Susurrus Inanis - The Shadowless Shining demo 1997

Susurrus Inanis - The Shadowless Shining demo 1997
1) Now I Know...
2) Such as This Water
3) In My Memory
4) Keep the Sun
5) And I Shall Never
6) Left Shallow
7) Nam Lux Sum

Rusfolder / 4shared

Bandcamp

Chillout zone presents a request today. Eugene asked me in January if I would rip and scan my copy of Susurrus Inanis' only demo as it seems to be somewhat hard to find presently (it actually isn't). I hesitated for a bit and then thought why not so here we are. After a usual delay, that is. Jason Walton (of Agalloch fame) and Daniel Breyer (former Agalloch member, nowadays a professor) were the men behind this project, both playing keyboards and sharing the vocal duties. I had some sort of an insert to go with this, or maybe even two, with lyrics I think and some kind of a bio/assorted background info but unfortunately I didn't come across it. If it happens to be found I'll scan it/them too.

Very good sound combined with the coloured covers and printed tapes give this a very professional appearance and could make one think this'd be a cassette EP or mini-album but it was quite explicitly stated to be a demo. Opening piece is a pretty instrumental intro piece and the following song is rather gloomy and gothic, complete with deep vocals by... one of the guys, I don't know how they shared the vocal duties, the extra material I had might've shed light unto the matter. Anyways, the vocal presentation varies throughout the release but I'd consider these to be one of the main vocals. Somewhat reminiscent of late mr. Steele at times. Next song features the other prevalent voice, a more subdued and emotionless spoken voice that on a later track also sings some lines. Other variations include vaguely black metallish whispery hiss, a more jaded sounding version of the second main voice and so forth. General feel is more darkwaveish rather than ambient really and not much dungeon synth to be found in my opinion. After actually having a proper look I also noticed that JW has this on a bandcamp page so you might want to consider supporting him by getting this from there. But I encourage you to give this a shot if you enjoy atmospheric gothy sort of keyboard music/darkwave, are an Agalloch fan and so on.

Nocturnal Winds - Demo II 1998

Nocturnal Winds - Demo II 1998
1) Son of the Winterstorm
2) Instrumental
3) Warrior of Light
4) My Angel

Mega / Zippyshare

Ask and ye shall receive, here is the second Nocturnal Winds demo posted unusually fast. Like the previous one, brother Grev dubbed, I ripped and uploaded. Thanks as always! For this one we did not have a cover though so image borrowed from Metal Archives. It's... colourful.

Four songs again, for slightly longer playtime and the second one, titled "Instrumental" (guess what kind of a song it is) is easily the longest of the bunch at almost ten minutes. Perhaps that could be taken as an indicator of the lads' confidence in their skills. I suppose the playing is somewhat tighter and music perhaps a little more ambitious and uh, complex? Not Yngwie Malmsteen stuff but there's a certain amount of increase in the instrument intercourse here. Some thrashing riffs, power metallic bits and all sorts of knick-knacks have been added. Also the lyrical topics seem to have shifted away from what was almost like weather report black metal stuff to uh, whatever they are about, at least the titles indicate a change for worse; ok the first one seems to more or less carry on from where they left off, but "Warrior of Light" causes slight shiver run down my spine in its powermetallishness (stop making up words!) and gives me an involuntary Tolkki flashback while "My Angel" brings at first mind old Arcturus (yay) and then, overriding the positive association, terrible, syrupy power ballad or perhaps gothic metal abomination of some (possibly German) kind. And that's just the song titles, what horrors the actual songs contain!? Well, they're not nearly as bad as the mental images my tormented subconsciousness seems fond off conjuring. WoL is a pretty lively tune and more straightforward than expected while MA is more power metally and radio-friendly, somewhat forgettable melotune rather than a performance of poor man's avantgarde or the diabeteous, gothic simulacrum I secretly hoped it to be. Surprisingly enough the very end of the track gets suddenly much better, but that's just not enough for such a long track.

I'm sure many people will welcome the musical development, progress and slight changes here while some will end up enjoying the first demo better. Note that all but the instrumental appear again on their debut album, as well as "Frost Divine" from the demo I which would've been only my third pick from there. Recommended (obviously) for the fans of the band, of Finnish melodic death metal and long instrumental songs.
 

Nocturnal Winds - Demo I 1997

Nocturnal Winds - Demo I 1997
1) Frost Divine
2) Infinity Prevails
3) A Path to Forest Unknown
4) Ride with the Winterwinds

Yandex / Depositfiles

Melodic death metal is something that ends up used as a curse word rather than a description quite often in certain circles, perhaps unfairly, sometimes deservedly. But the Coven is fair, just and above prejudice so let's give another representative of the countless horde of later 90's melodeath bands a chance today. This is Nocturnal Winds from Finland and their first demo, ripped by me from a tape dubbed by brother Grev whom we also have to thank for the cover scans.

Looking at the band name and song titles one might expect black metal, perhaps in the weather report genre and maybe even with thick layers of delicious, cheap synth dressing on top. Nope, we get three long and one shorter songs of slightly rough sounding melodic death metal in the time-honoured 90's Finnish vein. You know what I'm talking about, don't pretend not to. If you actually don't, think '94/'95 Amorphis, same period Sentenced and, ugh, I can't think of anything reasonable and well-enough known right now, but anyways with slightly cruder performance, rougher sound and less frills all around. I'm kind of reminded of the Frozen Tear demo by the sound and performance, and congrats if that says anything to you. Funny enough, this also sounds pretty enjoyable, mostly due the things mentioned which probably will be a negative point to seasoned, jaded meloheads. Despite what I said earlier there are some wee little touches of black metal here and there and I think I heard Satan mentioned too in the third track. Yay! Sometimes this kind of stuff is fine too and it works here well enough, except for the cover picture that really does not lead one to think "frost", "winterwinds" or "nocturnal winds" either, more like Midsummer and booze at a lakeside cabin. The last track is pretty awful with the c'mon! c'mon! - shouts and they were doing so well in the third song too! Still, it's good enough with three pretty good tracks out of four, slightly recommended.

Kharadrai - Compilation track 1999

Kharadrai - Track from Anomalous Silencer 4. compilation (1999)
1) Akhomalon I

Mediafire

Today's quickie might seem like a filler, being a single track released on a compilation back in '99 and yeah, it kind of is, but there's a very good reason for this post. Or at least a pretty good reason? Well, however the jury decides, it's because I'd for once like to post something more or less complete, in chronological order and these contributions of Kharadrai material by master Sorvali allow me the opportunity. Isn't it nice to hear something in appropriate order for change? Also, this track/recording is exclusive to this compilation so it has a place here in that accord too. Please notice the whole compilation is not featured here, only the Kharadrai track! Thank you.

Ok, actually a version of this track also appears on the last demo but I think it's a re-recording or remix or whatever, a different version at the end of the day. It's a four-minute song, rather bombastic ambient/industrial blend of music this time around. Have a listen if you liked the previous Kharadrai recordings and/or enjoy this sort of industrial-tinged stuff. I kind of wish I had the whole compilation, though, this feels a bit lost all by itself.

Daoine Sidhe - Daoine Sidhe demo 1995

Daoine Sidhe - Daoine Sidhe demo 1995
1) Tir Na Nog
2) La Vassalerie d'Unseelie
3) Gwaenardel
4) Bryn Yr Ellyllon
5) Gwyn-Ap-Nudd
6) Douar Nevez

Mediafire / Zippyshare

Time for some non-metal material again and this is another contribution, thanks for the rip and scan! Unfortunately both the sender and I know next to nothing about this band/project, except that it's French and apparently a solo project by a person called also Daoine Sidhe and it was recorded in the Nazgul studio which might mean it's by the same person who ran the label Nazgul Productions. Looking at the cover and based on what (little) I know about the other releases I'd date this to either '95 or '96. The cover's style is closer to that of Isildur's Bane (there's a typo on the cover, it's supposed to be Isildur's not Isildur'!)  demo released in 1995 than Drunemeton one dated '96 (I could really use a better rip of that one, by the way). Please get in touch if you have any further information and/or more releases by the label.
UPDATE: I only noticed today (23rd January '17 that is) that this was reviewed on the 4th Petrified issue which verifies it to '95. Alright, one more thing less to worry about!

To the music, this is kind off in the same spirit as the Emglev stuff I posted some time ago (here and here) meaning dungeon synth with Celtic/Gaelic (not sure which applies here, not my expertise) leanings and at times influence though this is not folk music, don't be expecting cheery ditties and such numbers to frolic to. This is mostly rather somber and gloomy even, second track being a good example. The shorter tracks in the middle, "Gwaenardel" and "Bryn Yr Ellyllon" are probably the folkiest and first one most upbeat, or closest to being that. I must admit I didn't really pay enough attention to this at my initial listens as this suddenly sounds much more interesting now. Or perhaps it needed a little time to grow on me? Only vocals are some heavily effected gravelly ones (and some whispers) in the rather witchy "Gwyn-Ap-Nudd" and they're not ruining it so they work ok. Though there's still a bit more of them than necessary. Note also that there's some sort of beat or percussion in almost all of the tracks which may or may not be a selling point. Personally I'm fine with it here. My favourites here would probably be the second and fourth track if I pick two. Recommended for dungeon synth enthusiasts, those looking to expand their RPG soundtracks or into the Celtic/Gaelic thing.

Negură Bunget - Promo 1998

Negură Bunget - Promo 1998
1) Intro
2) Dîn afundul adîncului întrupat
3) Sala Molksa - Chanelling Through Art Immortal
4) Șuier de șolomonar
5) Outro

Depositfiles / Rusfolder

This weekend is the time for the xtian holiday of Easter which I associate with Kinder chocolate eggs and Eastern Ortohodox church. Which makes me think of Russia, Romania and such places and that finally brings us to today's post, another item from Henu's pile of tapes (thanks for the rip and scan!) and the second release by Negură Bunget who I believe are quite well-known band these days. At least in certain circles, not US Billboard stuff obviously!

This promo tape was released by the (in-)famous Sombre Records back in '98 and I'm pretty sure he screwed up the tracklisting back then, you see the first track titled "intro" there is well over 8 minute song, titled "Vînt dă rău pîn Valea Iadului" on the Sala Molksa EP released later that year on cassette by Bestial Records and on CD about a year later. Actually, all the tracks here appear on the said EP but in slightly different order. So this is pretty redundant if you already have it! I've got the cassette version myself but since I'm too lazy to dig it up and compare I can't say if there's really any difference in the mix or something, I'm 99.98% sure it's the exactly same recording however. I think this sounds a little different than what I remember from listening to my tape but then again it's been quite a while from that. I also seem to remember there was supposed to be some difference (other than artwork) between the '99 CD version and the tape but can't verify that, my extensive research (had a quick look at Metal Archives) revealed naught.

I should probably talk about this release instead of ranting about the EP, some people might not actually have heard it. Ok, this is atmospheric black metal with a peculiar feel to it. On paper not really original yet sounds still somewhat distinct. Less rough and raw than the Zîrnindu-să album or Wiccan Rede demo but not as intricate as the later albums would get. Brings to mind some Polish 90's stuff mixed with some of the more synth-happy Norwegians plus some original touches. Yeah, it's a good tape but like said you don't really need it if you have Sala Molksa unless you're kind of obsessive and then you probably try to dig up a copy of the cassette anyways.

Hiborym - Abakua: Pacta Conventa Daemonorum demo 1995

Hiborym - Abakua: Pacta Conventa Daemonorum demo 1995
1) Lady Masthema
2) Coronum Patrem Noctis
3) Sigilium Diaboli

Mega

Brother Baldemar's contributions continue with another Mexican black metal relic continuing where these posts left off. Thank you for the rip! Based on some old interviews I always thought of Hiborym as the main band of Masthema Sancia & co and despite remaining somewhat obscure and underground it has also stayed active the longest, releasing a demo as "recently" as 2010. I would really like to get my hands on the recordings released between 1995 and 2010 so if you have them, get in touch. I'd also really like a cover for this so you know what to do. And (possible) older recordings interest me as well.

What is here then? Three tracks might not look like much but this still runs over 20 minutes as these are all relavitely long tracks, which might be a slight surprise. If you were expecting fast and blistering black/death/war metal assault, think again. This is mostly slow to midpaced raw, melancholic and atmospheric black metal. Rather doomy even. It's quite obviously a rehearsal recording but the sound quality is good enough and actually very pleasant to my ears, suits this much better than a fancy polished 48 track studio recording! Now that I think of it, this has a lot in common with the Iadanamada rehearsal I earlier posted. I like this and am very fascinated with this circle of bands in general so be sure to let me know if you have more from Hiborym or any of the related projects!