| Demo Reviews |
click here for the new review section
interested bands are welcomed to e-mail me
or to send free stuff, yeah!
(the reviews featured here were written between 2000 and 2001, so most of the stuff (especially limited vinyls etc.) is for certain sold out and no more available at the addresses below)
Angelcorpse/Martire
“Winds Of Desecration/Hellstorm-Chaosrape” split 7”
[self-produced?]
Aaaarrghhh!!!
Angelcorpse! The cult is here! But is this split Ep a posthumous release or what
the damn? Well, I don’t give a damned fuck… this Ep is something too great,
even if Angelcorpse have disbanded they still kick ass! Their side starts with
“When Abyss Winds Returns” and if you like me have got a real adoration for
this band (or should I say for Morbid Angel?) you should know how much fast and
violent they play… at the end of the song the headbanging stops for a seconds
and the second track begins with a riff that I not recognize at first, but is
from Sarcofaco, it is a cover for “Desecration Of Virgin”… it’s an
intense death metal delirium!! The other side has an aussie band called Martire,
I heard about them, but never listened to something previously: they have two
tracks a bit similar among them, their style is fast, overdriven, chaotic,
perhaps a bit influenced by Sadistik Exekution (or am I saying this only for
they are australian?) and Order From Chaos, they also remind me a bit Conqueror
from Canada, great, great, great.
Profanatica/Impiety
“Unholy Black Death/Dragon Oath Diaboulas” split 7” 500x [Samhain,
‘99]
The
slaughtering of angels… has arrived! Jim of Samhain Rec. wanted to summon the
cult of the black perversion by releasing this limited impure jewel featuring
two of the blackest bands ever… one
side has the Singaporean terrorists Impiety upon, with “Dragon Oath
Diaboulas”, song taken from the famous never released “Funeralight”
Mlp, a tune more or less in the vein of their “Skullfucking Armageddon”
stuff… not exaggerately killer maybe, but great of course. The other side of
the Ep is proud to resume three evil spawns by the ancient North American black
metal horde… Profanatica!!! The first one track is a rehearsal version from
1991 of “Weeping In Heaven”, played by the legendary four-members
line-up of the split Lp w/Masacre… truly bad recorded and garage-sounding but
still evil. Then two never released songs (“Crucifixion Wounds” and “Mary”)
taken from a ’92 demo-tape, played by the line-up appeared in the cover of the
“As Tears Of Blood…” 7” (with Wicked Warlock from Demoncy), but I think
for the chaotic/nihilistic and “idiotic” approach it’s nearer to Havohej
than the characteristic Profanatica style, or perhaps just an embryonic sound
that supposedly were improved later on (the band broke-up in ’94). This
rotting piece of True Death/Black Metal comes on coloured vinyl and has two
different covers (each for the relative band) with profane artworks and can be
bought from the Samhain Rec. address for 10$ (I know, the price is high, but no
one is obliging to buy it!)… only for the true worshippers.
Samhain
Records c/o Jim Stanic, 105 Grove Street – Mahwah, N.J. 07430 (U.S.A.)
Dark
Funeral “Equimanthorn” 7” (bootleg) [Satanspawn, ‘01]
Well,
I’m not properly a Dark Funeral fan, but you know their early stuff was so
black, evil… anyway I’m proud
to handle a so rare bootleg Ep made by a Japanese (or at least this is what I
read from the back cover) label named Satanspawn since this jewel on vinyl
features the two tracks that Dark Funeral recorded back in ’96 for the “In
Conspiracy With Satan” tribute compilation Cd for the black metal godfathers
Bathory (actually the name of the
label it’s a kind of joke, since the Swedish label that released the tribute
was Hellspawn). “Equimanthorn” and “Call From The Grave”: there is a
great pleasure for me hearing these two covers on vinyl… both are faithful to
the original versions, but played with a more linear and cleaner approach (you
know the Dark Funeral style). “Equimanthorn” is surely a great piece, it’s
a dark, old-fashioned great black metal song, but I have to admit that when I
bought the Bathory tribute some years ago, “Call From The Grave” was the
cover I appreciated and listened to the most in the whole compilation… its
mid-paced chorus, the unreachable screams (Themgoroth, the Dark Funeral
vocalist, have a so incredible way of screaming that really drives me crazy…)
and the great epic solo reminds me the same sensations that night, dark,
malevolence give me… it’s the most emotional, the most epic and probably the
best of all the Bathory songs and
of course one of the greatest tune ever written in the whole Black Metal history…
but I think it’s a bit hard to find out a copy of this 7”.
Satanspawn
Records, 406-6, Mizuno Sayama-shi, Saitama 350-1317 - Japan.
Burzum
“Et Hviss Lys Over Skogen” 7” white vinyl (bootleg) [Helvete, ‘01]
One
of the most controversial, if not the most controversial band in the whole black
metal history, and of course one of my faves of faves, Burzum. It’s totally
great for me holding this other jewel in my hands, it’s totally rare and
great:
a fake label (Helvete, this is another sort of joke since the crafty ones behind
this release took the name and the logo of the Euronymous’ music shop in
Oslo!) has issued it and features previously unreleased material from the early
days of the Burzum cult; on the first side there is a lengthy song titled “Et
Hviss Lys Over Skogen” which was recorded back in ’92 during the “Aske” sessions, and
obviously sound similar to that stuff; is typical Burzum Black: that legendary
way of screaming, that cult guitar sound, that very personal riffing still drop
me deep emotions of anger, sadness, epicness as well as the whole Burzum music
does, but I can’t explain clearly what I feel… it’s not any standard Black
Metal, it gives a true weird atmosphere, if you know what I mean…
Unfortunately, the second side of this white Ep has recorded upon a very bad
recorded version for “Lost Wisdom”, taken from the Burzum reh/demo ’91.
The cassette from which was taken the track seems having the tape very damaged…
shit! An interesting note is that in the back cover all credits are for Varg,
but you know Samoth from Emperor also played some guitar on the “Aske” Mlp,
so probably he’s also on that fantastic unreleased track on the first side…
Ok, perhaps you’re thinking this Ep was made only in order to earn dirty
money: I think it too, I’ve paid something like the price of a Cd for
obtaining this, but I don’t give a damn… hail Burzum cult!
Darkthrone
“Thulcandra” 7” 666x [Moonfog, ‘99]
After
several bootleg recordings that let tasted the Darkthrone demos to the masses
(the split w/ Mayhem, the “The Roots Of Evilness” Cd and a lot of others
too),
this Ep has been officially issued by Satyr’s label Moonfog on a strictly
limited edition of 666 copies on vinyl and features the first demo-tape of the
True Norwegian Black Metal Kings… I’m over excited to handle a similar
rarity in my hands after the Burzum 7” (see above); Darkthrone is for
me in absolute one of the most cult of the bands, and together with Impaled
Nazarene is the band that initiated me to the Black Metal Cult… but shit
apart,
about the music, this demo was recorded in ’89 and, quite obvious, it sound
like an embryo of what Darkthrone did in the Death Metal masterpiece “Soulside
Journey” released the following year. Strange, the Ted Skelljum (Nocturno
Culto) vocals sound too far on what we can hear in “Soulside Journey”, and
sometimes the ensemble of the guitar riffs and the tempo changes is not as great
as in the album… I’ve said this yet, it is a primordial raw played darkness,
but behind that bad recording, among those not so technical guitar works there
was hidden a kind of inhuman talent, as they showed to the entire death/black
metal scene in the last decade…
Black
Crucifixion “The Fallen One Of Flames” 10” 500x [Soulseller, ‘00]
Be
it the involvement of all three members in the not-so-long but essential and
indisputable for its fundamentality course in the Black Metal scene of the
“pioneering band in the realm of Dark music” (as the back cover says),
Beherit, be it the roughness typical of the so idolized old death and black
metal bands of which this stuff is played, where more than searching to compose
brutal music with “obscure” lyrics the
main purpose was to create real Dark music with a (necessarily death or black?)
metal surrounding and an (unintentional?) intense feeling of darkness, my
opinion about this wonderful release couldn’t be of any negativity at all. The
Black Crucifixion’s “The Fallen One One Flames” demo was originally
conceived, recorded and spread out in the years ‘90/’91 and featured
Sodomatic Slaughter (formerly The Last Slaughter), known to be the drummer and a
founder member of its main band Beherit; Fornicator (who later joined Beherit
himself) on vocals, guitars and effects and Black Soul on guitars and bass and
quite nice thing, they sound very similar to the darkest and evilest Beherit,
not only for the fact that Holocausto Vengeance wrote and vociferated on both
the so ghastly intro and outro… this wonderful release is out through dutch
Soulseller Rec., features also a bonus track (originally included on the first
50 pieces) and comes with a great red/devilish artwork… this is a real
masterpiece of darkness and for sure this is one the greatest releases reviewed
here. “Rise Master Spirit, Rise Ghost of Hell”.
Sarcasm
“Scattered Ashes” picture 7” 500x [Danza Ipnotica, ‘00]
Ok,
probably I’ve bought this Ep only because I like the band’s name a lot and
this picture disc has a great dark medieval miniature upon, as flyers showed.
But beside the graphical aspect, I must say this is a great piece of dark metal
music: in between the two songs, you can hear an original style, a kind of doom
metal with dirty dirty guitars, sick vocals and slow tempos. Doom/death, I’d
say, but it’s not like early Cathedral or similars, this stuff is sicker and
more technical, nearer to some death metal stuff like Asphyx, maybe. All the two
tracks are simply great, but my favourite is the second one, with dark spoken
words vocals alternated to the above-mentioned sick screams.
Hailing from France, feat. the guitarist from Osculum Infame (see the Arkhon Infaustus interview on My Heart #0), playing (now) ultra-brutal Black Metal with perverted song-titles and lyrics. If you’re familiar with their old Mcd stuff please don’t expect nothing similar… they don’t play simplistic as before, they sound fast, intense, a sort of Angelcorpse with growls alternated to shrill screams and ultra headbangable heavy riffs. Ok, maybe a bit omogeneous, too atonal and deep-of-jar sounding (or are my speakers, frayed?), but I like it a lot. Check out their album “Hell Injection” on Osmose!!!
Devilry “Satanasphere” 7” grey cement vinyl 500x [Nuclear Winter, ‘00]
I don’t know so much about this finnish band, but I have obtained this ep since I heard they were a cool death metal band… In effects I like this “Satanasphere” Ep. It presents three songs quite similar among them, played with a very raging approach, fast drumming and schizoid shrill vocals modulated in a bit strange way… If I have to quote a main influence I’d say Devilry are a bit influenced by the most malevolent Deicide stuff (“Legion”, “Once Upon The Cross”…), but it’s only an impression… the lyrics are not included, but in the cover there’s an excerpt of them and it seems that is a true antichristian band with intelligent thoughts, not the usual stupid lyrics. A reason more for support them…
Nuclear Winter Rec. c/o Anastasis Valtsanis, 10 Likourgou str., 15451 Athens - Greece.This
is the second Ep for this “not existent yet” side-project feat. people from
Horna; two tracks here: the first, “Sabbath Of Lust”, is a kind of
slow horror metal in the vein of some Death SS stuff and the second, “Possessed
Wolves’ Howling”, is a thrash song with B/M screams and final
ugly H/M solos… surely not a killer Ep that can’t surely be compared to their great dark majestic “Hail The Black Imperial
Hornsign” demo. I don’t know if this disc is still available, but ask anyway
at the Northern Heritage’s address if interested…
Great
underground logo, great piece of heavy vynil… good musicians, good music
definitely. According to the flyers that circulated around, In Tha Umbra plays
Death Metal… well, this is not exactly what I mean for D/M! But anyway…
there are two tracks in this Ep, very similar between them, for somehow
reminding me some At The Gates stuff (for the particular way of riffing?)…
beside this vocals are as screamed as I like, but not too much as sick as I’d
want.
Kaiadas/(the
true) Frost split 7” 300x [Satanic Terror, ‘00]
I appreciated a lot the Kaiadas song, but the recording level sucks. Kaiadas are from Greece, but they doesn’t sound greek… even they sound fast… a very good tune, but I can’t stick up the skill of a band by listening one single piece, even if good. And what about Frost?!? Bluuurrgghhh!!!! Shitty guitar sound (not exactly Black Metal…) for first thing… too much simplistic riff… I don’t like the vocals… not a good impression, I’d say. An interesting note is that both bands seems (claiming themselves) having n/s ideologies, but the Kaiadas’ drummer can’t explain me why… a convinced person for sure!
Axis
Powers “Evil Warriors” 7” 200x [self-produced, ‘00]
Axis
Powers is a Swedish band that play a kind of very primitive and rough-sounding
kind of Death Metal, in the old underground Swedish way, by the way. The claim
their own music to be influenced by Grave and Nihilist, so I turn at the maximum
my bass boost system and start the playing: all the songs are quite similar
among them, all based on a simple and deep-sounding guitar riff (one for each
song), a not so technical drumming (but of course it fits well the music), and a
nice bass sound, that all in all bear
up a kind of growl vocals reminding (…what band?) Grave. This Ep is
self-produced and contains four track, on which the last is a cover from The
Stooges (ain’t this a punk band of the 70’s?!), but played (obviously) in a
Death Metal version and strange, this one for me seems more hungry than the
other pieces. I properly think that when this ‘zine will be out this disc will
be totally sold-out from the band, but their address is here…
Altar
Of Perversion/Goatfire split 7” [Hellflame, ‘01]
NunSlaughter/Grand
Belial’s Key “Satan Is Metal’s Master/Sperm Of The Antichrist” split
7” 666x [Horror, ‘01]
I
remember I heard a track from NunSlaughter from an old American comp. tape and
they didn’t impressed me so much. Now I have the chance to judge them by
listening something more, but my opinion is more or less the same: they say to
play Death Metal but those riffs are too much simples and played in a too much
fucked up way to attract my interest. Nevertheless, just by taking a look on the
title and the cover of their side of this split ep they give me a sensation of a
so dement band… however, their uninteresting side consists of two tracks, plus
a weak cover from Venom’s “Hellchild” (yes, it’s a weak interpretation)…
on the other side the Pennsylvanian cult B/M band plays a new tune titled “The
Tricifixion Of Swine” (it is new, it wasn’t in the 7” with the same
title!):
it’s the usual (or I have to say “most famous”?) GBK style, death/black
metal with speed metal-like exploits and the central part of the songs has a
keyboard masturbation in their proper style (one of their trademark…); I
really love this band, but this song has a little disappointed me, shit! This ep
is sold-out from the label, but try anyway…
Horror
Records, Joergensgaard 49B, 1. 4
DK-6400 Soenderborg - Denmark.
Frostmoon
Eclipse “Revenge In Scorn” 7” 300x [Maggot, ‘01]
Frostmoon
Eclipse is an Italian band stylistically known to be very influenced by some
Norwegian black metal stuff of the 90’s: Emperor in primis (but without the
same feeling), but also a bit of Enslaved for me... what I can say about this
cool piece of vynil, musically speaking? The things I’ve just said are proven
here… these two tracks (three considering the acoustic intro on the B side)
are nice to hear, but you know it’s nothing killer or amazing. Their song
“Dragon Millennium” (that was supposed to be put on their never released
split 7” w/ Entirety) was in the same style, the only difference is that that
song had a great and truly energetic main riff… unfortunately it’s not here
and by the way it’s still unreleased… sorry, but this proof is nothing
special.
Frostmoon
Eclipse c/o Claudio Alcara, viale Fieschi 4 - 19123, La Spezia. Italy.
Maggot
Rec. c/o Daniele Castagnetti, via Paganini 34 - 20052, Monza (Mi). Italy.
Nefarium
“Avernus” 7” 300x [Maggot, ‘01]
Another
Ep by Maggot Rec. (still limited to 300 pieces), another Italian band. Nefarium
define their stuff “pure destructive black metal”, but some time ago I had
the chance to listen their demo ’99 and it hadn’t gave me the impression of
that great band (mostly, I didn’t like the so static sound of the
drum-machine),
but now I’m pleased to hear this Ep: believe me, it’s great! Here Nefarium
have found a true drummer (Summum Malum, from Adversam) and even if they sound a
bit influenced by Marduk, they shows some good personality and presents here two
great tracks titled “Festering Clausura” and “Ducis Magnitudo” (are the
lyrics too in latin?). The sound of this Ep is on a high level from both the
recording and the skill of the musicians, and for me the definition “pure
destructive…” fits very well for Nefarium… it’s fast and violent black
metal, and the vocals really drives me crazy… write at the Maggot or the band
address to know more:
Nefarium
c/o Filippone Fabio, Reg. Fontanelle
26 - 11020 St. Christophe, Aosta. Italy.
Decayed/Corpus
Christii “Decadentia Christii” split 7” 500x [Hiberica, ‘01]
First
of all, I’m intensively pissed off because it gets me a defective copy!! …
It is a very shitty thing when I notice I’ve paid my precious $$$$$ for a disc
that I can’t taste in its whole entirety! It looked so nice and I’m sure it
was a brand new copy since the disc envelope had electrostatic energy, but in
the second side I can’t hear nothing but a lot of jumps of the needle of my
record player… fuck off!! Hiberica Prod., you have to do real discs and not
dustbins! Fuck you, I want a normal and undefective copy or I want my money
back! Ok, apart from this shit, talking about the music: in the one and only
listenable side of this fucked up shitty copy I can found three songs by Decayed
from Portugal… I knew only their previous 7” that sounded a lot in the style
of the Bathory 4th album, but in this record there is much more
rumour and even if they’re always influenced by Bathory they sound with a more
straight-ahead approach and the lyrics seems somewhat more superficial and
direct… surprise, in the second side another cool Portuguese band, Corpus
Christii: I never had the chance to listen something by them and even if in the
back cover I found written the length of their tune is 6.09 in my “great”
copy that song last something like 15 seconds… Fuck you again! Send your
insults (and not money) to Hiberica at the following
address:
Hiberica,
P. O. Box 174, 8300-999 Silves. Portugal.
Warloghe/Katharsis/Black
Witchery/S.V.E.S.T. “Black Metal Endsieg” split 7” 350x [Sombre,
‘01]
Even
if in the cover there is the sequence of appearance above, in the disc itself it
isn’t so… the A side starts with the french black metallers S.V.E.S.T., and
I have to say that I never had the opportunity to give an hear to their music,
and I think is… putrid, not standard, I think they are really talented,
nothing copied or standardized for sure. Katharsis… black metal band hailing
from Germany, proposing a kind of stuff across Darkthrone and some Bathory songs
(“Armageddon” in primis)… good for sure, but they haven’t
impressed me so much. The B side features Black Witchery with the ultra famous
song “Summoning Of Infernal Legions”, taken from their demo under the
name Witchery and also used in the A side of their 7”, probably the best song
on this split Ep, in my opinion influenced by early Burzum, and mixed with some
Darkthrone, Blasphemy and Havohej (actually, for the drumming…). At last
Warloghe with another released-yet song, “Visions Of Carnage And Impurity”,
previously edited as a bonus track on the vinyl version of their album and a bit
different from the rest of their songs, a bit more straight-ahead, more
harmonic,
less raw. If interested to buy a copy… sorry, but I properly think it’s
sold-out not only from the label but from everywhere.
If
you have listened to the tapes of this “Arian NS Black Metal” (what a
bullshit…) band, then you’ll know how much claustrophobic, simple, but very
effective their music is… this Ep features now the same recordings of 2 tracks
from their “Schytia” demo ’99, so there is no fuckin’ variation on their
sound here: same dark abyssal vocals, same wadding guitar sound and same howling
werewolves amongst the riffs of this two tunes and of course same total
fuckin’ DARKNESS…
Zemial
“Necrolatry” Mlp 666x [Iron Pegasus, ‘00]
What
a nice and macabre true underground artwork… a kind of mortuary room full of
skeletons laid down here and there, with a kind of tub on which one of them is
dissolving in acid! By Chris Moyen of course! I’m sure the contents will be as
dark and putrid as this great cover! Ehi, but what the fuck, it isn’t so…
“Necrolatry” contains 6 trax of old hellenic primordial Black Metal straight
from a (semi-distructed?) promo tape from ’97, immortalized with a 4tx
recorder. Songs are more or less in the vein of the “In The Glory Of UR” Lp,
but truly bad recorded with a too much shitty guitar and bass sound… another
difference from the full-length lies here in some punk-ish/idiot riffs amongst
the same shrill vocals and hardcore-like tempos, that for something impercetible
reminds me sometimes some of the early Venom stuff. Anyway this Mlp is not
totally bad, but I wouldn’t listen to it everyday. Not too much putrid or dark
for my tastes…
Thornspawn
“Blood Of The Holy, Taint Thy Steel” Lp 666x [Death To Mankind, ‘01]
If
you’re annoyed, tired and definitely bored off by all these (european or north
american) bands that try to any fucking cost to sound exactly like their idols
Marduk & Dark Funeral, if you’re dejected, ‘cause the 90% of the
self-claimed Death Metal bands aren’t that dark and truly DEATH as you’d
liked, if you’re going to beat your own head to the wall once again ‘cause
for you it seems impossible these days listening to something truly schizoid,
violent & destructive at the same time, then buy this record. …Starting
from the cover, looking like a real old metal album like fews these days, to end
up with your headache and your relative crying out for the pain: if the previous
stuff by this band from Texas were claimed to be (death/)black metal, Thornspawn
here creates a true form of MUSICAL MALEVOLENCE… Anyway, the album starts with
the title track, song featured yet in their “Infernal Legions” 7”, but of
course better recorded with an overwhelming (in the evil sense of the word) and
crushing drum-sound with unforeseen series of smacks to the fucking nazarene
(tempo accelerations), after that two new great evil tunes in the same evil and
totally violent vein (“Man, Thy Name Is Satan” & “Storming
The Heavens”) and “Ancient Path” from their demo ’97…you
can hear how much vocals are SICK in this Lp… and SICK is certainly the proper
word. The second side starts with the best, the most violent and christian
head-crushing/satanic head-banging of the eight songs: “Bringer Of
Malevolent Storms”, do ill yourself… Another improved and brilliant demo
song (“Dominions Of Darkness”) and the Lp ends with the most
mid-paced and apparently calm of the Thornspawn songs: “Thrones of Suspiria”.
My record player has finished to turn on, but… I know I’ll play this record
again and again. This is a… MASTERPIECE.
Do ill yourself.
Death
In June “Sun Dogs” 7” lmt. [N.E.R./Tesco,
‘00]
…Ok,
I’m not a super-ultra-mega fan of Death In June, I’ve just discovered how
much is great this unusual band when I bought their “Operation Hummingbird”
Lp ’99, a true masterpiece of apocalyptic folk darkness. It seems that all
records by Death In June have everytime some gadgets
or similar bullshit playthings… and here? You must know that the cover
of this Ep shows four identical heads of dobermans placed in a circular order,
and the same thing is upon the A side of the record, and guess when the record
is playing…! A swastika! There is a kind of sticker for cover-up the swastika,
in case you feel offended by it. But shit apart, this Ep is a kind of follow-up
of the above mentioned Lp and features two great tracks in the usual Death In
June style, but with a quite different line-up (except for the mastermind
Douglas Pierce, obviously). “Rose Clouds Of Holocaust” and “13
Years Of Carrion” are quite similar songs one to each other; both based on
a slow acoustic guitar riffing, with a dark (and a bit monotonous, sometimes)
vocal style. The only difference is that the second song is a bit more “apocalyptic”,
and of course is the one I prefere.
Chaos! Indus! Satan! MZ.412 !!! Close your eyes, poor victim… and listen… you’re in a steel factory, tied up to a roll that’s putting you to a big rotating blade… some distorting voices are speaking, but you’re in trance and can’t understand… the only thing that you’re conscious of is… death is near.
Sadistic Intent “Resurrection Of The Ancient Black Earth” Lp splatter grey vinyl, 666x [Iron Pegasus]
Altar
Of Perversion/Goatfire split 7” 666x [Hellflame, ‘01]
Incriminated/Nuclear
Winter split 7” 500x
Horna/Fog
split 7” 500x [Dark Horizon]
Blood
“Massacre” 7” [Ketzer]
Kill
“Necro” 7” 500x [Evil Never Dies]
The
Forgotten/Rigor Sardonicous split 7” 500x [Paragon Int.]
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
| Demo Reviews |
Darkthrone
“Plague Wielder” Cd ’01 [Moonfog]
Slaughterlord “Thrash ‘Til Death 86-87” Cd ’98 [Invictus/Hammerheart]
Amazing death/thrash kult band known mostly to the masses for a bootleg split 7" w/Morbid Angel issued in the early 90's, and however important in the hystory of australian heavy metal for the fact that from their split up Sadistik Exekution and Mortal Sin were born... Anyway if you start to listen this Cd you could clearly understand why this band never gained a reputation in the mainstream: fucking Kreator cloning, exactly like early Necrodeath, another band which remained so "kult" and "hidden" outside Italy for a lot of years... yeah, Mille Petrozza learned and a lot of singers copied, mainly resembling the guitar riffing to everything on the the two essential masterpieces Pleasure To Kill and Endless Pain... some trax that later were recorded by Mortal Sin are present here in this Cd, which contain various studio tracks, rehearsal shit and their "Taste Of Blood" from '85... damn, what a sucking artwork for a Cd of a resumed thrash metal band.
Profanatica
“Live” Cd 1000x ’01 [Necroscope]
I remember the period I was going to get release my issue #0 (around march 2001) and I put a Profanatica picture on the cover under permission of Paul Ledney (vc+dr) who I was in contact with, and he told me that he was going to unleash a new Profanatica Cd which would had contained live material... damn cool! From his own label Necroscope (which actually it's a kind of parody -logo too- of the Us' black metal legend Necrovore), and limited in 1000 copies... after that Profanatica were revived by himself + 2 unknown guys and played a few live shows around USA together with band like Grand Belial's Key and The Forgotten (see review), etc.... but after some shit like that, all disappeared!! He ripped off a lot of people who sent him money for Cd's and new Profanatica t-shirts!! But I don't give a fuck, this Cd contains very good raw material from three different shows that took place around 1990/1991 and the tracks are more or less comprehensive of the whole Profanatica anthology: Weeping In Heaven, Raping The Angels, Final Hour Of Christ and other good title with a very good impious live sound... a bit hard to get a copy but try...
Havohej "Man And Jinn" Mcd 1000x '01 [Necroscope]
I was desperately looking for this Mcd after Necroscope Rec. passed away and it was fucking cool to listen to some new Havohej stuff: this Mcd has a true desecrating cover, one of the most impious cover I have ever seen, digitally done by the same artist who later did the Profanatica's Broken Jew 7" cover, I guess... Well, this Mcd contained only three tunes: one is a new Havohej "song" titled "Man And Jinn" and the other two were covers from Venom's Leave In Hell and Impaled Nazarene's Goat Perversion... "Man And Jinn" is in the total necrosounding idiotic style of Havohej, while the covers would aren't recognizable (Venom and Imp Naz aren't neither quoted in the booklet!!) since the "guitars" and "basses" are not played, they are really tortured!! The only attinence within the original version of "Goat Perversion" and this cover are the goat grunts in the first seconds of this songs: a good come back from a essential north american black metal legend, this Mcd was dedicated to the Singaporean goatmasters Impiety!!
Contrivisti
Mcd 2001 [Unholy Black]
Ahah, Profanatica kult strikes again... on the same mood of the Havohej come back of 2001, John Gelso, guitarist of the kult (who now plays in another band called Aiwaz) released from his own label Unholy Black Records a Contrivisti Cd. Don't you what Contrivisti is? Fuck you, norse sucker and asslicker of the mainstream, Contrivisti was a Profanatica side-project on which J. Gelso played and Aragon Amori (bs) did the vocals... this Cd is just a compilation of rough mixes + a track taken from a compilation... a lot of stuff here is in the purest style of Profanatica, while some other more is a bit different original stuff, a bit hard to describe, much less black metallish... dedicated of course to the memory of Aragon Amori (RIP- 1996).
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Beherit “Live Joensuu 8.2.1992” Cd-r [bootleg] A new good finnish Beherit bootleg on Cd-r on my hands! Yes, Cd-r, what a shit, but at least I'm happy to hear this shit now: 6 live tracks are here, all taken from the black metal masterpiece Drawing Down The Moon (this means that the style in this bootleg recording is not very far from the one in the album) and the sound is so damnedly backdropped... what a shit. This Cd-r was done in Finland, and after its release a label from USA pressed it like a "official" live album (or better mini album?!) just replacing the Beherit 2nd logo with the early one, what another shit: at this point everything (farts, etc) can be put onto Cd albums... |
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I had this Cd since some considerable time, but I had never listened to its entirety. Why? It's a bit monotonous in my opinion. Infernal Dominion is the new band of the ex-Imprecation guitarist (do you remind the Theurgia Goetia Summa Cd?) and the style is fucking too USA styled brutal death metal in the vein of the masters Incantation, but without the same intensity or brutality: the music is so fucking well played by true demonic death metal veterans and not by newcomer kids, but the drumming is so fucking slow and so fucking too less incisive to give to the music a true aura of brutality... in another words we can hear the same style of Imprecation, but without the black metallish parts, ah!
Inquisition (col) “Into The Infernal Regions Of The Ancient Cult” Cd
Mutiilation (fra) “Black Millennium (Grimly Reborn)” Cd ’01 [Drakkar]
The most infamous of the french Black Legions Metal bands… I seemed to have heard that Mutiilation stopped definitely to exist after one of the two member, Meyhna’ch (gt + vc), committed suicide in 1996 (see the inside booklet of the “Remains Of A Ruined, Dead, Cursed Soul” Cd)… Who the damn is that face painted guy perched on that chair for handicapped people in the cover? The other member? No… he’s Lord Wil Meyna’ch!!! He’s came back from the Land Of The Dead!!! RESURRECTION, guys! Fuckin’ miracle! …Now I understand why there is “grimly reborn” as subtitle… and after that I really don’t understand a thing… why the fuck to justify his own return in the underground claiming himself as a kind of Chosen One or similar shits? I perceive this is a pulling of my leg, me personally. Anyway… talking about the music: yez, it’s a very good album of B/M straight from the norwegian years ‘92/’94, or at least for what concerns the guitar sound (very Darkthrone) and the good vocal work (very Nocturno Culto), but however played with a lot of personality and great riffs (but not all riffs are great, anyway). Some more technical and some kind a bit less dark than the debut “Vampires Of Black Imperial Blood”, (that featured vocals in the pure style of Dead, though!). Anyway in my opinion the best material by Mutiilation are the two final trax on the “Remains…” Cd and by the way for me the evilest Black Legions bands (at least musically) is Belketre, sorry if you don’t think so.
Kult
Ov Azazel (usa) “Triumph Of Fire” Cd ’01 [Pavement]
Florida is a state that may many metal people as always associated to fundamental death metal bands like Deicide, Morbid Angel and of course the masters Death. Perhaps for a similar reason I was convinced that there were no B/M bands there, or better I thought that there weren’t B/M metal bands without any traces of Death Metal in their sound, in Florida (ok, Black Witchery apart)… mostly with a similar kind of anger and a sound reminding me some swedish bands such as Marduk or Dark Funeral, but played in a very brutal and uncompromising way. For what I know this full-length is the Kult Ov Azazel second proof on Cd after a split with Krieg and as I’ve already told their approach is violent, CHAOTIC. Vocals are screamed and they don’t give a sensation of true significant words sometimes, the drumming is incredibly fast and technical. Perhaps, after a lot of listenings this album could sound a bit monotonous for the almost absence of tempo changes, but if you like CHAOS…
Sudden
Death (ger) “Unnatural Human Art” Cd ‘01
I really don’t like the cover and all artworks inside the digipack case of this Cd and I don’t understand how come it can be possible to call Death Metal a such Cd with a similar ugly cover… but… this german band crushes! 10 tracks of old school Death fucking Metal, between the swedish sound (mostly Dismember and old Entombed), and some Morbid Angel’s “Covenant” and “Domination”-s (for both some riffs and the vocals, totally in the vein of the most guttural David Vincent). Despite the un-Death-Metal cover, Sudden Death sounds very skilled, brutal and fast. My favourite track is the fifth, a bit faster than the other, but I don’t remember the title at the moment. Anyway, if you’re interested, can contact the band asking for the Cd to them directly, ‘cause it seems that this one is a self-production like the previous two (now rare) Mcd’s by Sudden Death…
25DM/15$ to be sent to:
Sudden
Death c/o Mathias Härtel, Osterkamps Kamp 5 - 49525 Lengerich, Germany.
The
Forgotten (usa) “L’Aldila’” Cd ’00 [Paragon Int.]
I guess the title of this Cd should be macaronic Italian for “L’aldilà”, the title of the famous movie by L. Fulci… but The Forgotten is a five piece from USA, and this is not any horror movie-inspired gore metal stuff, and of course they aren’t a Necrophagia clone band: on the contrary these guys plays a kind of stuff difficult to label, I mean… the very first impression I’ve got about The Forgotten was good, I thought this Cd is dark, dirty (mostly for the guitar sound), slow, strange, schizoid sometimes (for the vocal aspect), unusual, not excessively well-played maybe, but I didn’t can stop to listening until I had understood clearly their strange musical proposal: this Cd is some kind of doom metal cauldron on which we can find plunged into also a bit of death and black (apart the first and the last tracks, that presents us some dark industrial pleasures)… the lyrics here are surely something interesting and personal, nothing discounted, but sometimes difficult to read and to comprehend. All the sick and dirty six songs of “L’aldila” incite the pleasures of my hears, but probably the best song is “Fools For His Pleasure”, a bit more “death/black” than the others… Definitely this is a very cool band and this is a good album. You can grab a copy and enjoy its never-seen blue plastic box (eh eh!) by sending 8$ (Usa)/ 9$ (R.o.W.) to:
Paragon Int. P.O. Box 354 Commack NY 11725 - Usa
Abysmal
Grief (ita) “Exsequia Occulta” Mcd ’01 [self-production]
This Mcd was supposed to be released in a 7” format some time ago, but shit happened, and circumstances drove to put it on a Mcd format. Anyway, for the joy of us lovers of the macabre Abysmal Grief have returned after 3 years of silence since their great cemeterial demo-tape titled “Funereal” with other two cemeterial tracks… “Exsequia Occulta” presents now two great tunes with the same darkened approach, but less metal… in fact the main difference between the demo and this Mcd is here the absence of heavy distorted guitar riffs and a strongest influence from occult prog rock of bands like Black Widow etc. or a kind of horror rock in the Death SS style. And by the way, even if I still though that their old vocalist was a true master of the art of screaming, the narrated vocal work here it’s anyway truly amazing… and if you’re a true worshippers of dark music, then you have to grab a copy of this disc, wait deep night and play the second track at very loud volume while you’re performing your ultra slow headbanging under the moon (eh eh!)…
Nova
(ita) “Utopica Musa” Cd ’01 [Cold Meat Industry]
Another Italian band signed by Cold Meat Industry (after Gothica, that sincerely I’ve never listened to) is the proof that within the boringness of the mediocrity there’s always a (hidden) high level of talent… I knew yet Nova since I had listened to their tracks from the CMI web-site, but curiously, just in the days when this album was released (May ’01) they sent me a mail on which they were announcing their own side of the net and consequently they kindly provided the way to get grabbed by me a copy of their creation called “Utopica Musa”… If I can say the truth I never listened to something similar, so I can’t describe clearly their style, but you know this is truly dark and beautiful music… the she-singer Chiara, with her own intricate, sometimes emotional way to modulate a so beautiful voice gives to the music a fundamental aspect while reciting a kind of lyrics that could seem something too simple, but in reality hide between those verses in Italian a true delicate poetry… some melodies and some rhythms I hear in some songs can reminds me of some Sopor Aeternus stuff, even if I think Nova have a (totally) different approach in compositions. The fourth song, “Icaro” is my favourite one and maybe the most emotional and delicate of the whole album, it totally blew me off when I listen to the chorus… Talent can’t be bought.
Black
Witchery/Conqueror (usa/can) “Hellstorm Of Evil Vengeance” split Cd ’00
[Dark Horizon]
All the Chris Moyen’s drawings on certain black metal records give a so underground evil aura, so it is for this split album (a demon with long hair pulling out the heart of Christ) that features two great antichristian North American bands, Black Witchery and Conqueror. From the first ones, I heard their great ep, but these recordings are for me more noisy and hungry than their previous stuff… Anyway the Black Witchery side is composed by five songs and between some of them there are previously released ones. Apart the great raging music, the thing I like the most in Black Witchery are the schizoid, ultra grim vocals that I resemble to Pete Helmkamp (Order From Chaos/Angelcorpse) but singed in a different way of course. I constantly hear some people calling them influenced a lot by Blasphemy, but in my opinion they have a more direct and simplistic style. But you know, the fifth song is nothing but a cover from Blasphemy’s “Demoniac” and while comparing it to the other pieces, you can hear how much diverse their style is, even if it’s still “barbaric”! About Conqueror I have to say that I never had heard any material by them and I like a lot their four songs here… it’s an overdriven, putrid and sometimes bizarre war metal filled with an amazing and grim noise-vocal work, totally great! Unholy Barbaric War Metal!!!
Dark Horizon Rec., 6435 West Jefferson Blvd #666, Fort Waine, Indiana 46804 –Usa
Suuri
Shamaani (fin) “Mysteerien Maailma” Cd ’99 [Spinefarm] 500x
Suuri Shaamani? What the fuck is it? Voodoo music? Monotonous industrial ambient I’d say. This is a one-man-band from Finland, but I don’t think the many knows who is the sole members that play in this album… guess… Holocausto Vengeance of Beherit! In effects, after some years of silence the Beherit brainchild is come back in the scene following more or less the same musical discourse of the last Beherit album “Hv.234453”: ambient, ambient, ambient. What I can say more? The definition speak for itself… 10 tracks for about 70 min. of ambient sounds with some industrial veins to be listened only with phones to alienate yourself from your surroundings and provoking you a gigantic headache… this is not out for Cold Meat Industry but for Spinefarm and it’s limited to 500 copies only, if you liked the last Beherit album, you’ll probably like this too.
Abiura
(ita) “Nursery Rhymes For The Unborn” Mcd ’01 [self-produced]
“Abiura” is an Italian word whose meaning is the retreat of a religious belief (abjuration), so surprise… a part the lyrics are (implicitly) antichristian, but it would quite unappropriate and of course I’m very far to consider them an antichristian band. Anyway these guys plays a kind of stuff near to some american brutal death filled with both violent thrash metal-like guitar riffs and some impressive groovy decelerations and tempo changes, with a very incisive, sharp and sometimes schizoid drum sound that all in all surround the vocalist, and even if his growls are not so deep (is this a real problem?), he found in the music a good fitting as well, with the growls more than in the parts on which only the shrill vocals appears (the first stanza of the second track). Except for a bit “weak” (compared to the rest of the material) approach in the first half of “Just An Experiment”, among the other songs featured here Abiura demonstrate their ability to play violent, intense and technical and also to create a somewhat massive wall sound of guitars in some parts, especially for what concerns the first song titled “Link Of The Chain”. I think the best and the most involving song in this work is “What I’ll Never See”, with a bit more complex structure and a central part on which I can hear some movie samples (ehi, are you gore metal fans?) that give to the song a strange macabre mood. I don’t know if ten minutes of music are enough to give a clear idea about their own move, but I think they’re nothing bad of course.
Abiura
c/o Sebastiano Moro, Via Cimarosa 45 - 09128 Cagliari. Italy.
Vrykolakas
(sin) “Vrykolakas 2000” promo Mcd ’00 [self-produced]
This is a band from Singapore that plays a kind of Us’ styled Brutal Death and they have released this Mcd containing 5 pieces in order to spread out their name and gain a bit of consideration in the scene. Don’t expect all the songs similar to each other: in the first two I can hear some influences of the Carcass cult, both for the alternation of the deep and shrill vocals and the drumming, the third has a main riff too different styled from the first two, the fourth is really chaotic and fast (my favourite of the Mcd) and the last is in the vein of the fourth but has a different mixing! About their instruments’ torture I think they know how to play, but not as technical as the US’ bands. You must know I’m not a great fan of such sonorities, but if you are their address is here:
Khairil, Bik 44, Chai Chee Street, #12-108 Singapore 461044
Rigor
Sardonicous (usa) “Risus Ex Mortuus” Cd-r ’99 [Smiling Death]
I heard about Rigor Sardonicous like a doom metal act, so I imagined about a fantastic cemeterial ultra macabre necrotic style and bought this Cd. Well, they are very far from what I expected… What does they play? Not doom metal for sure in my opinion. There’s nothing of what I was guessing… but is this a delusion? I don’t know for saying the truth. What does they play anyway? Death metal? Maybe. Ultra slow, guttural and really strange Death-alike metal with drum-machine? I’m nearer to the truth. But fuck you, this Cd is good, even if really boring and fucking monotonous in some of the 9 tracks for 36 min. of duration: this is a value, not a fault. I don’t know Rigor Sardonicous, except for the fact that they are in wait for a split 7” release w/ the “razor to the wrists”-metal band The Forgotten… you can check out “Risus Ex Mortuus” or another one Rigor Sardonicous full-lenght at the address below.
Smiling
Death Rec., P.O. Box 77, Selden N.Y. 11784 - USA.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
| Cd Reviews |
Thou
Ask Divinity (ita) “The Path” demo ’99
The
artwork of this tape suxx (except for the cover). The name of the band
intrigue me incessantly. But, talking about the music… this is a
north-italic dark band, and this is their first demo, it contains four tracks
+ intro of a kind of dark slow post-metal stuff, difficult to catalogate… of
course very original, but perhaps not excessively talented: I’ve noticed
this thing just when I heard the vocalist, that desperately try to scream
grimly without being nothing able. From the song-titles it seems that the band
has interest towards pre-colombian civilizations and similars, and… I heard
some people claming Thou Ask Divinity as a black metal band, but now that I’ve
listened the band I should think that that people behind those reviews should
stay calm and quiet and say a bit less bullshits, sometimes.
c/o
Alessandro Montanini, Via Leopardi 2 - 20040 Carnate (Mi). Italy.
Karnarium
(swe) “Breaking The Menacles Of Malkuth“ demo ‘00
This
tape has upset me. This band is from Sweden, and they call their music
“fukken death metal”, but in my opinion this ultra-overdriven chaos is
nearer to grind-core, than death metal. Four tracks, totally in the same vein…
it’s truly garage-sounding stuff. A kind of Nuclear Death meeting General
Surgery or something similar. In my personal copy I’ve got recorded also
their previous demo and the newer stuff: in the demo there is no fucking
variation of the sound, except for the awesome recording. The newer stuff
consists of a remixed song from this “Breaking…” demo, a tune that
reminds me some early Carcass stuff + a new song, a lot in the vein of Grave,
especially for the vocals. Available for 3$ (or 4$ outside Europe).
Karnarium,
c/o Clarke, Titteridammsh. 17 - 42468 Angered. Sweden
Hatework
(ita) “Thrasher’s Attack” tape 333x [Deathstrike ‘01]
That
pig in the cover wearing a leather jacket, eardrops and punk hair make me sick,
but it seems this band is formed by disciples of the thrash metal band of the
thrash metal bands (guess… Dark Angel!!!), so I can start to let my eyes
brightening… but it would be better to listen to this tape and start with a
violent (I hope) headbanging… This band is from Italy, they play very fast
and technical, with a lot of teutonic thrash influences especially from
Kreator’s “Pleasure To Kill” + some early Destruction (for the solos, I
think) & Sodom (the most technical ones). I read from the bio that
Hatework were influenced by Dark Angel (well, no that much for me) and Kreator,
but here I can hear some little Bay Area too… I don’t like very much the
vocals, of course nothing thrash, and the recording, ‘cause I can’t hear
the bass! “Thrasher’s Attack” exist both in limited tape and Mcd-r (both
limited in 333 copies only), ask Deathstrike Rec. in case you want get it.
Hatework
c/o Lorenzo Bocca, via Cavour 5 - 20020 Arconate (Mi). Italy.
Deathstrike
Rec. c/o Daniel Cichos, Lindenstr. 47 - 72348 Rosenfeld. Germany.
Front
Beast (ger) “Victims Of Death” demo ’01, 666x
The
first time I’ve put this tape on my stereo I didn’t like Front Beast so
much, but after several listenings I have to say that this band make me a good
mood. Can you imagine all the epicness and the sadness of the early Burzum
stuff with some teutonic thrash veins? Totally great. From the first song you
can enjoy a simple song-structure, I mean… all the song are based on a
simple but effective Burzum-ish riff, Burzum-ish vocals, and back-dropped (unlistenable)
drums with some tempo changes here and there. At the bottom of this demo, a
classic cover from Sarcofago, “Nightmare”, imagine Varg screaming on the
“Rotting” version of the song! Front Beast is the black metal solo project
of Evil Avenger from Deathstrike Rec. and this “Victims Of Death” is his
third demo, so write to the address’ label to get a copy, I
think the price should be 5$ or something like that.
Deathstrike
Rec. c/o Daniel Cichos, Lindenstr. 47 - 72348 Rosenfeld. Germany.
Nocturnal
(ger) “Slaughter Command” adv. tape 7” [Deathstrike ‘01]
The
recording level is not 100% fun, but in between these songs I can notice a
certain old-fashioned german metal attitude. Nocturnal is the continuation of
the band Bestial Desecration (that I’ve never listened, sincerely) and the
genre that they propose is nothing but pure speed/thrash metal seasoned with a
lot of solos, well played, but recorded in a unopportune way that doesn’t
show up the worthy rhythmic guitar work. On this advanced tape I’ve four
songs, but the flyer of the relative vinyl version announces only two pieces.
Anyway, if you’re a Destruction or Onslaught fan the Ep could interest you,
it’s limited to 720 pieces and the price is 10DM/6$ to be sent to the
Deathstrike Rec. address.
Deathstrike
Rec. c/o Daniel Cichos, Linderstr. 47 – 72348 Rosenfeld. Germany.
Goatvomit
(gre) demo demo ‘00
Sanatorio
(bra) “Rotten Penetration” demo ‘99
I’ve
heard talking about Sanatorio like a cool death metal band, so I’ve grabbed
and listened to this tape: but what the fuck, in the track list there are five
song + intro, but in the tape itself there’s no intro and it seems the song
are less than 5! But anyway, about the music I have to say that despite the
good talking Sanatorio haven’t impressed me so much and they aren’t that
great brutal band that I were hearing about… from the first tune it seemed a
good guttural death, but the other tracks are totally boring, monochords,
monotonous and last but not least played by unskilled musicians. The guitar
riffing in all songs is the same for me, only played touching every time a
different chord from up to down, the bass lines are sometimes good, sometimes
bad and the drums are static and imprecise in its playing. That’s all…
Sanatorio,
Caixa Postal 1303 – Belo Horizonte/Mg - Cep 30123-970. Brasil.
Necrocult
(bra) “We’re Possessed By All That is Evil” demo ‘00
Do
you want to hear this is a good demo? I fall asleep, listening to it… it
looked like a cool evil tape, but what the fuck, it seems that Necrocult is
another totally boring band from Brazil. For what I know, this is their third
demo, and despite the Venom-ous title, they loosely try to play holocaust
black metal in the vein of early Beherit and old Demoncy… 19 (!) short and
shitty tracks are here, played with no skill and a poor guitar sound, not a
fast song… just ugly screams and a lot of shit. But if you don’t care
about my judgement and want to hear Necrocult yourself, I think the price for
this tape is 3$ worldwide to be sent to…
Necrocult
c/o Necrosadist, P.O. Box 3147 – Belo Horizonte/Mg - Cep: 30140-970. Brazil.
Kaamos
(swe) “Curse Of Aeons” demo ‘00
Kaamos…
a Swedish underground obscure, dark DEATH METAL band. This demo is their third
release after a promo ’98 and a fantastic ultra limited 7” pressed on
heavy vinyl. Starting from the dark red cover, looking so dark, so obscure, so
macabre, so DEATH, to listen to their music: don’t you remember Entombed of
the first two albums? Have you forgot Dismember ‘cause you’re to weak of
spirit to have got yourself drowned in all these modern “black metal”
trendy shit? Never listened to a Grave album? If one of these yes, I think you
aren’t worthy to get this wonderful piece of True Death Metal Cult… all
others must send 5$ to the guitarist’s address:
(see
interview)
Legion
(swe) “Bloodaeons” tape ’00 [Neodawn Prod.]
I
look at the cover of this tape and see it full coloured with a drawing of a
bunch of hungry and threatening wolves with white eyes, and just for this
should be enough for me to throw away this demo to the window… but anyway,
what this Swedish band with a similar ugly and childish demo cover do play?
Ultra boring standard totally Dark Funeral influenced stuff, is the answer.
Would you call this totally un-obscure music, black metal? They are good
musicians of course, but I would advice these guys to listen to themselves a
massive dose of Dark Angel and Kreator in order to write real metal riffs, for
the next time. This tape is totally useless in my opinion.
Legion
c/o A. Marek, Folkungaplan 3 A, 59533 Mjolby. Sweden.
Spiritual
Wintermoon (gre) “Nightfall In The Ancient Woods” demo ‘01
Hailing
from the so prolific Athenian scary (but not all time great) black metal scene
comes a new facepainted two piece band playing a kind of too much fucked-up an
un-technical black metal-like stuff, Spiritual Wintermoon. This is their first
tape in absolute and honestly I don’t think it’s a so great piece of
music. It seems played live in studio, but I’m not sure about this; just
hear its sound and judge yourself… anyway Spiritual Wintermoon gives a
demonstration of what they are able to do through the five tracks + intro
featured here in this “Nightfall…” demo, but I guess they are not that
old of age, since the composition are not that much complex and/or talented (that’s
not a question of age…). Available by paying the reasonable price of 3$ to:
Spiritual
Wintermoon c/o Nosferius, Ipsiladou 223 A, Petroupoli 132-31, Athens. Greece.
Must
Missa (est) “Sex Beyond The Grave” tape ’01 [Ketzer]
Why
I like this demo so much? Because it’s so dark, putrid, necrotic, I fucking
guess… I properly think that this three guys of this band from Estonia
don’t know that much how to play their instruments, but even they shows to
know for sure how to incite the pleasure of my hears. If you’re asking me
how their style is about I can tell it’s a kind of black metal-like stuff (I
write “-like” since it would sound unappropriate calling them a B/M band)
mostly influenced by some Norwegian stuff of the ‘90’s: the pleasant and
fucking heavy slow riffs reminds me of Darkthrone’s 2nd album,
and the thrashy exploits (the halving of the tempo in some parts) for me are
characters similar to the most over-excited Carpathian Forest stuff (I mean
the last albums). I think the day I received this tape I listened to it
something like 10 times continuously… anyway, since from the title and the
cover (a picture of a statue taken from a cemetery) Must Missa looks like a
very putrid and macabre band. This is a re-edition of their demo 2000 (with
the same title as above), and features four tracks + a rehearsal bonus track
recorded a week after its main session. I don’t know about the original
version, but this re-issue comes in a professional way by Ketzer Distr. In
Germany, write them if interested (price 5$):
Ketzer
Distribution, c/o Alex Hehnle, Maunzengasse 1, 89584 Ehingen - Risstissen. Germany.
S.V.E.S.T.
(fra) “Scarification Of Soul” demo ‘98
I
never listened to this band firstly of grabbing their 4 ways split Ep (see
elsewhere for review), so after that, I looked for something else by them and
Sad of 666 ‘zine sent me this demo. I’m
very glad to hear something totally in the same vein of that song in
the split Ep by this French Black Metal two piece: their style it’s fast,
talented, necrotic… they have a true original way to play and the surprise
is that there’s only a guy behind the music, Darkkarma, while the other
member Spica do only the cold vocal work… “Scarification Of Soul”, after
a brief kind of oriental ipnotic dance (but played with an electric guitar,
etc.) presents two very long and well-structured Black Metal songs with a
great fast and precise drumming and a strange guitar sound that only them can
have, and shows a great talent (that’s not a joke…), but I don’t know…
I think it’s a bit hard to describe clearly their style by making
comparisons to other bands since it’s too strange, personal and unusual…
just know you this demo fuckin’ killz.
(see
elsewhere for address)
Cantus
Bestiae (fra) “Pactum Tacitum Cum Daemone” demo ‘99
Cantus
Bestiae is another band on which the S.V.E.S.T. vocalist appears but their
style is not at the same level, in my opinion. This demo consists of seven
tracks of black metal with a typical B/M French guitar sound, it has a long
length for a demo. Cantus Bestiae is not that great band because in the whole
last of this tape I hear nothing but a song near to be precise to the other
one, it’s a very idiotic approach on which I can notice or an inability to
play or a total lack of ideas to compose any decent and real songs, black
metal can’t be like industrial or monotonous ambient, for me. There’s not
an acceleration nor a impressive deceleration… a totally boring and
untalented style: every fucking one is able to do a demo in a such way.
(same
address as S.V.E.S.T.)
Temple
Of Baal (fra) “Black Unholy Presence” demo
Admuscias
of Temple Of Baal has kindly sent me this tape without cover in order to write
what I think about the music of his band… what I think it quite easy to
explain: this is a kind of black metal with a somewhat death metal guitar
sound that reminds me a lot about some (nordic and not) stuff of the mid
‘90’s, but the fact it is not so simple. The riffs are various, it is well
played in its entirety, but I have to admit that the vocals are recorded badly
and probably the vocal style itself is nothing special… the four tracks are
a bit monotonous all in all, and sorry, but this tape is just like another
bunch of anonymous tape of my collection. For what I know this demo was
originally pressed by Spikekult Rec. (now dead) on solely 300 copies.
Olivier
Verron, 24 rue Alexandre Dumas, 78110 le Vésinet. France.
(don’t
write Temple Of Baal on the envelope)
Temple
Of Baal (fra) “Faces Of The Void” promo ‘01 side of the split Lp w/
Eternal Majesty (End All Life ’01)
This
other Temple Of Baal stuff is their side of the split Lp with Eternal Majesty
and the situation, compared with the previous tape is a bit different, but not
so much, I’d say. For first thing, the recording is better and the vocals
are true black metal, even if standard. The songs are three (one is from the
demo) and have a long duration on which they presents some tempo changes,
decelerations… maybe I don’t know Temple Of Baal on their ideological
side, but what the damn… it is still nothing but standard black… I can
imagine the following riff just listening the previous one.
Levifer
(per) “Tribute To The Supreme Beast” demo 2000 [Devil’s Arts]
Death
Metal from Peru?! Well, I’ve heard talking a lot about Mortem etc., but I’ve
never listened to any Peruvian Death Metal so I can’t do any comparison, but
sincerely I don’t give a fuck about it. Levifer is a new (facepainted?!)
Peruvian two piece that plays a kind of fucking old-styled Death Metal with a
very killer drumming, too far to remind any famous band (but I think it’s a
bit influenced by Morbid Angel, only a bit slower) and a too strange vocal
work that more than growls or screams it seems like a goat regurgitating and
vomiting… the lyrics are a bit monotonous in my opinion. This is their first
demo (after a rehearsal, for what I know) and it’s ultra professionally
printed, killer recorded and such shit, and it has a duration of about 30 min.
for seven songs of Peruvian Death Metal! In the booklet there’s written that
this “tribute” has been recorded in XXII A.S. (!!!!?????!!! Ehi! You’re
backwards of 12 fucking years!!!)… what the damn, this demo it’s fucking
cool, but just after some listening I’ve my balls broken. 5$ to Levifer/Devil’s
Arts Prod..
(see
interview)
Goat
Semen (per) promo ‘00
I
have this promo as B side of the Levifer tape since this is another band on
which Levifer, the Levifer brainchild plays both bass and guitar but it’s a
kind of total different stuff. In the bio they have written they are
influenced by Beherit (in effects, the moniker let think…), Blasphemy,
Mayhem and Sarcofago, but in my opinion they have a little or nothing to do
with those bands, just the drumming is a bit in the Sarcofago vein but also
more various (is the drummer the Levifer’s? In the bio there’s another
name!)… the recording is truly shitty, it sounds exactly like backdropped
noises and screams, it has a long length and what the fuck, it gets me bored;
it is a real pity since it would be a total masterpiece of a promo tape… It
seems a split Ep Levifer/Goat Semen will be done by a French label called
Legion Of Death.
(same
address as above)
Infamis
(pol) “Cardinal Of The Daemons” adv. demo ‘01
Weird
ambient stuff with a keyboard sound that reminds me a lot the usual Mortiis
style (I mean all but “The Stargate”), with a kind of spoken word that
alternates a kind of boring orchestral voice… I like a bit the intro, of
this demo. But I’m not into this stuff at all… what the damn has to do an
industrial song at last? Ok, the intro is pretty cool, but the demo in its
entirety? And then, why the titles are in English, while the lyrics in polish,
don’t know you the universal language too much?
Infamis,
ul. Mazurska 2/25, 86-300 Grudziadz. Poland.
Skuty
Lodem (pol) “…Sny Dnia” promo ‘01
The
guy behind this polish band has probably seen my flyers around and read that
my ‘zine (or better my tastes) are also into some weird stuff like
industrial, ethereal… but you know, there was a reason for what I avoided to
write the word “ambient” in my flyers: ambient is just music played with a
keyboard done only to create a certain particular atmosphere, but obviously
the definition has not necessarily to do with the meaning of dark music.
Anyway, the individual behind this tape insists to define his own style
“electronical dark-ambient” (literally translated, wrong), so I would ask
him if he really think this simplistic and boring stuff can give to the
listener also just a little microscopic sensation of darkness… no, is my
answer in this case, and I’m not saying this for the shitty cover or
whatever. If you think that every fucking pig is able to handle a keyboard,
record some shit and say it is “dark-ambient”, then you’re reading the
wrong ‘zine. There is no talent nor skill here. Please don’t bother me by
sending similar shits, as you see is useless or dangerous for you… or better,
you can send your uninteresting tapes, so in the next issue I’ll do a review
section titled “shitty stuff” just for the pleasure to write bad words
about you, silly fuckers…
Lust/Unholy
Archangel/Kult (can/gre/fra), split tape ’99, 666x [Impaler Of
Trendies]
I
heard before some Lust stuff and I found it too fucked up and idiotic in its
playing, it were just shitty rumours and shrills. In this split tape the
situation is not the same, I mean, the style is still ultra-overdriven and
chaotic as well, but at least here I can recognize some real guitar riffs and
a very raw bass… but the vocals (particularly nonsense) sucks intensively.
Their side is titled “Apocalyptic Torment” and it has a very long duration
(this is a c90 tape, and the Lust side is the whole A side), but the bad
recording gives to the music a monotonous mood. After, greek Unholy Archangel
with an evolution of their style (compared to the last demo): they have 4
tunes + intro & outro here and they sounds like a bit slower version of
Sarcofago and this time the riffs are truly straight-ahead; if you know the
band you know that their lyrics are about ancient greek mythology, but if you
want my sincere opinion that kind of topics have nothing to do with Black
Metal, less with Death. Kult? Who are they? Where are they from? What the fuck
do they play? I’ve never heard of this band… Well, they are just the
nihilistic improvised grind/noizz band on which Mad Max, the guy behind
Impaler Of Trendies, was the drummer/vocalist… I’m writing “was” since
I know he has committed suicide just some months ago, as you can imagine this
tape is no more available…
Sons
Of Satan (swe) “Cast Into The Race Of Progress” promo ’00, 288x [Impaler
Of Trendies]
Don’t
let you deceived by their moniker, they haven’t any Venom influences. I know
this band is nothing but a side-project from members from swedish Bestial
Mockery (I don’t know them, anyway) and their style is a kind of average
blackish metal with evident n/s tendencies in the lyrics (that sometimes
sounds really stupid). An intro that would like to be resembled (but it’s
too far…) to the initial one of the Profanatica song “I Arose” and a
futile try of the vocalist to reach the screams of the original version and
then six chaotic songs in their own style, mostly based on an intelligent
guitar riffing (maybe like Dissection?), but this demo too unfortunately has a
true shitty recording level that can’t allow a decent listening. Also a
cover of the Us’ primordial black/thrash metal band Von (who the fuck has
ever listened to this band?) is present here.
War
Master (por) “Eternal War” demo ’99 [Luci Dist]
For
what I remember, Moonspell and Decayed apart, I’ve never heard any other
black metal from Portugal, and while listening War Master I have a good mood,
I don’t think they sound very original but still they incite the pleasure of
my hears… and yes, this demo sounds a bit like something listened yet…
anyway the War Master music for me is a bit influenced by some Swedish
melodic death/black metal (it would be hard to name a band), not very fast and
aggressive but still dark and a bit melodic as well. Among these four songs
featured here in this “Eternal War” demo I can notice a both obsessive and
calmer style of music (the second track has also some acoustic guitars) and
some riffs are very great, mostly on “Rise Of Satan”, of course the
best song featured here! This demo comes in professional cover and tape, but
sorry, I don’t know the price.
War
Master, P. O. Box 540, Sāo Lazaro, 6200 Covilhā (Portugal)
Baal
(por) “Apokalypsis-Arcane Incantation’s Mysteries“ promo track ’00,
66x [Hell War]
This
is just a side project of Arcanus, War Master drummer/keyboardist and for what
I’ve understood the only track here is a part of a trilogy or similar…
don’t expect black metal… don’t expect metal music as well! This song is
based just on a mid tempo drumming surrounded with a scary keyboard sound and
grim vocals a lot in the vein of the main band (but Arcanus is not the War
Master vocalist)… I you want my sincere opinion this stuff, since it’s
without guitars, don’t give me any particular sensation…
Necrocult/Inner
Helvete (bra/por) “Satanic Metal” split tape ’01 [Hell War]
As
I’ve stated above, I don’t like brazilian Necrocult so much since I’ve
found their style too much idiotic, but in this split has a totally different
mood: there’s much more guitar distortion, the vocals are much more inhuman
(in some part the Beherit references are undeniable); the songs are still
short etc., not all of them are great, but yes, I like this stuff! Inner
Helvete, instead, is another (kind of) side-project from two War Master guys
and C. Profanus of Hell War Prod. at the screams: the guitar sound fucking
reminds me the Demoncy kult (‘95), but the drumming and mostly the vocals (nothing
special for saying the truth) are in a total diverse way of playing/screaming.
The songs are seven, all of them starts with a riff, but then they become the
same songs for seven times… to end this stuff is too overdriven to have a
decent recording…
Inner
Helvete (por) “Glorification Of The Unholy Lord” demo ’01 [Hell War]
As
I’ve said before in the previous review (it was implied), the particular
guitar distortion of Inner Helvete give me a particular feeling of darkness…
but this is the only positivism that can be found in this ugly piece of music:
all is boring, monotonous… the production is a true mess and last but not
least, the track list counts nothing but 8 ultra boring “hymns to the unholy
Lord”, anyway the lyrical side is not included… why? More than a good
listening I wish you a good night…
Aske
(ger) 3tx promo-tape ’01
Burzum
influenced Black Metal? I heard of this band just for the name, and I didn’t
know that it involved two of the three members from the doom core band Sad
Jesus (see review); only the guitarist is another one, and the difference can
be clearly heard here: this one project is nearer to the concept of Black
Metal, even without standing at all in it. For the rest the discourse is
simple, same style of drumming (only faster, obvious), same vocal work as Sad
Jesus (not for sure this growl-like vocals fits the music so much well…).
Quite simple and simplistic to explain. I have only a 3 trax promo, but the
whole demo comes in a Cd-r with 8 songs featuring Black Sabbath and Slayer
covers…
Mastema
(fra) “Inhuman Satanik And Evil” demo ’01, 118x
How
many years old are the members of this band to design a logo a lot similar to
the Mayhem’s one and write “the true Mastema” upon the tape? How many
years old are they to entitle their ultra-mega-fucked-up “songs” with (ass-licking)
shit like “Dead”, “Morbid” or “Auschwitz” and write so fucking
idiot “lyrics” like “worship Satan or die/worship the devil or suffer”
(repeated in the whole song), but mostly… how many old are they to play this
crap and have the courage to define it “evil primitive black art”? They
use facepaintings etc., honestly I don’t know what they play, but certainly
this is not black metal: not musically, less conceptually of course. Beside
this, I’m in doubt thinking that they use a real battery (it sounds more
like a broomstick broken on two that hit upon a tin of paint). This demo is
fortunately for us limited to only 118 pieces of crap.
Only
Darkness (fra) “Fear Us… We Are Black Metal” demo ‘01
Same
personnel as Mastema, but this time the logo is “inspired” by the
Darkthrone’s and here the recorded stuff is nearer to the concept of Black
Metal music. The operistic intro (dubbed from some classical music shit) is a
reason for me to throw this in the WC and because of the rec. level, more than
a demo honestly, it seems a reh. tape. The style is in the proper Mastema
stuff, but the riffs are more and more serious (a bit in the Darkthrone or
Mutiilation way), the drummer this time seems to play in a real battery but
he’s still unskilled… I don’t know why, but this tape seems recorded on
three different sessions (three different rec. level are there). This is
another band of the crowd that declare their anti-jewish tendencies (I’ve
nothing against this), but you know too many bands do it now…
Isendorn,
Rue le Bas des Forges - 14210, France.
Spiritual
(ita) “Ode Spiritual” demo ‘01
I
guess the medium age of this band is not that high: as the bio says “the
interest in occult/spiritualistic (?!?) music started in ‘98” and after
various changes of line-up, style (first “black”, then experimental
“death”…) and moniker, north Italians Spiritual has come up with a demo
classified by themselves as Black Epic Metal, but (curiously) without having a
minimum trace of Black Metal in the music (probably because they have never
known the genre!!); starting from the drumming (never so fast, sometime
mid-tempo…), coming to the guitar riffs (they reminds me some modern black/gothic).
The screams are not so bad, but damn, they have nothing to do with the music.
But if you like the Tolkien-inspired metal, you’ll probably enjoy this…
Stormlord
a.k.a. Mattia Berto, Via Fossalta 86 - 35026 Conselve (Pd), Italy
.
Fleshart
(gre) “Devoted To Flesh” demo Cd-r ‘01
Us’
styled brutal death metal from Greece, a bit in the vein of Mortician and shit
like that, a cool demo in my opinion. You know I’m not into brutal death
sounds so much, but I have to say that this band counts some nice death metal
butchers and a good drummer that lacerates a remarkable point in the whole
sound and style of the band… 5 brutal and growling tracks are here for about
15 minutes of playing with a somewhat gloomy production: ok, maybe something
heard before, but I’m sure that a lot of lovers of such sonorities will love
the Fleshart musical massacre with this demo…
Fleshart,
S. Krithinakis, 212 K. Matapa - 185 46 Piraeus, Greece.
Fleshart
(gre) “I Fuck You Dead” promo track Cd-r ‘01
Same
band, same discourse as before. Fleshart returns with a promo track titled
“I Fuck You Dead”, still showing their ability to play brutal and guttural
in between these 5 minutes… the only difference from the demo is the
production (a bit sharper…?) and the vocals are less deeper… still good
but nothing special.
Blaster
Pain (bra) “Thou Art Pain” demo ‘00
What
the fuck! Still brutal death metal! I’ve my balls broken, but ok, let’s
start another review: this band come from Brazil and was formed in ’93, but
only after seven years they recorded a demo (!?). Their music is very standard
and ultra-ball-breaking death metal in the vein of Immolation or Incantation,
still merely remarking the path of other bands, without personal feeling,
resulting another anonymous band like a thousand others in this fucking planet
filled with insignificant and talentless people. 3$ for this 3 trax demo to:
(a.c.
Fabio) - R. Osvaldo de Andrade, 193/438 atual - CEP 09894-070 São Bernardo do
Campo - S.P – Brazil
Leichenberg/Dohlensturm
(ger), split demo ’01 [Fucking Armageddon]
A
picture of a burning church in a (xeroxed) cover of an underground tape still
makes its effect... beside the image of these two bands is so dark...
Leichenberg plays minimalistic, raw, approximately played black metal with a
drum machine (but I’m not completely sure about this particular), but the
most remarkable element that makes their stuff so darkened are the screams
that gives me the fucking chills I want... very weird!! The Dohlensturm part
of this split is very bad recorded, but I don’t think this is a real mess
since the music sounds very dark, and the deep-of-jar sound nothing but gives
its contribution to that: black metal darkness with majestic keyboard melodies
and cold cold keyboard passages and a very grim voice (like Immortal, I think)
is what this one-man-band plays... very underground of the underground stuff,
check out this tape from:
Fucking
Armageddon Prod., c/o Bsod Bettinger, Steinstr 35 - 66115,
Saarbruecken-Malstatt. Germany.
Vernichtung
(ger) “Tötungsdelikt” demo ’01, 25x
Goatreich
666 (ita) “Promo 2001“ promo ’01
Necroplasma
(swe) “Black Funeral Horns” demo ’00 [Neodawn/Ketzer]
Insision
(swe) “Revelation Of The SadoGod” demo ’01
Legion
(ger) “Dawn Of The Cursed Seed” demo ’00 [Chanteloup]
Basilisk
(jap) “Kyo-Ja” demo ‘99
Old
Pagan (ger) “Thrash Black Metal Holocaust” tape ’01 300x [Deathstrike]
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