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.

Golden Dawn - Rehearsal 08/94

Golden Dawn - Rehearsal August 1994
1) Golden Dawn

Mega / Depositfiles

I decided to continue with the Golden Dawn operation and this is actually also the last item I had stashed away unless something more pops up. Might look like another Friday Night Filler when you look at the tracklisting but this old and obscure rehearsal (though it sounds just like all the older GD demos do) recording is actually longer than the previous '96 one! I found this on one of my dubbed tapes while looking for something else and don't really have much more information on it. I presume the "08" refers to August here. Obviously no covers for this one and I wasn't feeling like making one up. UPDATE: Image used sent by reader Running Wild who wanted to make placeholder images for this and the other rehearsal, thanks!

A single track running for over fourteen minutes and even though I got this labeled as rehearsal, there is really no difference at all soundwise to the demos. Yeah, I know I said that already but it's worth mentioning again in case someone feels pussy reluctant to check it out because of the rehearsal title. Looking at the Golden Dawn / Apeiron split tape cover shows the first four tracks there were recorded in summer '94 so perhaps this was from the same session and left unreleased. Though I doubt that, with the slight difference in sound and execution, this might be a later separate session that found no home for itself. That's all really interesting but how about a few words of the actual music, finally?! Slow and quite calm track, almost completely sung with clean vocals, a generally mellow atmosphere all around. Synths are ever-present but not very dominant. Feels a bit different from the other old material yet instantly recognizable. That's enough, download if you're into Dreamlord's other stuff or atmospheric, slightly fluffy material in general.

Golden Dawn - Rehearsal Tape 1996

Golden Dawn - Rehearsal Tape 1996
1) Call from the Grave (Bathory cover)
2) Inwards Leads the Mythic Death
3) A Message [cuts!]

Reuploaded

I was going to post another synth kind of an item today but then on a whim, possibly influenced by the other rehearsal tapes recently posted, I decided to resume my awfully slow Golden Dawn project with this rehearsal tape from '96 ripped by Grev's comrade. Thanks again, gentlemen! No covers exist for this one, at least that's what I think. UPDATE: Image used sent by reader Running Wild who wanted to make placeholder images for this and the other rehearsal, thanks!

No more time to waste, to the music: first song should be familiar to all, a cover of Bathory classic "Call from the Grave" which does have some personal touches thanks to the synth bits that appear in the later part of the song. Decent rehearsal sound quality, not that far from the '95 demos really. Musically not too far removed either, it's getting a little bit more complex with more synth parts, quite obviously as this sits between "Way of the Sorcerer" and the debut album. Or that's what I think, neither of the original titles appear elsewhere, unless they were renamed and I don't right now recognize either being an album track. Then again, it's been a while since I last listened to "The Art of Dreaming" so I might be wrong. Unfortunately the last track cuts, I've no idea how much. If you have a complete version of this recording it would be very welcome. Until then, this would be recommended to fans of Golden Dawn and collectors of Austrian recordings, as well as people into synth-heavy, somewhat avant-gardish dark/black metal.

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.

Evil - Rehearsal 08/10/95

Evil - Rehearsal 8th October 1995 (or 10th August 1995!?)
1) From the Black Horde of Pure Evil
2) Medieval Spells in the Ancient Vastlands, the Forest of Sorcery Twilight
3) Nocturnal Rites in the Black Pentagram

RGhost / Yandex

The next South American destination is Brazil and I think many of the readers are familiar with Evil, this early rehearsal tape is from their pure black metal period and another contribution by brother Baldemar, thanks again for your work! I'm not sure if this was recorded in August or October as people overseas tend to write down the dates in wrong order, probably just to piss me off. There obviously was no cover so I just made that to have something to decorate the post. Obviously inspired by "All Evil" demo cover.

All the three tracks are featured on "All Evil" as well as some later releases, these versions naturally sound quite different due the rehearsal sound which is slightly challenging this time around. The instruments have a very low volume while the vocals are really loud. No, louder than that. And very raw too. Actually the distant, almost frail sounding instrumentation combined with the abrasive, over the top vox does create a special atmosphere, kind of makes me think Graveland and Veles circa '97. I might not be right in the head but to my ears this sounds cool. I'd really like to know if this was recorded August or October, I'm guessing before "All Evil" anyways as the second track has a longer title than usual, they probably dropped the last part from it for the demo. Yeah, enough about me, give this a try if you think you're into raw black metal.

Medium - Rehearsal Tape '96

Medium (col) - Rehearsal Tape 1996
1) The Battle
2) On the Left of My Lord Lucifer
3) Countess Bathory (Venom cover)

Updated

Today's destination is Colombia and I could use some help again. You remember the previous one-song rehearsal by Medium I posted here? Well, here they are again with another rehearsal tape from 1996 (which I titled slightly different to keep 'em from being mixed) and once more I got no tracklisting to go with it. Except for the third track which is extremely easy to identify. I'm pretty sure their two originals are from "The Battle" demo yet that's little help as I haven't gotten that one. Help would be greatly appreciated!

UPDATE: RazorAttack confirmed both tracks are from "The Battle" - he gave as titles "La batalla" and "A la izquierda" which match, well, "The Battle" and "On the Left of My Lord Lucifer" on the demo. I'm not sure if they were titled in Spanish like he said or did they switch language with Abaddon (both tracks appear on the '08 album), but since they're in English on the demo I used those versions of the titles here too.

Soundwise this is less bass-heavy than the previous tape was and also a bit less messy, again good enough for a demo or rehearsal demo. The music has still that same old school vibe and groove, first track sounding almost heavy metal at first but getting very ferocious and fast around the middle. It returns to closer to the initial moods again before the end. Second track follows starting at bouncy midtempo, sticking to it for most of the track and speeding up to end. A cool solo around mid-song. Last song should need no introductions. Both originals seem very recognizable and I suppose if you had the demo you would be able to name them pretty easily. Cool stuff, hopefully the titles and a rip of "The Battle" surface soon. Meanwhile this is recommended for people into South American black metal and generally into more old schoolish sound.

Paganus Doctrina - Natural Inbio del Paganismo demo 1995

Paganus Doctrina - Natural Inbio del Paganismo promo / demo I 1995
1) Nazarenus
2) Recuerdo S. XIV / Obscura en Teoría Celeste
3) Hypostasis - Nous de Culto / Christós Dogma
4) Teologismo Doctrinal
5) Plotino, Uno Primigenio / Natural Inbio del Paganismo

Rusfolder / Mega

The Coven's adventures in the Central America continue, moving southward to Costa Rica for our next contribution, again courtesy of brother Baldemar, here is Paganus Doctrina. This was a bit tricky as there are keyboard interludes part of or preceeding the tracks 2, 3 and 5 which tend to blend with the previous tracks so Baldemar wasn't sure where to cut 'em. I think I got that figured out and looks like the other rip online has it either differently (=wrong) or perhaps it's a timing thing (this rip both begins and ends quite abruptly, as if a few seconds were missing) so it wasn't much help. The tracklisting was also off. I've enclosed a scan of the xeroxed cover, there's a bit clearer version on Discogs if you need one.

Musically this alternates between passages of generally fast black metal (the "main" tracks) and keyboard interludes which essentially are the first parts of the tracks that have a slash on their title. Though there are some keys used in the "metal" tracks too. Some unwashed lout complained about these parts on the Metal Archives review, well screw him they're just fine and the demo would be a bit dull were it only the black metal parts that tend to feel quite samey throughout. Though the first track has a pretty neat solo, second has a break... ok maybe not so similar after all but you get the point, don't you? The lyrics would seem to be rather interesting too (they're written on the Metal Archives entry, but not included with the cover, perhaps there was an insert) though my extremely limited understanding of Spanish gets in the way a bit. This is a cool demo and recommendable especially if you're into Southern black metal and don't mind the keyboard parts.