Vidvandre - Svanesang demo '95

Vidvandre - Svanesang demo 1995
1) Stålet som skjærer
2) Når spurvene danser
3) Trell
4) Svanesang

Sendspace / Mediafire

How about a little bit mellower post? Not that the previous one would've been particularily vicious, mind you, but I need to write something to get myself out the door, on the path and eventually lost in the forest of digression. Which serves as a terrible way to get to the point; this is Vidvandre fra Stavanger, Norge and their one and (apparently) only demo "Svanesang" from 1995. An appropriate name if it indeed is their sole creation. I got a dub of this among other things from brother Grev already over two years ago but it took me this damn long to get off my ass and find more about the band, you see he had the band misspelled "Via Vandre" which produced zero results researching. Luckily my very meager skills in Norwegian language came in handy as I finally sat down to think what the band name really should be and bang, direct hit! Cover image was borrowed from Metal Archives, full scan would be neat.

Obviously reading of my revelation must be fascinating but some might prefer to discuss the music. Fine, three long songs and a shorter instrumental interlude of Norwegian folky doom metal, think bands like early Tristania, The Sins of Thy Beloved and fellow Stavangerites Dismal Euphony and Theatre of Tragedy. Actually, Frank Claessen (guitars) would actually later become a member of ToT. Pretty decent demo sound, though being a dub of a dub of a dub brings the inevitable wear and smudginess. National romantic melodies, melancholic and wistful moods, flutes and female vocal parts spicing up the soup. It's not bad at all (except the silly babbling bits in the last song, why did you do this), makes me wonder if I've actually read a review of the demo from a 'zine once upon a time, making yet another "note to self" to be eventually forgotten? Anyways, we found each other lost in the infinite woods, perhaps you will be drawn in as well. Recommended if you dig melodic death/doom.

Paymon - The Way of Knowledge demo '96

Paymon - The Map Way of Knowledge demo 1996
1) Intro
2) My Eternal Dream
3) Cauterized Soul
4) Scongiurazione a Diana
5) Christ's Death
6) Outro
7) Labyrinth der Einsamkeit

Mega / Rusfolder

Let's do something different from short Finnish rehearsal tapes for change... how about awkward, lo-fi German black metal/ambient? Yes! But only if it is at least album length with a strange and half-assed track division!! And boy, do we deliver. This is Paymon of Germania and their(/his?) only demo, "recorded in a Dirty Black Summer MDCCCCXCVI" as the cover states. Not exactly Danzig-influenced though. Well, maybe if one crossbred "Black Aria" with a mixture of old Mjölnir, Sorg and Siren, perhaps with a pinch of Fulgor thrown in for good measure. Nah, it's not really a good comparison. I've a scan of the charming xerox covers this time, both it and the rip again courtesy of brother LKS. Thank you! The probably inaccurate track division was my fault, I think... this has been sitting in Limbo waiting for quite a while already.

UPDATE: Damn it I thought the name was a bit odd and then finally had a good luck at the cover scan, tilted and what do you know, the accursed title is "The Way of Knowledge" not ...Map...!!! I should know better than trust Metal Archives' half-literate contributors, how can I be so blind?!? Reuploaded with the corrected title, so annoying!

The sound is quite low, both in volume and quality and as I've already hinted the music is kind of haphazard, lumbering slower stuff that I guess should be somewhat generously categorized into black metal. There are both short and loooong tracks but it's pretty hard to accurately say where one bit actually ends and next begins. I really need to get to bed soon so I think I'll stop my writeup here before it too wanders into the murky haze, not to be seen again. Certain parties will enjoy the display while others will add it to the list of obscure German crap best avoided. Have a listen and pick your side!

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.

Holocaust #8

Holocaust 'zine, issue 8 (1995)
Interviews:
Ancient Rites
Moonspell
Gorgoroth
Absu / Equimanthorn
Hades
Behemoth
Altar
Trelldom
Mortiis / Vond
Misanthrope
Bård Faust
Accursed
Immortal
Sabbat
Amon
Grand Belial's Key
Alastis
Esoteric
Chris Moyen
Nightfall
Isengard ('89)
Necromantia
Graveland
Sadistic Intent
Sephiroth
Ancient
The Whores of Babylon
Black Funeral
Mortuary Drape
Unpure
Vlad Tepes
Infernum
Bethlehem
Different State
Marduk
+ reviews, articles on Balder, Mastiphal and B.R.S.A., art pages with illustrations by Dark Arts, "poems" by Nethor and... things by Wicca Graphics

Depositfiles

Here is the 8th Holocaust issue, as hinted at in the post of the seventh coming and much if not most of what was written there applies here as well. Though I must say first thing that came to my mind when I saw the cover for this was "why is Blackie Lawless hiding under a trio of sixes?" which might not be the original intent. Let's not that distract us from the fact that this is a very good 'zine. A great selection of interviewees, even with slight repeat from previous issue and a couple of "usual suspects" inevitably pop up (Behemoth fitting both categories, arguably Graveland too and then there's Mortiis). Tomasz has a bit more contributors this time around (which explains certain repeats) and the characteristic article/reviews hybrids are this time replaced by more typical reviews.

Highlights include the Gorgoroth interview by Nethor with an enthusiastic if not outright gushing introduction that is longer than the interview itself, Rob Darken & Capricornus writing about topics Tomasz gave them and Trelldom interview with Gaahl, again by Nethor. Does not feel fair to pick out just a few though, as this is full of great reading and interesting statements.

I should also mention that I botched up the scan a bit and as a result there's an extra single page of the aforementione Trelldom interview which I was supposed to remove before packing up and uploading. Oops. Well, you can delete it yourselves. Definitely recommended.

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.

Demogorgon - Henen-A Em Amsu demo II '95

Demogorgon - Henen-A Em Amsu demo II 1995
1) Threshold of Hell
2) Crucify
3) Ridiculed Beliefs
4) I Fell for All
5) Hopeful Victory
6) Black Clouds of Death
7) Putrifying Thoughts
8) My Black Innerself
9) Hordes of the Black Circle
10) Buried Soul
11) Eternal Hate to the False

Sendspace / Yandex

...or "Henen-Å Em Åmsu" if you want to stick to the odd spelling on the side panel! So it is time for music (finally) and this is another, somewhat overdue, sending by our brother Wehrwolf and again it is Australian material. Thank you for the rip & scans! Here we have what appears to be the second demo by Demogorgon from Victoria, not to be mixed with the scores of others who use and/or have used the name, best known (well at least in my opinion) being the Greek one, mostly due to connections to other Hellenic cults.

But let's concentrate on this effort. It's a long tape, full album length even if some of the songs are quite brief. And to be honest, it's a bit longer than necessary too. Seeing this is Australian and black metal I suppose folks may expect some form of wild, relentless burst of violence and warfare noise. Not this time. Sure, it does combine some death metal traits with black metal and is of certainly active nature but it'd put it closer to Anatomy than SadEx. Or perhaps more Baltak than Bestial Warlust? The sound comes off initially as messy but either one gets used to it or it actually improves as the recording proceeds. Quick field test indicates that the groovy (strangely almost Spear Of Longinus-ish) "Hordes of the Black Circle" not only sounds better but actually does have a superior sonic quality to the opener "Threshold of Hell". My opinions seem to fluctuate quite a bit while this plays so I suppose you should pay it attention even if the first tracks might seem discouraging. Or put it on shuffle? Anyways, with a bit of pruning this would be a very good demo. Maybe. Recommended to those who enthuse for things down under and those who endlessly seek more mid-90's relics.

One more thing, the third song "Ridiculed Beliefs" sounds extremely familiar, what in the Abyss does it resemble?