my usual palate. Recommeded for people into progressive music, interested in the involved parties other bands or fans of apes.

Lunar Womb - The Astral Grief demo II 1997

Lunar Womb - The Astral Grief demo II 1997
1) Through the Silver Caves
2) Ebon Ocean

Yandex / Zippy

Hollow Myths

Ok, back to Finnish synth stuff, here is the second demo of (at this point) Henri's solo project Lunar Womb mentioned in the Kharadrai post. I actually was sent another rip already some time earlier by the Russian dungeon synth folks, thanks for that, but since I after that discussed the project with Henri and he sent me another rip (and scans) made from the master files I decided to rather use them. And being such an ass as I am, I start from demo II instead of the first controversial one. We'll get back to that later but not today.

Only two tracks, but both are long, eleven minutes each and different enough from one another. First one is rather upbeat, folky even, and somewhere between medieval darkwave and dungeon synth. Not just keys, there are distroted electric string instruments involved too. Second track starts slowly, ambient like and eventually, when a guitar joins the procession one might even anticipate a turn to an epic Moonsorrow track. Not happening, though the atmospheres are similar from time to time. This is great and very much recommended, if you're into atmospheric music at all. Even if you're not really much of an ambient, dungeon synth or whatever enthusiast you might dig the second part. I'm really curious to hear the third demo finished. A word of warning: the first demo is very, very, very, very different from this one! Ok, maybe not that different, but... well, you'll see.

UPDATE: Discovered, to my slight surprise, that Hollow Myths of USA had released a CD compiling this and "Planets" - I can't say anything definite about the release itself but looks promising. Apparently both were remastered too. See link above.

Kharadrai - Shadows of the Sea demo 1997

Kharadrai - Shadows of the Sea demo I 1997
1) Caduceus
2) The Sleep of Khona

Rusfolder / Depositfiles

Back to Finland and let's do a non-metal thing today. This is another contribution, sent by Henri after my request for Kharadrai material, thanks for humouring me! Kharadrai was a synth project by the Meathooked 'zine editor Sami Heikura who used the same pseudonym for himself and was also a member of Thornfrost and a contributor on the first Lunar Womb demo. Meathooked #2 has a brief article for further background info on the project, if you haven't read that. Initially I got just the music but fortunately Henri found the covers too so scans are included.

This first demo consists of two titles and apparently was a bit too minimalistic to the artist's own liking later on. The covers imply this would be influenced by H.P. Lovecraft which is always (well, almost always) a bonus in my books. Neither of the tracks is overtly long, leaving the total playtime at almost eleven minutes and making sure they don't overstay their welcome. Actually they could've been a little bit longer and I don't find them too minimalistic, I rather like this. Ok, the second track is less active out of the two but still not as static as many other ambient things, especially in the more cosmic oriented vein which is where this leans too. I'm starting to get confusing so better quit while I'm still ahead and go grab a snack. The later Kharadrai material has a bit more stuff going on but we get back to it another time. If you're into ambient stuff or interested in the Meat Hook Productions roster, grab this.

The Dark Funeral - In Thy Forest... demo 1993

The Dark Funeral - In Thy Forest... demo II 1993
1) Intro
2) Fullmoon Rites
3) The Funeral
4) In Memoriam
5) Mørke tider
6) Mourning Shadows
7) Eternal
8) After the Battle
9) Outro

Version 1: Natural hiss
Mediafire / RGhost

Version 2: Noise reduced
Reuploaded

Next stop on the tour is, unsurprisingly if you can read a map, Denmark and here's yet another contribution, the second demo by the elusive one-man synth project The Dark Funeral. Not to be mixed with the slightly better known Swedes. I've been looking for the two demos of this project since forever, inspired by the interview on Blokong 'zine and finally scored the second one so many thanks to the sender, you know who you are! Sadly no cover scans so I just had to use the picture from the 'zine, I could've also used the logo (see below) but Blasphemous simply needed to be my pick.

However, all is not peachy as the rip was from a heavily circulated dub with absolutely massive amount of tape hiss. It's like a faucet running, not drowning the recording but pretty darn nearly. So, I resorted to what I don't usually do and tried applying noise reduction filter to diminish the admittedly distracting hissing. The result is okayish, works a little better on synth stuff like this I guess, but you can still notice the filter's unfortunate side effects in places. I'll leave the choice to you then, pick either the version with the hissing included for more "natural" experience or the reduced version which has less extra distraction.

As for the music itself, like I thought it'd be it's a rather typical one-man-and-his-casio-in-the-woods sort of project, which I don't really find a bad thing after all! Somewhere between darkwave and dungeon synth, the nine tracks are generally a bit on the shorter side (total running time is a bit under 23 minutes) and rather varied, from the 'waveish "Fullmoon Rites" to solemn "The Funeral" and minimalistic standout "Mørke tider" - despite this it still overstays a little, but this is definitely a recommended listen to all into kitchy dark synth stuff! And I really want to hear the first demo.