Maniac Butcher - Live in Annaberg '97

Maniac Butcher - Live in Annaberg 22nd March 1997
1) Zrada / Treachery
2) Půlnočni říše / Midnight Empire
3) Lučané / Lučans
4) Žatecký hrad / Castle of Saaz
5) Poslední bitva / The Last Battle
6) Soudný den / The Judgement Day
7) Jáma pekel (cover from Master's Hammer)

Depositfiles / Zippyshare

A black metal sending this time, courtesy of our reader PaganiusI, thanks for the rip and cover scan! This is the venerable Maniac Butcher from Czech Republic and their performance from Annaberg one month (and twenty years) ago which was released as official live cassette on Barbarüd's Pussy God Records. It's not at all hard to acquire, as at least recently B. was selling copies of the covers with a master CDr to underground distros so you should be able to get a copy cheaply should you feel like wanting one after listening.

The sound on this live is quite violent and in your face, the rather loud rip further enforcing the fact. Then again, Maniac Butcher isn't exactly subtle and gentle kind of music to start with so it's appropriate enough. The recording, which I assume to be the full show, runs for a bit under 40 minutes which is above average for Maniac Butcher albums and features all the songs from "Lučan - antikrist" album, the most recent release that time, including a cover version of Master's Hammer classic Jáma pekel. Not much more to say here, it's raw no frills, bells whistles keyboards or female vocals black metal, but by no means mindless dull warlike pounding like too many "stripped down" raw war hordes tend to be. Next might be about time to do some non-metal music again, what do you think?

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.

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.

Martyrium - Live in Neumagen 17-12-1994

Martyrium - Live in Neumagen, Germany 17th December 1994
1) Intro / Forgotten Spheres
2) Atum's Speech
3) A Living Ba
4) Lucifer Rising
5) Glory of the Raging Storm
6) Into Midnight Silence
7) Winds of Apocalypse

RGhost / 4shared / Mediafire

I missed the truly appropriate window to post this a week ago but better a bit later than to delay any more, as I got this live recording of the German Martyrium at the same time as the one I posted in June. Like the '93 show, this was ripped by brother Grev's associate and edited by me, with the assistance of sister Borderline in fixing the tracklisting. Thanks to all involved parties! Placeholder cover lazily edited from the one I made for the Annaberg live.

The set's duration is almost half an hour and as you see it differs a bit from the '93 one. Sound is also better though by no means polished. All instruments can be generally distinguished without much trouble, even if the busier moments can get somewhat messy. I don't really have a whole lot to say now, it's recommended for all who've enjoyed Martyrium releases so far and vastly easier to approach of the two live tapes.

Martyrium - Live in Annaberg 20/11/1993

Martyrium - Live in Annaberg, Germany 20th November 1993
1) Enuma Elish
2) Lucifer Rising
3) Forgotten Spheres
4) A Living Ba
5) Under a Funeral Moon
6) Glory of the Raging Storm
7) Winds of Apocalypse

Mega / RGhost

It has been a while, again. But here we are and this is the post I meant to do before leaving for Steelfest last month but ran out of time. Better late than never and all that, Martyrium from Germania return with a live recording dating to late '93 courtesy of brother Grev's archives. Thank you as always! This was ripped by his comrade, edited by G and still further meddled by yours truly. I must warn you the sound quality remains quite poor. Of course there was no cover but I felt inspired to whip up a placeholder image as seen above. And below you see the other version which I was originally going to go with but reversing the colours ended up looking so neat I chose that for main image.

Original white version of the "cover"

Very cute images for sure but let's move onto music. Like I mentioned the sound quality is not the best among live bootlegs I've uploaded here but clean enough to hear and comprehend, at least. Six songs of their own and a Darkthrone cover performed and all appeared on their album and, with the exception of "Glory of the Raging Storm", also on the demo tapes. If you're unfamiliar with Martyrium, this recording might not be the best place to start with due the slightly challenging sound quality. It's not as bad as that '97 Horna live, but very echoing, kind of distant and at times messy affair. Very energetic performance though, with that world famous trademarked Martyrium percussion many envy and admire. Despite its flaws has that warped charm again and is recommended for fans of their other works.

Goat Emperor - Live in Sepetiba 11/06/94

Goat Emperor - Live in Sepetiba, Rio de Janeiro Brazil 11th June 1994
1) Satanic Blessing
2) Demons of Sex
3) Goat Emperor
4) Do Them What They Do for You
5) Theorems
6) The Powers of Evil

Reuploaded

Ok, Brazil as promised and since I'm off to Turku this weekend to witness the Turku Saatanalle IV-event I wanted to do a live tape for change. Goat Emperor were a black metal band with touches of death metal audible in their style which they called "Bestial Music" on their second demo, 1995's "Announcing the Neo-Aeon", dedicated to Mauro Cunha, Marcelo Motta and Aleister Crowley. Their first demo was released in '93 and called "Apopantos Kakodaimonos", featuring five proper tracks and intros/interludes. I got this and a good dub of the first demo from brother A.S. along with some other more or less exotic items the other year, thanks again! I'll need to rip the demo again, wonder if I should post it here too? There is a decent rip around so it does not seem very necessary. But back to this, good sound and I recall this was dubbed from a video. Of course no cover, I just ended up making another half-assed placeholder with the logo from the '95 demo. It'd make a nice shirt.

It's not a very long gig, possibly not complete either and whoever shot the video originally (perhaps an associate of the band?) edited it a bit so there's less of the usual breaks between. Four of the six songs are from the debut demo, Theorems appeared on the second and I don't know about the second track, could it be an unrecorded one or just re-titled? Since there are no intros, outros and interludes the songs are slightly more compact than usually. I said earlier the sound is good, but it does get a bit messy from time to time. That's only extra brutality, right? I would like a better rip of the second demo (or an actual physical copy) as the one I found online has this distracting, piercing hiss usually present back in the day on badly dubbed tapes. Of course it's possible they botched up and they're all like that, would like a confirmation if that's the case. - UPDATE: I discovered I actually have a very good dub of the second demo too, and Fenrirsson has also provided me with a rip/remix of his copy so it is no longer needed! - Ok, let's wrap this up, recommeded for people into more bestial, old schoolish sort of black metal and connoisseurs of the South American scene.

Congestion - Live at Lutakko 07-05-94

Congestion - Live at Lutakko, Jyväskylä 7th May 1994
1) Intro (Cold Wind Blues)
2) Throne of Dominating Force
3) Bed of the Ancient River
4) Burnt into My Mind
5) When the Sun Rises in the South
6) Wind Convoys
7) Unblessed

4shared / Mega

More Finnish metal in co-operation with me and brother Grev (he dubbed, I ripped) this is once again Congestion, possibly the band with most place-holder covers on this blog. A gig performed at the well-known venue Lutakko in Jyväskylä, with a new keyboard player on board (trivia courtesy of stage banter, no actual personal knowledge!), they perform all the tracks from the '93 "Bed of the Ancient River" demo, two new (well, three if you count the intro which changed into an outro) songs which would appear on the '94 promo and an oldie Unblessed. Pretty good sound, though the start of the recording is a bit wonky but that gets better soon.

It's not a very long gig, I'm assuming they opened up for someone that Saturday or perhaps participated in some sort of event? Why am I making guesses, this is 2016, let's google... yeah, it was "Metal Up Your Ass" with Deceiver (apparently headliner? death/thrash), Scum (death metal, signed with Black Mark), our boys Congestion and Kansa Taisteli (an old punk band) and here's actually the poster:

Would be actually kind of neat to hear the rest of the bands if someone recorded the whole event. But I'm about to digress again so back to Congestion. If you've heard the demo material and/or Let Me Dream debut album you know what to expect: groovy and melodic doomy death metal with gothic touches (mostly the less-than-stellar clean vox and not-stellar-but-nice keys). It sounds quite pleasant live, I presume better still under the influence of intoxicants, mostly flows nicely. Not a horrible place to start listening to Congestion either if you're unfamiliar with them but got interested. After all I'm sure many people have gotten into bands with live albums, think "Alive", "Decade of Aggression" and "Live After Dead" for example. Not that this would be on par with those but you get the idea.

Runemagic - NecroLive Uddevalla 1992

Runemagic - NecroLive Uddevalla, Sweden 1992
1) Necro Metal
2) Fullmoon Sodomy
3) Desecration
4) Nocturnal Creation
5) In Remembrance

Mediafire / RGhost

This year is coming to an end. An era ended on the 28th of this month. I'm out of beer. Inspired by these feelings I felt a need to finish some outstanding projects left to lie in my notorious WIP folder and actually have gotten results. Here's one, a live tape by the Swedish (then) black metal band Runemagic, much better known from their second incarnation as Runemagick from '97 onwards. The "k" makes all the difference does it not? Also, going to play full on dark death metal before it got fashionable again was probably a more notable factor. However, first era Runemagic was black metal, with death metal touches sure but black metal still. I guess this was a more or less official live tape, recorded in their hometown. Unfortunately I have no covers and probably whoever did the Metal Archives entry didn't have either as the tracklisting was somewhat off, above should be correct. Would love a full scan if possible.

Why was this lying around unfinished for long, long time? Because of the rather challenging tracklisting and lack of material to compare to. I had misplaced my "Fullmoon Symphony" dub but fortunately identified it as an untitled B-side of a cassette I recently ripped so I got a kick to start sorting this out. If you remember the earlier "Runemagic" post here I'm now quite sure that is not the same band as it sounds almost completely different to other old material and actually everything else the guys involved had recorded (Deathwitch, who reused some old Runemagic material most notably track 3 here on their second album "Dawn of Armageddon" as Desecration of the White Christ which is the proper title anyways, Swordmaster, Sacramentum) or would record (The Funeral Orchestra, Necrocurse, Death Breath, Robert Pehrsson's Humbucker etc etc...). It would be really nice to know if there actually was another band called Runemagic (not very likely but possible), or if it was a band named something different but close enough to cause a mistake (slightly likely) or if it in the end was the same guys' unmentioned and/or -released demo (highly unlikely!).

Back to this item, the first track here was not that hard to identify as they scream the title aloud several times, the erronous Metal Archives listing has it as last track and "Runemagick - Necro Metal" which quite obviously carried over from someone's rip having been in the artist - song title format. Sloppy! The full title on "Alcoholic Rehearsal" of '91 was Dark Necro Metal. That rehearsal's tracklisting makes it seem a long song, over 5 minutes but this version here is just a quick burst not two minutes long so I went with the shortened title (I actually forgot to change the titles). Live versions may differ quite a lot (looking at you Mayhem and too short Pure Fucking Armageddons!) so that is not too surprising. Second track is easy enough if you have the demo of the same name and third one too. Fourth song was a bastard to figure out, especially as it was not on the most (? source? need to verify) versions of the demo. Fortunately he introduces the song in the beginning but unfortunately they somehow mess up or whatever else happens and it extends to an over ten minutes version with an awkward break in the middle. They don't quite restart it either so for a time I was under the impression it would be two separate tracks and tried hard to identify the second part unsuccessfully. After finally noticing their bandcamp had a remastered demo version up I confirmed it to same song. I originally intended to split it into two parts Noctunal Creation I & II but then decided against that. Last song was again a walk in the park. So there, not so easy, especially when I originally ripped it from a tape that had absolutely nothing written on it.

Fascinating tale of first world problems but how about the music? Getting there, this is old schoolish black metal with some death metal influences which I said in the very beginning but you might've already forgotten, has certain groove present that gives it personality, vocals screamy and good. Sound's not very good, elements get quite buried and somewhat messy but it's still listenable for the fearless relic hunter. Obviously not a soundboard recording, perhaps someone shot this on video and this is the audio of it? I still love it, old Runemagic has definite charm to it. I need the rehearsal tapes and you need to download this.

Inkubus Sukkubus - In All Our Names live 2003

Inkubus Sukkubus - In All Our Names (live at Gloucester Guildhall Arts Centre, Gloucester UK 10th January 2003)
1) Wytches 2002
2) Smile of Torment
3) The Rape of Maude Bowen
4) I Am the One
5) Take My Hunger
6) Vampyres
7) Away with the Faeries
8) Heart of Lilith
9) We Belong with the Dead
10) Catherine
11) Lucifer Rising
12) Belladonna & Aconite
13) Vampyre Erotica
14) Paint It Black

Mediafire

AUDIO ONLY: Mega

Enough exotics and time for something non-metal as well, this is again Inkubus Sukkubus of UK and an unusual item for the Coven: video of the whole show (separate tracks) shot from the audience by a comrade of brother Emptiness Cycle who kindly contributed this earlier with other related items. Thanks again! The unofficial IS site tells us this was a combined Amnesty / Greenpeace (didn't really foresee typing that split on this blog) benefit gig with unlisted support bands. I felt the urge to make a cover once again so this might look like a proper bootleg.

Like I mentioned right in the start, this is an audience recording and the full set. The fourteen tracks make almost an hour of music and both image and sound quality are decent. Better than average visual I'd say, EC's comrade has positioned himself quite well, slightly to the side but with a good view. I'm not very good at saying much about live videos since I shoot piss poor ones and generally seldom watch them, including the official ones. I do listen to live albums though, but don't often have patience to sit through a live DVD. Thus it might be convenient for others with similar issues that the video is separated unto tracks. I also made an audio-only version which you may download separately if you're so inclined. The main download includes this too. A few words about the gig itself, nice setlist though I am personally most familiar with the oldest albums, instruments sound a little thin but this is goth stuff not metal! And definitely not Mysticum. Candia's voice doesn't really seem to carry through the whole set, not sure if she's feeling a bit under the weather or what but maybe they should've considered having Tony do a song or two. Then again, she manages "Catherine" which is kinda hard, kudos for that but alas, struggles by "Belladonna & Aconite" noticeably which is a bummer. Anyways, I'm hungry and need to stop typing. Recommended for fans of Inkubus Sukkubus and pagan/gothic rock in general.

Blasphemy / Beherit / Samael - Live Split (bootleg '92)

Blasphemy / Beherit / Samael - Live Split bootleg tape 1992
Blasphemy (live in Vancouver '89):
1) Intro
2) Weltering in Blood
3) Demoniac
4) War Command
5) Blasphemous Attack
6) Fallen Angel of Doom
7) Goddess of Perversity
8) Nocturnal Slayer
9) Darkness Prevails
10) Desecration
11) Ritual
Beherit (live in Finland '91):
12) Intro
13) The Oath of Black Blood
14) War Command (Blasphemy cover)
15) Intro II
16) Hail Sathanas
17) Satanas (Sarcófago cover)
18) Witchcraft
19) Paradise, of Thy Demonic Host
20) Beast of Damnation
21) Demoniac (Blasphemy cover)
Samael (live in Switzerland '90):
22) Messenger of the Light
23) The Dark
24) Into the Pentagram
25) Knowledge of the Ancient Kingdom
26) Morbid Metal
27) Worship Him

Zippyshare / Mediafire

Looks like I didn't have as much time as I thought to post stuff before the festival - I'm leaving for Helsinki Thursday morning - so this'll be last before I return. Might as well make it another big one, here is a three-way split live bootleg tape released back in 1992. I believe most will recognize the performers here? Blasphemy was obviously the headliner for the first Black Flames of Blasphemy back in '09, there's the connection. Their part was recorded in Vancouver '89 and features most of the songs they did on the demo and debut album. Sounds messy but listenable enough, you can tell what's going on relatively easy. "Goddess of Perversity" is incomplete, there's a dropout unfortunately. The recording sounds a little different from there on, perhaps whoever recorded this moved a bit causing the missing bit?

Beherit have sadly not performed live during their apparently short-lived(?) reunion since the release of Engram in 2009. Their part here was recorded in Finland in '91 at unspecified location, most of their live performances took place that year. Sound is pretty abrasive, much noisier than Blasphemy's part and quite challenging to enjoy. Vocals degenerate especially badly, "Hail Sathanas" sounds just ridiculous. I wonder how people who ordered this tape back in the day for Beherit felt? Samael play nowadays forgettable semi-industrial metal and if their performance the other year at Jalometalli was an indicator, I'm happy they haven't been taking up slots at other events I've attended. However, their black metal era was excellent and this set is no exception. "Messenger of the Light" starts somewhere well into the song, missing more than half. That's more or less the only gripe I have about their part, recording sounds decent enough (especially compared to Beherit) and performance is fine. I should really go to bed so I'm not going to write anything else, grab this if you're a fan of the bands AND fond of bootleg tapes with "special" sound.

Rotting Christ - Live Athens 7-5-1994

Rotting Christ - Live in Athens, Greece 7th May 1994
1) Intro
2) The Sign of Evil Existence
3) Transform All Suffering Into Plagues
4) Fgmenth, Thy Gift
5) Visions of the Dead Lovers
6) Exiled Archangels
7) The Forest of N'Gai
8) The Mystical Meeting [incomplete!]

Reuploaded

To celebrate me finally going to see something live after a long break (Uncle Acid & co tomorrow at Tavastia) I decided to do a live tape. And this time it is (yet another) Greek item and when it comes to black metal material it doesn't get much more Greek than vintage Rotting Christ, does it? This was a contribution sent to me as a .wav so I've split it up to tracks and converted into mp3, thanks to the contributor, much appreciated! Unfortunately it's not fully complete as the last track cuts a bit. There's no cover for this, but I felt like making a placeholder as seen above.

This one has a pretty good sound, sure there is audience noise, a brief dropout on the fifth track and so on but the instruments are quite easily heard and it's pleasant to listen to in general instead of a test of fortitude and hearing comprehension like some other live tapes I've had here. The setlist is obviously excellent, assuming you enjoy old school RC (not grind-old-school, mind you!) and the performance enthusiastic and Sakis' voice in good form. Comparing this to the official live released the other year makes me wish time travel at least in observant's form would be possible. That is enough, recommended and has really very little to do with the gig I'm going to see but hey that was a decent enough link to this. As always, bootleg live recordings are very welcome! Especially if you have the '95 Cyprus gig which I had on a tape that broke. How I hate cassettes.

Anatomy - Live 14-04-1995

Anatomy - Live in Australia, 14th April 1995
1) Last Pleasures for Those of the Apocalypse
2) Twisting Depths of Horror
3) Armagedoom
4) Forbidden Realms
5) Under the Wings
6) The Call for Doom
7) Freezing Moon
8) Where Angels Die

Yandex / Zippyshare

Here's another Australian contribution, this one sent by brother Wehrwolf, ripped from his tape the other month. Thanks again! Anatomy was one of the better known names from down under in the 90's, or at least I believe so, having formed already in '89, active till 2000 and have reunited recently and according to at least one eyewitness are in great live form too. Today's item is their live tape but this is from 20 years ago... '95 is already twenty years ago?!? Oh how does the time fly... yeah, I was saying ripped from a tape that didn't have a cover, so I made a placeholder using the old Chris Moyen art for the '93 EP and the more recent logo as seen above.

The show features six out of the seven tracks from their '96 debut album "Where Angels Die" plus title track from the '93 EP and a Mayhem cover. Total playtime comes close to the magical 45 minutes, also known as one side of a cassette tape back in the day. Good quality dub as well as sound too, gets a little messy in places but generally quite powerful and easy enough to hear different instruments and sing along to the lyrics. If you're not familiar with Anatomy's music, they play black/death metal. Never saw that coming, did you? Anyways, it's generally more in the warlike and brutal way rather than the melodic and mellow form. So definitely in the Canadian/Australian school rather than Swedish. Though there are some melodic bits, to be honest. Recommended (obviously) for the fans of the band, Aussie-aficionados and blackened death metal enthusiasts.

Demoniac - Satanas 666 reh. 11-93 (audio only)

Demoniac - Satanas 666 rehearsal tape November 1993
1) Intro: Satanas 666
2) Intro: Sleepwalker
3) Brain, Entrails, Cannibal People
4) Cadaverous Mutilation
5) Carrie White
6) Cold Wind of Death
7) Drumsolo
8) Corpse Immunity
9) Dark Paradise
10) Rest in Peace
11) Skulls
12) Unability (to Live)
13) Guitarsolo
14) Return of the Satans Night
15) Sacrification
16) Symphonaire Et Servum

Yandex / Mega

More metal of death and about time I posted another of brother Baldemar's generous contributions, this is Germany's Demoniac which at this point was still really a death metal band with hints of black metal creeping into their sound. You might know Demoniac evolved later to Moonblood (not sure if a Moon Stone was involved), after turning to black/death metal from the more doom-speeded death metal their first form Purulent Obduction used to play. This recording was originally released as a VHS and was recorded live at their rehearsal room. This is (obviously) just the audio part of the experience, I'm afraid. It's also part a "live" album and part a compilation as they play a selection of old Purulent Obduction tunes as well as Demoniac songs. Quite a few of them, actually. At least tracks 3, 5, 8 and 11 as far as I know. No cover so I used the M.A. image of the video cassette there, even if it is a bit misleading.

There is a lot of stuff here, though "proper" tracks number 12. It's still almost an hour of music (!). I edited Baldemar's rip slightly to fix the tracklisting and separated the drum and guitar solos to their own tracks, like listed on the ever-reliable Metal Archives./sarcasm You don't see very many releases with two intros that follow each other, do you? The first one is pretty unnecessary piece but the second one is enjoyable, being the theme from the '92 movie "Sleepwalkers" (based on Stephen King's novel). I don't think I've actually ever watched that one... or have I? But to the point, the sound is pretty good whether you consider it a live recording or a rehearsal recording and the musicianship decent enough, the little occasional lapses just adding to the charm and "immediateness" of the recording. Not very impressed by the first proper song, but the next one's ponderous doomy pace is much more appealing. Nice how he introduces all the tracks, by the way. Very convenient. "Carrie White" has similar pace and since this is a Purulent Obduction song it makes me think I should try to find those demos, I dig this better than the faster numbers. Or fast parts, like on the next track lifted from the "Black Prophets" demo - the slow parts are heavier and much better than the messy fast bits. As a note, for some reason the title "Corpse Immunity" amuses me far more than it should. Does it imply the immune one is incorporeal, there for "immune" to corpse/having one? A more relevant note is that the sound fails a bit during this number, sort of fading out and back in, relatively briefly though. "Dark Paradise" has a fast part I actually do enjoy, with screaming vocals taking spotlight from the more growling main voice. But enough track-by-track nonsense, this release is way too long for such and you're downloading it no matter what I say if you're into Demoniac/Moonblood. Recommended also if you like (somewhat lo-fi) metal of death in general. Or just really love quantity?

Hades / Mock - Live in Oslo '94

Hades / Mock - Live in Oslo '94 split live tape
Hades:
1) Pagan Triumph
2) Hecate (Queen of Hades)
3) The Spirit of an Ancient Past
4) ...Again Shall Be
5) Unholy Congregation
6) Pagan Triumph
Mock:
7) Thy Sorrow of Åsgard
8) Call Thy Eternal Winter
9) Bonded by Thy Blood

Mediafire / Zippyshare

Let us not sit idle but move on to another neighbouring country and yes, it is Norway's turn to be featured. Again a contribution by a certain person, thanks alot for this one, for change a split recording and a live tape to boot. This was recorded in 1994 at an unknown venue in Oslo and features relatively short sets by Hades and Mock, perhaps it was some sort of festival environment so the time was limited? Annoyingly, I'm certain I've read something about either this tape or the event itself in a 'zine but can't recall which one it was or when, not to mention any further details on the show. I'm not sure if this tape was released as sort of semi-official thing by either band or people associated with them, or was it just a bootleg. There's a cover scan but it's not overtly informative and actually didn't even have tracklisting for Mock's part.

No titles for Mock!

To the music, both bands play black metal in Norwegian style but with different twists. Hades' material is generally mid-tempo, somewhat epic and lyrically influenced by various mythologies and pagan faiths while Mock is more in the Norsecore style viking black metal. Six tracks in roughly 26 minutes for Hades, though first and last are the same instrumental song, album opener "Pagan Triumph", performed as intro and outro. Which on paper might look a bit silly but works wonderfully. A cool idea. Sound is a little rough and somewhat messy but everything can be heard well enough. Same thing with Mock's portion which consists of three tracks in slightly over 16 minutes. Note that each title has "thy" in it, can't help wondering if they actually understood the word or thought it as a cool way to write "the". Whatever, they do a decent job also and there's a little bit more variation to their three songs than Hades' material. Hades still wins and I'd really like more recordings like this. Recommended for fans of either band, provided they can stomach the sound and collectors of old live tapes and/or Norwegian black metal.

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

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

Rusfolder / Mega

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

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

Occult - Live Demo 1992

Occult - Live Demo I 1992 ("Black Flame Fest" in Elsoo, Holland 8th August 1992)
1) Intro
2) The Return of the Mystic Demon
3) Thou Art Lord
4) Dwell Forever in Darkness
5) Jaws of Satan
6) Darkness Begins
7) So It Is Done
8) Their Pain Can Begin
9) Jaws of Satan (encore)
10) Thou Art Lord (encore)

Depositfiles

Recent end of the millennium era posts have been circling the swollen, putrid corpse of the 20th century like a flock of vultures and I'm getting a little uncomfortable with that. So let us dive into the comfortable embrace of the early 90's once again with this nostalgic live item which is not exactly a contribution nor anything like that, rather I picked it up from sister Borderline's blog and decided to post it eventually here to complete the mini-cycle of the Occult live demos. Or not really since I still have a rehearsal tape (thanks Grev!) to do. So this is not my rip, don't know whose either, I edited it a little by dividing it into individual songs. Thanks anyways to B for fulfilling an old and strangely evasive request of mine! A cover image is included.

If you have heard the second live demo I suppose you know what to expect here; simple and in your face old schoolish black metal played with youthful passion and enthusiasm. It's utterly charming and clumsy, like a duckling waddling towards the pond with an uneven but determined gait. Sephiroth's speeches in between the songs fill me with a warm, nostalgic feeling and make me wonder what would have the guys thought if they had been shown how things were, say, 5 years ago? Or 15? I especially like the part after "Jaws of Satan" where he singles out The Unsane from the crowd. And the intro to "So It Is Done" is also great, you better know that tape bitches! As with the second live demo they play covers of Acheron (tracks 3 and 7 and 10 yet again) and Sathanas (5 and again 9), which I've always found to be very interesting choices. According to PFH#2 interview, their later set included also covers of Slayer ("Raining Blood") and Mayhem ("The Freezing Moon") which I would've liked to hear, too bad they didn't release a third live demo. But if someone happens to have their old live tapes get in touch! Um, where was I... yeah this tape, the sound is comparable to the second one and actually at times even better? I don't really need to write much more, this is really a fun item if you can appreciate it and you probably know already by now if you want it or not! Recommended for people into the old Dutch bm scene.

Horna - Sadomatic Rites (Live in Lappeenranta 04-05-01)

Horna - Sadomatic Rites (Live in Lappeenranta 4th May 2001)
1) Black Metal Sodomy
2) Örkkivuorilta
3) Synkän muiston äärellä
4) Noidanloitsu
5) Pimeys yllä pyhän maan
6) Hiidentorni huokui usvansa
7) Sadomatic Rites

Yandex / Mega

I survived my trip to Helsinki once again and to celebrate the live music of the weekend, here's yet another live tape from Horna, dubbed to me by brother Grev. Thank you once again! There is no cover for this, as far as I know, since Grev tells me this was supposed to be put out on tape by someone but the plans didn't come through and the recording remains unreleased.

Seven song set that lasts a bit over thirty minutes, they open with the short and entertaining "Black Metal Sodomy" and end with a Beherit cover. Good sound, much much cleaner than on the previous live I uploaded. Satanic Warmaster is still on the vocals and "Sudentaival" was the most recent release at the time of this gig and as you see three songs from that one are played. I'm still feeling a bit out of it and kind of have things to do so no further words, get it if you enjoy Horna and/or Finnish black metal.

Moonspell - Live in Zürich 13.10.1995

Moonspell - Live in Zürich, Switzerland 13th October 1995
1) Wolfshade (A Werewolf Masquerade)
2) Love Crimes
3) ...of Dream and Drama (Midnight Ride)
4) An Erotic Alchemy
5) Lua d'Inverno
6) Alma Mater

Yandex

Once again I'm posting a live tape the night before going to a festival and probably unsurprising, it's Moonspell '95. At least this time I have the excuse of mr. Dominik Matus requesting me to upload whatever live recordings I may have left in the vaults. So, we start with this one which I had kind of forgotten in the ready items folder. This naturally was sent by a tape trader so it is a dub of unknown generation, though the sound is fairly good. A really half-hearted cover of the cuddly wolves thrown together by a lazy blogger.

Decent sound like I said, this is a little shorter gig again, though not as short as the ones during the "Battle of the Ages" tour supporting Immortal & Morbid Angel (most I have posted are from that), this lasts a bit less than 28 minutes. It appears the person who recorded this missed a possible intro as well as the start of the first track. Not too much missing so shouldn't be a grave issue. Personally I'm quite pleased they changed the set by dropping "Vampiria" (unless they played it first and it's missing) and adding "An Erotic Alchemy" to its place. Yup, not really a lot to say as I've posted already a few of these gigs. This has a bit better than average sound so I suppose this'd be a good spot to start if you haven't dared to pick up these live recordings before. I'm off to sleep and to Jalometalli in the morning.

Die Verbannten Kinder Evas - Nachtaugen live 1996

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

Reuploaded!

Get more DVKE here!

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

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

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

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

Horna - Live in Riihimäki 20-12-97

Horna - Live in Riihimäki, Finland 20th December 1997
1) Kun lyömme jumalan kodin liekkeihin
2) Tappakaa Kristus!
3) Örkkivuorilta
4) Hiidentorni huokui usvansa
5) Imperial Devastation
6) Ikuisesti, kalpeina kuoleman muistoina

RGhost / Zippy

I haven't been attending the festivals very much this summer, only Steelfest so far. To remedy my lack of live music experiences recently I thought I'd post a crappy old live bootleg passed down countless tape trader hands and decks. This is Horna, should be familiar name to most, performing late 1997 in Riihimäki and I'm not sure of the venue, the trader who dubbed me this live had scribbled something which I could not decipher with certainity so I decided to skip that bit. Of course this had no cover, I just raped the Riihimäki coat-of-arms for no good reason at all.

You might've noticed I said something about "crappy" live? Oh yes, for this has possibly the worst sound quality of whatever rehearsal tapes or bootlegs I've posted here! It's absolutely awful, the instruments are smothered somewhere down in fluffy billowing murk that only lets through a whisper of guitars and a vague, distant rumble of percussion and an obnoxious amount of vocals which sound like they had been turned to eleven while everything else was set to one and then run into a metal canister that was set against the door to the room where the microphone is. Ok, it gets slightly more audible around "Örkkivuorilta" and afterwards, but calling the sound decent at any point is still out of the question. Kind of a shame as the setlist is pretty interesting, featuring "Imperial Devastation" which I don't think has been played that often. Of course considering how many songs they've recorded that's something that could be said about three quarters of them. Anyways, if you're really, really into old Horna I suggest giving it a go and if it feels overwhelming jump a few tracks ahead and see if you can stomach the sound better there. Various perverts, fetishists and assorted audio deviants will also appreciate the challenging experience.