Runemagic - Eternal War demo 1993

Runemagic - Eternal War demo 1993 (unreleased?)
1) Funeral Summoning
2) Semen of Sathanas
3) Eternal War
4) Behead the White Hordes
5) Entering the Land of the Moon God + Outro (cuts)

Yandex / Rusfolder

Here is another obscure metal post with which I could use some help with. This is, or should be, a 1993 demo by the Swedish band Runemagic, better known as Runemagick after their 1997 return. Unfortunately no discographies nor biographies mention this tape which I got from a tape trader circa '97. He was usually reliable so I'm sure he at least believed this to be Runemagic. Obviously there's no cover for this either so I made a placeholder using the logo from their 1992 "Fullmoon Sodomy" demo.

The music on this demo is slow to midtempo, quite melodic old-schoolish black (/death) metal so at least the style ought to match with older Runemagic material. I'd love to compare this with "Fullmoon Sodomy" but looks like I can't find that demo right now. The sound is very demoish and slightly muffled yet quite clean. A noticeable synth accompanies the music for most of the time but it's not overbearing enough to be distracting, well at least to my taste it isn't, it lends an occult aura similar to many mediterranean bands to the music. The main voice is not really a scream nor a growl but goes well with the music. Good stuff that makes me anxious to find the 1992 demo to see if it was similar. Not probably that interesting if you prefer the death metal Runemagick, but if you like the later doomy stuff this might please you as well.

Atanatos - Ancient Blood demo 1995

Atanatos - Ancient Blood demo 1995
1) The Truth
2) Dark Age
3) Pagan Punishment
4) Transmigration
5) Gate of Darkness
6) Heir of an Ancient Blood

Depositfiles / RGhost

Tomorrow is the fourth Black Flames of Blasphemy event in Helsinki which I'm going to attend so I thought I should post metal before I leave. Also, I have to catch up my quota of German demo posts so here's the first and only demo of Atanatos who are more or less active to this date with a trio of albums and a couple of other releases out. To be honest I haven't been really keeping up with them since 1998 so I can't say much of their later stuff. Atanatos was one of the bands signed on the infamous Last Episode label which wasn't exactly known for quality and were never that well known I suppose. My copy of the demo is an unknown generation traded dub but the sound and tape quality was decent enough so that's not an issue. No covers so stuck with a Metal Archives image again.

Six tracks might seem like a lot but as half of them are shorter than average it keeps the total duration at reasonable 22+ minutes. The music is basically black metal but with strong basic and thrash metal tendencies, I also get some Greek style vibes from this demo. Sound is okay if a little muffled and not very strong. Unfortunately this hasn't aged that well or my taste has shifted as I don't seem to like this nearly as much as I did back in the day. It's not really bad but neither is it very exciting. Collectors of German demos, underground enthusiasts and the curious should give it a try anyways.

Wejdas - Saulei tekant demo 1994

Wejdas - Saulei tekant demo II 1994
1) Saulėtekis Žalčių Duobėje - intro
2) Nešventinta Kova
3) Dvasregis
4) Čia Nebus Saulės (Istic)
5) Nuogas Tarp Vilkų
6) Paukštei...
7) Žemės Širdy - outro

Rusfolder / Mediafire

Some non-metal music for today, this is the (I think) second demo of Lithuanian Wejdas which you might remember from before. Considering the length of the release, more than 45 minutes, it could easily be called a cassette album, but fortunately the cover helpfully says demo '94 ending that debate. Like the first demo this one was sent to me by a reader, thank you for the contribution! Includes scans of the covers as well.

Much of what I wrote concerning the first demo applies here, though there's more of dungeon synth vibe to certain parts of this recording, like for example the second track. The third track again taking a different approach and the fourth one yet another, it's quite hard again to categorize this to a single subcategory of music. The melancholic 5th track with the guitar strumming meshes neofolk vibes with ambient and again dungeon synth-esque moods. Some of the tracks feature spoken vocals which work ok (for change), partly probably due them being in Lithuanian which I don't understand. Anyways, I like this demo and recommend you to check it out if you liked the previous one or enjoy dark ambient, dungeon synth or just atmospheric stuff in general.

Sorath - Horns of the Goat 7"EP 1994

Sorath (us) - Horns of the Goat 7"EP 1994
1) Flame of the Goat
2) The Moonlight Glittered Upon the Snow

Yandex / Mediafire

More Friday night filler follows, this time I'm posting black metal and the 7"EP by the US Sorath which often is considered to be a sort of pre-Black Funeral even though the Baron has disagreed on that in some interviews and both projects existed simultaneously for a time. But that's enough background banter... no it isn't, I should mention this is ripped from a cassette, not vinyl! Again. Cover images were sto...borrowed from Discogs.

As expected of 7"EP's, this release features only two tracks and is quite short, just over eight minutes. Which is quite average for two metal songs. Both tracks also appear on rehersal/demo 1994 but I'm not sure if they're from the same session or not as I don't have that one. The EP says these were recorded in October 1993 while rehearsal/demo only mentions winter 1993. The sound is quite rough and raw so these could easily be from that rehearsal session. There are some death metallish riffs present in Sorath's music which I have no problem with and the pace is either fast or slow, heavy midtempo. The Baron's vocals are the raspy shrieks and screams you remember from old Black Funeral but also added are some low growls which works. Thankfully brief narration also to start the second track. A good EP, would be nice to see a compilation of the Sorath material. Meanwhile try this if you like raw 90's black metal, usbm and so on.

Exitus - Statutum Est Hominibus Mori demo 1990

Exitus - Statutum Est Hominibus Mori demo 1990
1) The Metamorphosis / Black Heritage
2) Reprobate
3) A Light in the Darkness
4) Tears of Despair / Hymn to Sorrow
5) Thanatos

Rusfolder / Depositfiles

One more contribution, this one from brother SuuretMuinaiset, thanks alot for the rip! And yes, I know Svart Records just recently re-released a remastered version of this demo on vinyl but since brother SM went through the trouble of ripping me his copy I decided to post it anyways. Plus it's a pretty awesome demo if you like doom metal which is a little underrepresented genre here in the Coven is it not? Exitus was a pioneering Finnish band active around 1989 - 90 who played doom metal with touches of death and thrash, think Celtic Frost, Winter early Cathedral and so on, but leaning a bit more to the classic doom side. Ripped from an original tape, which I already mentioned but no cover scan as SM has no access to scanner at the moment, he did include a pic of the cover though, see below for a smaller version.

Very good sound, quite powerful but "airy" enough to sound really more like proper doom than death metal. I'm honestly not sure if remastering is even necessary but on the other hand I haven't heard the LP so let's not go there. Long tracks, as befits a doom band except for number 3 which is a brief, one minute interlude and as you might notice from the tracklisting, there are two more instrumentals that blend in with "proper" tracks and we didn't separate them here. I don't really have much to say here except that this is a pretty damn good demo and surely worth the re-release. Check it out if you like doom and if you have a vinyl player and won't get bankrupt by madly expensive postal charges buy the Svart release too!

Dysangelium - Demo I 1995

Dysangelium - Demo I 1995
1) Palace of Death
2) Unohdettu
3) Yksinäinen susi

Not available, get the better version here instead


Another contribution and an item that was sought for a fair time, 1st demo of Finnish project Dysangelium. And will remain sought as, let's get this right out of the way, this is terribly poor quality. Ok, not the rip itself which was sent by a contributor, thanks, but the dubbed tape was in awful condition. Passed through an unknown but larger than I'd prefer number of traders' hands the tape is worn and features the most annoying sort of imperfection in the form of wavy, warped sound caused by the stretched tape. There's probably a term for it in English which I'm too frustrated to search for. This goes on in the first track for over a minute after which it transforms more even, now only plagued by imperfections and occasional shifts in channel volume. The second track, which is basically a dungeon synth instrumental, suffers also from the choppy sound. Third one which I suppose was originally on B-side of the tape gets the whole works again meaning the first minute (a bit less here, actually) gets the wavy undulating annoyance before settling to the choppiness. So beware and if you have a better quality dub, rip or Satan forbid, an original copy get in touch as soon as possible!!! UPDATE: I have gotten a better version, this one is discontinued!

Now that I've moaned, whined and lamented about the horrible quality of the source tape I suppose I should say something about the actual content itself. Three long tracks of raw Finnish black metal... well let's just call it nsbm, it's pretty obvious looking at the cover isn't it? Not so obvious just listening to it though as it's not littered with samples of marches, speeches, panzers, Stukas, generic warfare noise or the usual quotees' one-liners. Sounds quite similar to Pervogoat, which was a related project and so an extremely easy name to drop. Like I actually already let slip in the first paragraph, the middle track is instrumental and could pass as dungeon synth. This would be a good listen if not for the piss-poor quality. However, interested parties will probably still want to check this out and join me in a teeth gritting listening experience.

Eldrich Palmer #5

Eldrich Palmer 'zine, issue 5 (June 1996)
Interviews:
Tenebris
de Volanges
Attrition
Omnivorous
En Garde
Oberon
If, Bwana
Inner Thought
Articles:
Raw Novembre / Aggressive Records
Into the Abyss
Black Flames Productions
+reviews

Mediafire

Today's post is the second issue of the Polish fanzine Eldrich Palmer I have, though it certainly isn't the second but fifth issue editor Krzysztof Sadza released. Like the fourth issue here, this is A5 (which is a size I enjoy both for compact feel and easiness of scanning) xeroxed, cut-and-paste layout, typewriter written and still very underground looking. And I still love 'zines like this. The roster is again on the odd side and this time with even less known names. Probably. See the post on the fourth issue for further background babbling if you need, otherwise download and read this. Or wait for the next entry.