Sunday, October 24, 2010

Alioth - Channelling Unclean Spirits (Demo 2003)

Alioth stirs a classic blend of Greek inspired atmospheric death metal ala Rotting Christ and Varathron with the abysmal sounds of old Acheron and Cemetary. Features Obscurum from Cult of Daath.

01 - Intro / The Channeling
02 - Invocation I / Apocryphal Dimensions
03 - Invocation II / Call of the Deep

Channelling Unclean Spirits

False Prophet - Sign of the Cross (Demo 1989)

From Demo Archives:
Band formed in 1988 and are from Greensboro, NC. FALSE PROPHET issued the demo 'The Second Death' in 1992 prior to evolving into INFERNAL HIERARCHY (NO DEMOS). Drummer Tim Haisman journeyed through a plethora of acts on the North Carolina scene including Death Metal band BLOODWRITTEN, WIDOW, LEADFOOT and Punks NEGATIVE STATE.

01 - Red Dawn
02 - Sign of the Cross
03 - Devil's Heat
04 - False Prophecy

Sign of the Cross

False Prophet - The Second Death (Demo 1991)

Second demo tape by False Prophet. The only downside I see to this demo is that most tracks are way too long. This demo would've been much better with songs in the 3-4 minute range, but it's still a good listen for anyone into old school thrash/death metal.

01 - Diabolic Rites
02 - Second Death
03 - Holy Deception
04 - In Satan's Name
05 - Forgotten Souls
06 - Bring Back a Memory

The Second Death

Infernal Heirarchy - Infernal Heirarchy (EP 1993)

False Prophet changed their name to Infernal Heirarchy in 1993 and this is the only EP they recorded before disbanding.

01 - First Born
02 - False Prophecy

Infernal Heirarchy

Dawnfall - Mysterial Darkness (Demo 1993)

Dawnfall plays raw old school german black metal. This demo got them to sign with Nazgul's Eyrie Productions for the release of their great Dominance of Darkness album, which was also NEP's first release.

01 - Mysterial Darkness
02 - Cold Course
03 - Darkfall Celebration

Mysterial Darkness

Von - Satanic (Demo 1990)

I can't for the life of me remeber where I got this from, but I have zero information about it. Any comments about wether it's an official release or not, or even if it's actually Von or not, are welcome.

01 - Veinen
02 - Devil Pig
03 - Veadtuck
04 - Satanic
05 - Release
06 - Lamb
07 - Evisc
08 - Dissection Inhuman

Satanic

Wizzard - Wizzard (1999)

Finnish black heavy metal released on the now defunct german label Nazgul's Eyrie Productions.

01 - Black Leather & Cold Metal
02 - Fenris is Loose!
03 - Demon's Blood
04 - The Lord of Shadows
05 - I Am the King
06 - Get Your Kicks on Route 666
07 - Possessed by Inferno
08 - Thou Daughter of Fire
09 - War, Pestilence, Hate
10 - Saviour of Metal
11 - When the Sun Goes Down
12 - My Unholy Witch
13 - Leather, Booze and Rock & Roll
14 - Hot Lead
15 - Sabbath

Wizzard

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Songe d'Enfer - My Visions in the Forest (Demo 1995)

Brazilian black metal that doesn't sound brazilian at all. Songe d'Enfer were much more influenced by european black metal of the early 90's, and it shows in this, their only demo. However, don't just dismiss them because they played in the style a hundred other bands did at the time, because these guys actually had some talent here. Too bad this short demo is the only thing they ever recorded.

01 - Et Vidit Quod Esset Bonum... (Sublime Blasphemy)
02 - My Lady Princess of Hell (Conjuration to Gorgon)
03 - My Visions in the Forest

My Visions in the Forest

Cross of Black Steel #1 (2005)

The cover image is pretty much self explanatory. You'll find interviews and reviews. No articles or other stuff like that. Still, it's a pretty interesting read given the choice of bands interviewed: Ildjarn, Clandestine Blaze, Desaster, Watain, Church Bizarre, among others. Format is PDF for easier read or even print out if you will. Enjoy.

Cross of Black Steel #1

Vulpecula - Phoenix of the Creation 7''EP (1995)

Vulpecula was a solo project of Ares Kingdom/ex-Order From Chaos guitarist Chuck Keller. Vulpecula's brand of black metal was focused on ambience, but not in an 'evil' or 'satanic' way, it had more like a deep space atmosphere and sounded rather unique. Phoenix of the Creation was originally released as a demo tape in 1995, but Eternal Darkness Creations also pressed it on wax in 1996. Upper picture corresponds to the 7 inch cover and the lower one to the demo tape.

01 - Phoenix of the Creation
02 - The First Point of Aries
03 - Seven Layers of Light

Phoenix of the Creation

Samael - Live in Speyer, Germany (1991)

This is a very short set (perhaps it's incomplete?) by Samael playing in Germany in 1991. I have no info about the venue or the exact date. If anybody knows more about this gig please leave a comment.
The sound is pretty decent for a live bootleg from almost 20 years ago.

01 - Rite of Chtulhu
02 - Sleep of Death
03 - The Black Face

Live in Speyer, Germany 1991

Purtenance - Crown Waits the Immortal 7''EP (1991)

Here's the first and only 7 inch by the finnish death metal band Purtenance. Anybody familiar with the finnish scene of the early nineties should know what to expect here! This EP was released by the spanish Drowned Productions. Apologies for the shitty cover image, I couldn't find a better scan.

01 - Apparition of the Mist
02 - A Dark Cloud Arises
03 - Crown Waits the Immortal

Crown Waits the Immortal

Bewitched - Dragonflight (1997)

On their second album, Dragonflight, Bewitched's sound was much more influenced by the masters Mercyful Fate. The riffing and songwriting here are superb and I can't recommend this hidden jewel enough. The original press of Dragonflight has been out of print for years, but it was "reissued" by Keltic Records (vocalist Doomicus' own label) sometime in 2007. Why the brackets in "reissued"? Because it's not really a reissue, since many tracks were re-recorded and it was also remixed. This new version of Dragonflight also featured the original tape cover which was not used on the original cd.

If you're interested in purchasing the 2007 version of Dragonflight, contact Keltic Records here. They might still have some copies left.

I allowed myself to steal this review by Vic, originally published on LARM, because his description is much better than mine.

I chose this as an alternative one of the many times I tried ordering Taake’s debut album, and I have never been happier to get an alternate selection in a mail order purchase in my life! This Bewitched is not to be confused with the Swedish retro-rock-thrashers; this Bewitched is a five-piece band from Chile, and their album "Dragonflight" is apparently their second album (the first having sold out rather rapidly, as well as being ultra-limited to begin with....). It’s also one of the most purely ‘METAL’ albums I’ve heard in a long time. They incorporate many elements from most extreme styles of metal: thrash, power, speed, death, and black, but oddly their sound is quite well-focused and best summed up with one comparison. This band is the second coming of Mercyful Fate. Long, musically adventurous songs are jam-packed full of speedy, technical, but still aggressive and powerful riffs, the guitarists are two of the best soloists around, and the vocalist Doomicus’ voice can keep up with King Diamond and then some! He can growl, he can scream, he can do falsetto for hours, but he also has some very harsh BM-style screaming, and his voice also has a similar (but still distinct) tendency to have that ‘theatrical’ tinge to it.

The disc is fourteen tracks and over 71 minutes long, so it’s definitely worth the money. Hot tracks are the opening song "Poetry of my Forest" (a thrasher on par with anything off "Don’t Break the Oath"), the epic "Total Destruction/Last Breath (in four parts)" (a multi-part behemoth with some doomy sections, blazing parts, and one of the best melodic guitar solo sections ever), and a cover of Mercyful Fate’s "Black Funeral" (where IMO vocalist Doomicus actually outdoes the mighty King), but honestly there isn’t a bad song on the disc. The packaging is nicely done as well - a very neat cover painting and some photos of beautiful Chilean forests inside, with great notes and all lyrics. The only thing that could be griped about is the production, which isn’t horrible, really, just kind of odd: the vocals and guitars are all loud, clean, and crisp, but the drums are far too quiet and with some odd sounds (the kicks sound like clacking pencils and the ride is almost obnoxiously high above the other drums) and the bass is almost totally nonexistent. Nevertheless, the absolute quality of the music easily outweighs the down points, so this still gets an unqualified recommendation from me.


01 - Intro
02 - Poetry of My Forest
03 - Funeral
04 - Dragonflight
05 - Wotan's Curse
06 - Candles of Doom
07 - The Prophecy / Aquarian Revelation
08 - The Threat of Winter Community
09 - Warfare
10 - Snowfall
11 - Dancing Upon Your Grave (Outro)
12 - Black Funeral (Mercyful Fate cover)
13 - Souls Tears (Remix 666)
14 - Serene Sorrow (New Mix of Hades Including Trance Exorcism 666)

Dragonflight

Bewitched - Hibernum in Perpetuum (1996)

I'll start off this blog with the rather unknown chilean band Bewitched. Their sound is very special, as they gather influences from Candlemass, Mercyful Fate and second wave Black Metal and the result is quite interesting. Their first album Hibernum in Perpetuum was released in 1993 by Picoroco Records based in Santiago, Chile. It was released on tape and CD formats, both of which were very limited and they're hard to find as originals these days. A tape reissue was released in 2008 by Black Mountain Records, but again it was extremely limited.

Upper image corresponds to the cd cover. The lower left one is the original tape version and the lower right one is the tape reissue.

01 - Intro
02 - Candless of Doom
03 - Winter Tears (Snökrystaller)
04 - Demon's Gate (Candlemass cover) / Danse du Roy
05 - Semitarius
06 - Fate's Prophets
07 - Gothicus (Bledd I Vinter)
08 - Serene Sorrow
09 - Last Breath
10 - Outro
11 - Hibernum in Perpetuum *
12 - Semitarius *
13 - Souls Tears *
14 - Serene Sorrow *

Tracks 11-14 are bonus tracks on the CD version taken from the split LP with F. That's right, the other band's name is fucking "F". They were previously known as Funcunt.

Hibernum in Perpetuum