Endermic - The Darkest Cloud demo 1994

Endermic - The Darkest Cloud demo II 1994
1) The Darkest Cloud
2) Under the Benevolent
3) Magical Things
4) Land of Beholder

Reuploaded

Here's an item requested by Grindfreak who contributes to the awesome RAF666underground. I got this one from brother Grev this week and ripped it ASAP so I haven't really had a chance to listen to it, just checked out if it came out all right and it did. No covers, sorry, so another sad image someone found on eBay and posted on Metal Archives is used. Would appreciate a cover scan.

I suppose I should try to say something about it. Well, this is their second demo, has a good demo sound and lasts about 17 minutes. Music is quite melodic but not the Gothenburg sort. And it's death metal. That's enough, download it and listen for yourself!

Cradle Of Filth - Live in Berlin 11.06.1995

Cradle Of Filth - Live at Knaack Club, Berlin Germany 11th June 1995
1) Intro / The Principle of Evil Made Flesh
2) The Forest Whispers My Name
3) A Gothic Romance
4) To Eve the Art of Witchcraft
5) Dusk and Her Embrace
6) Of Mist And Midnight Skies
7) A Dream of Wolves in the Snow
8) Summer Dying Fast
9) Nocturnal Supremacy
10) The Black Goddess Rises / Outro

Depositfiles (Lesbian Vampyrism version covers included)

Bet you didn't expect to see this name here, did you? Well, I happen to like old COF so shut up. I noticed I haven't posted much live tapes lately so I decided to get off my ass and post this one I ripped already months ago. I know this gig has also been released as a bootleg CD (name of which evades me) but this is a tape recording I had here - I doubt the bootleg CD has much better sound quality anyways.

UPDATE: Grev sent me scans of the covers from the version released by Lesbian Vampyrism Records. Thanks mate!

The sound is very good and clear, it does shift a bit from left to right every now and then but that's not an issue. As you see the setlist is pretty nice, mostly "Principle..." stuff and three early versions of "Dusk..." tracks. The dub quality was satisfactory as well so the rip is good. Assuming you're an old school bootleg-listening grumpy old bastard like me you'll be ok with the sound. If you're one of those darn kids complaining about the "poor sound" on modern, studio-enchanced official live albums, move along and pretty damn fast. So, if you're into older COF you'll want to check this out.

Troll - Studio Rehearsal 23.05.1995

Troll (nor, Aafjord) - Studio Rehearsal 23rd May 1995
1) Naar Trollet Sprekker

Reuploaded

A quick one today, once again an item from Grev, this is a single track rehearsal recording by the other and less-known Troll from Norway, the Aafjord band. Unlike Nagash's project which was basically guaranteed a deal these guys just made a demo in 1994 (which is quite original sounding "troll/forest metal" or whatever, recommended listening anyways), recorded this track, probably rehearsed a couple of times in between, before and afterwards, and then just dissappeared. Which is a shame since at least I would've liked to hear more.

This song is in style similar to the 1994 demo, meaning melodic Norwegian black (well, not very "black" really) metal with folky touches. Very catchy and "trollish" stuff. Unfortunately it suffers a bit from the weak sound quality, manifesting mostly on the very low sound levels, the recording itself is quite clear if lacking in power. The demo sounded a bit messier and more powerful. They use some clean vocals here which aren't the best around but manage their job. Recommended if you liked the demo.

Ravenstorm - Demo 1997

Ravenstorm - Demo I 1997
1) Night
2) Hatred Is a Memory Made
3) Of Dust and Stone

Depositfiles

More contributions from the near-endless vaults of brother Grev, this is an item I got already last year but it took me a little while to get around posting it. Mostly due difficulty in figuring out how the tracklisting should come out as it lists three tracks yet it has just two distinct ones, the clear enough "Night" and a 8+ mins one which I presume divides into two parts. I picked up a spot where I assumed it changed over and went with that. If I'm incorrect feel free to let me know. Since brother Grev didn't have an original copy either we have no cover to check, maybe it's really supposed to be just two tracks with the latter being a long one titled "Hatred Is a Memory Made of Dust and Stone" which would actually make sense. If this proves out to be the case, I do have it as one track too so it'd be easy to correct. Yeah, so if you got an original copy please get in touch!

Like I mention above, we had no covers for this nor was I able to find a Ravenstorm image so I scanned and used what I found, namely the anti-Ravenstorm flyer seen above. The band was quite controversial in the Finnish scene after appearing on the youth program "Jyrki" where they gave an interesting interview and played one song. I'm not going to focus on their notoriety any further, let's get to the music for now shall we? Melodic/symphonic black metal with a quite good sound it's certainly typical to its time. "Night" is a fast piece with synths and some female vocals thrown in, "Hatred..." starts fast before slowing to a very pleasant atmospheric part which I genuinely enjoy. It gets then faster and adds vocals. "Of Dust..." starts with a synth bit (or the same track continues if the "just two tracks" theory is correct) and continues in brisk midtempo. I haven't heard their material recorded as Wayreth (yet, Grev has their demo) so no comparisons. The dub has some wear to it which might annoy the most sensitive listeners but that can't be helped. Not much so don't panic. If you enjoy symphonic black metal you'll want to give this a listen.

In Articulo Mortis - Sombre Mélancolie demo 1995

In Articulo Mortis (fra) - Sombre Mélancolie demo I 1995
1) My Underwater Queen
2) By Moonless Night
3) Sombre Mélancolie
4) La Rose et le Marbre
5) Succubus

Reuploaded

Some French material this time and another tape traded item, the debut demo by In Articulo Mortis who would proceed to release two more tapes before disappearing. It is rumoured they had recorded a full-lenght album too but that was never released - if it was finished in the first place! Anyways, traded item like I said so no covers, there's only the image above which someone took from eBay. Cover scan would be appreciated.

The sound of this demo is somewhat muffled, could be partly due it being a dub of who knows what generation but I think the original sound wasn't that clear either. Instruments are audible still, including the bass guitar. But you're definitely not going to mistake this for a studio album. Musically this is somewhere in between melodic black metal, dark metal and at places gothic metal. Main vocal is harsh but he also does clean vocals which are stronger on the emotional part and less so in the technical if you know what I mean. They're not really bad sounding in the context. I think I actually enjoy this as it's not too sugary, the instrumental title track for example is very simple but efficiently melancholic. Nice one, I'll need to try to find the other demos.

Lullaby - Lucifer 7"EP 1992

Lullaby - Lucifer 7"EP 1992
1) Lucifer
2) In the Name of the Devil
3) Supreme Majesty
4) Symphony of the Death
5) Lilith

Reuploaded

Here's a bit unusual item, a vinyl EP by Brazil's Lullaby, essentially a one-woman show that gained some fame and notoriety in the early 90s. Most of it, as you might guess, by being a black metal (ok sort of) project by a woman. I didn't have an original copy but my dub was of pretty good quality so I ripped it with something else from the same tape. As I thought the end result might interest some readers I decided to post it. Image courtesy of... M.A. or Discogs, can't remember which one this time.

Good sound in a way, it's very clear but lacking in the heaviness department. The music is some kind of doomy proto-black metal soundalike with a very prominent bass. The vocals are sort of coarse, almost growly whispering. Somehow I'm reminded of old Death SS, as well as old Greek bands. All the songs are very short, ranging from 1:03 to 2:38. It sounds quite unique, I'll give it that. Recommended if you're very curious or feeling adventurous.

Trolltjern - Hymner fra Trolltjern demo 1995

Trolltjern - Hymner fra Trolltjern demo 1995
1) Introduksjon
2) Sagnet om Trolltjern I - Drømmen
3) Sagnet om Trolltjern II - Vandring
4) Sagnet om Trolltjern III - Fjellet
5) Sagnet om Trolltjern IV - Trolltjern
6) Efterord

Depositfiles

Another requested item finally posted, once again courtesy of brother Grev - thank you, this is the Norwegians Trolltjern and their only demo from 1995. Despite what some incompetent inter nets sage claims on their M.A. entry, this most definitely isn't black metal, not even close. This is atmospheric wintry music, dungeon synth, a term coined by comrade Andrew on his blog. Grev had an original tape and has kindly scanned the covers which are included within the download.

As mentioned above, not metal, but atmospheric synth music consisting of an intro- and outroduction as well as the main piece "Sagnet om Trolltjern" divided unto four parts. I decided to split all the parts into separate tracks as you see from the tracklisting right up there at the very beginning of this post, rather than have all as a huge 15+ minutes lump. They did divide easily enough. The tracklisting on the cover is like this:
Introduksjon

Sagnet om Trolltjern
- Drømmen
- Vandring
- Fjellet
- Trolltjern

Efterord

You might notice the Metal Archives poster failed that one too. Enough about that, I just wanted to quickly explain myself there, back to the music itself. So it's mostly keyboards and wind effects and some guitar strumming and whispered + spoken vocals and so on. The atmosphere is somewhere in the company of old Mortiis, Ulver's "Kveldssanger" and Wongraven. This is good stuff, not at all tedious or pretentious. Odd how these narrations come out better almost every time in Norwegian than Finnish or in English. Very good sound quality I think and rip came out just fine so if you're into this kind of music I see no reason to not grab this demo right away.