Svantevith - The Return of the Ancient Slav promo '96

Svantevith - The Return of the Ancient Slav promo 1996
1) Intro
2) Te Svantevith Laudeamus
3) Te Svantevith... /Reprise/
4) 966
5) Smutek i rozpacz
6) Outro

Sendspace / Sampo

...or "Thr Return of the Ancient Slav" as our Slavonic heroes manage to misspell the title in not one but two places. That aside, I know there were rips of this floating in the bleak cybervoid before but at least the one I had saved was not of very stellar master elite quality so when I came across my copy of the tape I decided to rip it and post the result as it turned out ok. "It" being the sole promo tape of the Polish project Svantevith featuring Lord Smrtan of Nirnaeth fame, also responsible for keyboards, programming and similar pursuits in Themgoroth and Eblis. Cover scans included.

Yes, this is a synth project like you probably guessed, and in the particular vein Poles were fond of: bombastic Slavonic pagan ambient with touches of both neoclassical and pagan black metal. Latter mainly represented by the surprisingly savage raw vocals and scarcely deployed guitar. There are certainly some elements of dungeon synth present as well but I think this is quite differently oriented. Adding the tag still as the music may appeal to fans of that category. Side A could be considered the main or title part and consists of a lengthy intro, ten minute plus epos Te Svantevith Laudeamus and a short instrumental reprise piece. Side B opens with the aggressive 966 which is the most metal song of the bunch with constant fervent vocals, martial percussion, abundant background shrieks and occasional electric guitar support. This is a long track, almost seven minutes, but has a lot going on. Smutek i rozpacz which follows has music credited to Azhubham Haani (well, spelled Aazhubham... here). The band? Is this a cover? It's a bleak affair led by the shriekier voice, guitar strumming and quite mellow synth. I don't recognize this as any of the A.H. songs right now, let's leave that to experts. A lonely piano opens the almost five minute outro track that soon adds more elements in and developes epic character. Interesting thing, not quite metal nor purely ambient either. Reminds me a bit of the December's Fire album, though I seem to like this more. Could be due my strong preference of D.F. demos over the full length. I recommend you take a listen if you like dramatic synth stuff and don't mind a Slavonic pagan metal flair to it.

Endoki Forest - Demo '95 + Rehearsal '96

Endoki Forest - An Evil of Nordic Frost demo 1995
1) I
2) II
3) III
4) IV
5) V
6) VI
7) VI
Rehearsal for Upcoming Album '96
1) Advance I
2) Advance II

Mediafire / Depositfiles

More non metal, this is a contribution I actually received quite long ago but it has been a bit troublesome, delaying its time to appear on the altar. This is Endoki Forest from the United States and the (only) demo from 1995 plus a bonus of two rehearsal/advance tracks that were planned to appear on a full length album scheduled for 1996. As far as I know, it was not completed after all. Endoki Forest remains active to this day, or possibly more accurately re-activated a few years ago releasing a compilation also named "An Evil of Nordic Frost" in digital format (only, I think) which was not this demo redone but rather a compilation of material from different years and more recently a full length album "Black Sorcerers Fortress" on Darker Than Black. Unfortunately I can't check the details on the compilation anymore since it appears Bandcamp has either purged Faunus Amadeus Loki out or he has chosen to diminish his online presence. Whatever the case, his former email is not working either so I could not get hold of him to check facts. I could've probably pestered DTB with it but decided against that and just went with what I got.

Why would Bandcamp give master Loki the boot you wonder? Well, he was and is somewhat notorious for his NS associated projects like Berzerker and label of old Black Sorcerers which released tapes around mid-90s... I should actually have a flyer or maybe two somewhere but I didn't find them on my admittedly hasty and careless search. I probably find them the next time I look for something else. DTB has released also a CD from his other, more recent project Herrenvolk which I believe is slightly better known and from what I've heard more in the martial industrial/ambient vein while Endoki Forest falls, in my humble opinion, into the dungeon synth category on the old material and more in dark ambient vein on the new album.

Cover image from Discogs entry!

So much text and quite little on this actual item so far! Right, to the issues I mentioned right in the beginning: first off, no cover or tracklisting. Apparently my contributor had gotten this tape dubbed by F.A.L. and instead of a cover he had sent the pic seen cropped way up there decorating the post and slightly reduced down below in its whole while Discogs entry gives a different sort of cover which you may see above this paragraph but fails to deliver a tracklisting either. So I went with good old Roman numerals, as usual, and divided the rip into what I believe to be seven tracks. Most have easy to spot breaks between them but the last one was a little tricky. Secondly, the rip was unfortunately not very good, being done slightly too loud and then converted to low bitrate as coup de grâce. This leads to a major thing to point out in the download; there are two folders within, one labeled "Scott" and one "Velkaarn" which contain two versions of the demo. Mine is practically unedited, just chopped up into tracks and slightly adjusted the volume while "Scott" is more heavily reworked, courtesy of master Scott, formerly known from December Wolves, later Serpent Eclipse and nowadays an audio editor and a fine sportsman. Thanks for taking time to fiddle with this and the other thing! Scott's version... well, I'll just quote him: "I cleaned up some of the noise where it was distracting from the music, balanced the L/R channels, restored some of the low frequencies, and most importantly I added back some of the dynamics so that the synth has room to breathe." So yes, it has notably less of the brickwall effect of a too loud rip, less hiss and generally sounds more "airy" while retaining the necesssary desolation. Unfortunately the tradeoff is the usual issue with noise reduction causing certain "fraying" of the sound especially on the high end, most audible on the storm sound effects on track... was it 4? You'll notice. But it can't be helped, it's the best we could manage with the material for now.

The full picture scaled down, original scan is huge.

To the music itself, half an hour of somewhat cold and grim dungeon synth with that slightly crude sound that fits the music perfectly. It's not fully instrumental, II features some appropriately sinister hisses, whispers and shrieks that actually fit very well so for once I'm not complaining. V has more vocals, this time odd echoing, almost moany "singing" that again sounds surprisingly suitable before metamorphosing to the form familiar from second part. Among top 3 dungeon synth vocals! Aside from that there's the storm and rain samples and if you listen to the unpurified version you can think of the hiss as additional sound effect? The moods the tracks paint vary from witnessing clandestine rituals under the cold full moon to carefully navigating old dungeonscapes of stone, cobwebs and dust to picnic in the Carpathians with the Lamentation crew. Think whatever you will of master Loki's other works, politics, belief systems, orientation and favourite foods, I don't care, this is a good demo and I'd really like to find an original copy of it! Or a good dub would do. I forgot to talk about the bonus tracks! Well, they're similar to the demo material. Recommended for all into old school dungeon synth sounds.

Svartsyn - Aandens melankoli MLP '96 (2015 Remaster)

Svartsyn (nor) - Aandens melankoli mini-album 1996, "unreleased" CD remaster 2015
1) Forhekset av nordlyset
2) Den monumentale horde
3) Mektigens herskere
4) Døden...jeg våkner!

Sendspace / Depositfiles

Gnarled Records

Third post on this mini-album?!? Surely you jest? - must be what many of you are thinking even while this certainly isn't the first time the Coven emulates TV broadcasting with reruns. Now it is, however, perhaps more justified than ever as what we have here is both the best sounding version of the material in question as well as an officially endorsed upload. You see, as I (finally) updated to the write up of the previous version of "Aandens melakoli" here, Gnarled Records hailing from Germany did a very faithfully remastered vinyl re-release in 2015 which I urge you to order if you have a preference for the format and/or a player. There was also an unofficial CD release on Burznazg which I've been told is no good at all. Anyways, I was recently approached by Steffen of Gnarled Rex via email and he informed me that a CD remaster had been made as well but it was decided against releasing it in that format. However he decided to make it available for people with no vinyl player or preference for the digital and sent me the files which I've now uploaded. He has also put up a link at the Gnarled site, see link above. Thank you for sharing, Steffen!

The music has been discussed already here and here, so I'll just repeat it is slow and gloomy material, quite unfit for sunny spring days perhaps but recommended. And the remastering is excellent work, by Patrik W. Engel at Temple of Disharmony. It really brings out details and nuances buried in earlier versions. Yeah, so if you still haven't heard this but like black/doom metal, or just slow and dreary material in general it is about time to give this a try. Next post will be in the more usual vein and most likely old Finnish material. Unless I change my mind again or heavy protests arise.

Jääportit - Halki lumisen metsän demo '98

Jääportit - Halki lumisen metsän demo I 1998
1) Kulkue varjojen
2) Vaellus porteille Tuonelan
3) Läpi lumimyrskyn
4) Yömustaa
5) Jään kirous
6) Sade lumen mustan
7) Hänen jäätävä katseensa

Sendspace / Sampo

Alright, let us for change fulfill a request practically immediately, without (much) extra tarrying. Here are some more ambient sounds for you, the debut demo CD-R of Finnish Jääportit who are at least moderately well-known ...I think? It was a request by comrade pagan made a few days ago and as expected, our reliable frater Grev sent me a link to a rip he had burned on a disc before I could even ask him about it! Thank you for you vigilance and generosity. There was a cover image as well, but no full scans which as always are welcome so get in touch if you can provide one.

The rip has a low bitrate (CBR 128) but with this sort of music it's not a big issue. Later Jääportit material sees the sound expanded to various dimensions while this debut is pretty much in the dungeon synth camp though of course with a wintry flair. It still feels more appropriate for the DS label than the tape album that followed in 1999. Suitably down-to-tomb yet grandiose synth sounds, plenty of variation without going overboard, atmospheres ranging from very dark and menacing to almost tribal sleigh ride-esque (more somber than the xmas piece you probably now think of!) and generally that wandering in nocturnal winter forest-feeling. Just add a black robe and some corpse paint. Warm underwear is recommended too. I really really enjoy this but am horribly distracted right now so I can't really come up with more witty banter. Go on and download it already!

Drunemeton - Recital to the Shinning Moon demo '96

Drunemeton - Recital to the Shinning Moon demo '96
1) The Wolves of Winter: Part 1: Chorus During Early Nigth
2) The Wolves of Winter: Part 2: Leaving the Forest
3) The Wolves of Winter: Part 3: The Hurting
4) The Wolves of Winter: Part 4: The Last Breath
5) The Dancing Fost
6) The Hand's Cuting
7) Triumph of the Ice

Zippyshare / Yandex

Today I wanted to do an item that has been bothering me for almost twenty years but finally some weeks ago the matter was lain to rest, thanks to the contribution by comrade Dead Christmas! The bothersome item in question was this '96 demo by "Polish" (so I was told back in the tape trading days) synth project Drunemeton of which I had a very questionable dub. Fortunately DC had acquired the demo during his quest for Nazgul Productions items and judging from the information on the covers I believe this too was a French artist after all. The rip also revealed how hopelessly lacking my dub was. Cover scan is enclosed and I have uploaded a very slightly edited version of the rip; I increased the volume just a notch and cut away a bit of noise after the first song that was not part of the demo.

At roughly 42½ minutes this easily reaches album length and is divided into two halves so to say, first twenty minutes consisting of the epic The Wolves of Winter parts 1-4. Instrumental, somewhat neoclassical sounding dungeon synth mixing (I'm taking this from the covers directly) Akai, Oberheim and Roland synthesizers with grand piano and some flutes. I've cut each part into individual tracks as the tracklisting gives them separate running times and they divided easily enough. The second half is made of three tracks with slightly more individual character to each of them. The Dancing Fost (I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be ...Frost but I didn't go and correct the titles, like I always say it is Necromansy and that's it!) starts almost harshly and proceeds to change to more introspective moods before slowly picking momentum again, only for it to drop while approaching the end. Synthesizer sounds rather than piano dominate The Hand's Cuting (again, should be ...Cutting but no correcsies!) giving it an aura of menace that changes to desolation as the instrumentation gets scarcer and more minimalistic, developing to a trippy dark ambient end. Last song Triumph of the Ice is the longest of the lot and reprises some of the moods from the first parts while featuring a very distinct classical guitar part in the middle before a long build up to a slow but triumphant ending with percussive elements and orchestra hits. Wintry, melancholic and rather nostalgic stuff, decent enough sound though not by any means polished. Reminds me at times of Emglev (again!) and in places even Lamentation. Few places. And just a little. But much more Emg than Lam. Recommended for fans of French synth projects, dungeon explorers and Nazgul Productions enthusiasts.

Mjölnir - Mjölnir demo II '96

Mjölnir - Mjölnir demo II 1996
1) Intro / Schwertzeit, Wolfszeit, Blutzeit
2) Heilige Macht der Flamme
3) Die Kunde aus ferner Zeit
4) Schwertzeit, Windzeit, Wolfszeit
5) Intro / Ihm
6) Dein ist der Thron König des Waldes
7) In der Halle der Wölwa

Mega / Sampo

Let us finally complete the Mjölnir saga of the Coven with this post dedicated to sister Borderline, congrats! I say complete which in a way is not entirely true, "Walpurgisfeuer" demo will be skipped as it was released as part of the excellent "Hinweg über die Tore der Zeit" re-release done by Darker Than Black which is highly recommended. This is the second demo, nevermind the Metal Archives disinformation claiming this to be 1st, we've already established that "The Hour of Lemegeton" was the debut demo and released in '95. I do not remember anymore how I came to set this to '96 but I'm sure I had a good reason. The little cover scan is not very helpful on the matter.

I received this demo from the same contributor that delivered the first demo and unfortunately this had a bit questionable track division too. I would've posted the rip much earlier had I found the drive to delve into yet another Mjölnir riddle sooner. But enough moaning, it should be done now and I've taken a very different approach to it than for example the M-A submitter. I went with the theory that the Intro / title combos were not an intro plus a song but rather than that intro and its name. That made the tracklisting easier to wrestle and yields now a shortish intro, a long track, a VERY long track of three quite distinct parts, an instrumental track, another intro of brief sort, again a long track and a bit longer instrumental track. The lyrics, as they can be heard, seem to fit too. I must mention the rip might be slightly incomplete as both instrumental tracks seem to end quite abruptly, I'm quite sure the last one is just missing a few seconds more of fade out but can't be very confident of Schwertzeit, Windzeit, Wolfzeit that ends the A... oh pardon me, Hugin side.

Another slight issue is the lowish bitrate of the rip, so I would still appreciate an original copy or a very good dub of the demo. Sound itself is comparable to other Mjölnir demos, maybe a bit better than the average. The band is here also a three-piece, with Bölthorn standing beside Arkthorn and Grimmiger Frost. Perhaps his presence on the percussion adds strength to the proceedings or maybe it is my elation getting this damned thing finally done, but right now I feel like this is my favourite Mjölnir demo. Some highlights include: the long, long Die Kunde... which manages to be entirely great and the steady pound, pound, pound of Dein ist der Thron... Gotta love that! I won't go further into details, this is highly recommended for Mjölnir fans, trawlers of the murky depths of German UG and people who enjoy ambient instrumentals featuring nature sounds such as wind, bubbling water and wolves.

Blutkrieg - Resurgence of Atavism demo '00

Blutkrieg - Resurgence of Atavism demo '00
1) Resurgent Atavism
- a) Journey into Pagan Battlefields
- b) Battle of the Blutkrieg
- c) Eternal Victory / Journey Home
- d) Celebration Across the Planes of Midgard 
2) The Crossing of Bifrost to the Halls of Asgard
3) March of the Blutkrieg

Mediafire / RGhost

Here's some non-metal material again and a post I was supposed to do already long ago but it was left in a sorting-out limbo for some... let's say months. Years are made of months after all. Here's Blutkrieg who hail from the US of A and the 2000 demo which was sent to me by a certain contributor burned on a disc. Thanks, you know who you are! It seems like they re-released the demo material, re-titled and split differently unto tracks on a split with Acirema whom you might remember? I'm not sure if anything else was done to it, remastering or anything like that, probably not. The crappy cover image was taken from Discogs who also try to pass this as another project with Rubeus XIII while it's actually by a fellow called Vautrin.

I was debating with myself if I should adjust the tracklisting a bit but decided against meddling with it. The split has first track consist of three parts, followed by three titles more. The above tracklisting implies it has four parts but the fourth part is actually (as far as I can tell) in the beginning of the second track The Crossing of Bifrost... - it's highly similar to it, moreso than the preceeding fifteen minutes. There's a clear break which makes me think it could be two different tracks that just sound kinda similar. Maybe the artist thought same and did exactly what I'm contemplating above for the "second edition" of it?

I've mentioned Acirema and all sorts of other stuff but not really discussed what this sounds like! Well, not at all like A. This is dungeon synth, with um, Odalistic themes? It's not really apparent when you listen to the music though, there are some vocals on the first track but they're quite hard to make out as they get buried in the billowing clouds of synths. Despite having parts that have to do with battle, victory and such the first track is not very dynamic, it's as if we were distant from the battlefield so the din of warfare really does not reach us. I suppose the narrations would describe the events if one could make out what is said. Second track is different in mood and very active with bouncy percussion and general sense of motion. Last one, March of the Blutkrieg, brings again heavy associations to old 80's CRPGs to my mind, and it's not really much like a march so the re-title to Hall of Valhalla on the split feels very justified. Overall the sound is good enough, suitably lo-fi and archaic feeling, no samples or silly effects added. Note that a healthy dose of tape hiss is included. Not great art or neoclassic masterpiece but I find it enjoyable. Perhaps you should give it a go too?

Ordo Equilibrio - Live in Turku 19-09-98

Ordo Equilibrio - Live at TVO, Turku Finland 19th September 1998
1) Phosphorous Ascending / Anthem of Venus
2) Where Happiness Ruled
3) In the Grassy Fields, Where the World Goes to Sleep (We Kissed This World Goodbye) Again
4) Reaping the Fallen. The First Harvest…
5) The Perplexity of Hybris. I Glorify Myself
6) Living by the Sword. Dying by the Sword. The Lustrous Banquet.
7) Nature Seeking Equilibrium / War for the Principal of Balance.
8) Cleansing the Tainted Face of Reason

Mega / Depositfiles

Sunday chill out strikes back with a laidback yet very determined vengeance! Yeah, it is non-metal again and an item contributed to me already in '15, thanks to the sender you know who you are! I don't think we've ever featured a CMI artist before (countless Mortiis 'zine appearances do not count) despite the label's huge importance especially in the 90's. This is Ordo Equilibrio of Sweden, later known as Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio, formed by Tomas Pettersson of Archon Satani fame with his then-girlfriend back in '93. I liked the first album and the "I4I" EP quite a bit but was somehow slightly dissappointed in the second album and even though I still enjoyed it I lost interest after that and haven't really revisited them either. Wonder if I should? I'll ponder that later, what we have here is a live recording of their gig at TVO in Turku, organized by Kuolleen musiikin yhdistys aka KMY. KLV (one more three letter abbreviation and I start screaming) performed also but alas we do not have their part.

Eight songs for 38 minutes so it is not a very long gig but should be complete. Unless the person who recorded this took off and missed an encore or something. Don't believe that, I think I've seen this show mentioned or reviewed somewhere back in... another time and I seem to recall a mention of how short it was. The sound would be good if not for the occasionally amusing (provided you understand Finnish) but mostly just annoying and really distracting babbling of apparently the guy recording this and some oafish mate(s) of his. Oh how I hate it when people have friends when they are supposed to record something! Ordo Equilibrio's performance appears to be rather minimalistic yet ample. This might be a good time to mention they play "apocalyptic folk industrial" as the KMY poster puts it. Or in more words, a mixture of neofolk and martial industrial, some tracks being fully of one sort, others the second and some mix both or divert elsewhere. It's quite easylistening stuff compared to Archon Satani or some other CMI names like say Brighter Death Now or Deutsch Nepal but still too challenging to our audio (well, he could video it for all I know) chronicler's peasant pal. Oh well, if you enjoy Ordo Equilibrio or in general are into CMI bands you might enjoy this live recording provided you can successfully ignore the inane banter. Not understanding the language probably assists in the endeavour.

Conjured to Baphometh Bandcamp

Conjured to Baphometh - The Spawn of the Lilioth demo I 1995
1) Intro
2) Flowing Through Crystal Lakes and Mountains
3) Dance du Diablo
4) Thus Spoke Lilith
5) The New Age

Bandcamp page

Conjured to Baphometh - ...Wonder? demo II 1996
1) Disturbed Fulfillment
2) Bitumen Journey
3) Within Caverns
4) Behind
5) Flowing Through Crystal Lakes and Mountains (Epic Remix)
6) Evolution - Progress
7) Tribes
8) Behold! (Collision)
9) Chromatic Postludium

Bandcamp page

Sorry the long pause but uncle Velkaarn has been absent in spirit if not in body. Anyways, this post is not of the usual download links and inane babbling sort, though the latter is probably included. Rather, consider it a public service announcement.

Master Lord Azazel Djinn aka L.A.D. which sounds too much like a rapper so maybe Lord A.D. would be better stay on topic old fool has set up a bandcamp page with both Conjured to Baphometh releases, links found above. Some of you lot have already heard half of the demo I as it was mistakenly posted as the second Malitiae tape in the big mix up scandal of December '16, never forget. Now available in full five song glory and more balanced volume, we discover the last two songs continue in similar vein to the first half and indeed fit in the dungeon synth niche.

The second recording, which I had not heard before, features more songs and is... different. Let's keep it at that, a little suspense should do you good and I need to listen to it again in order to make sense. As if I'd let that stop me from writing before, but for now I'm just asking you to check them out and support L.A.Djinn, as well as offer my thanks for making the stuff available!

Malitiae - My Inner Blasphemy promo '96

Malitiae - My Inner Blasphemy promo 1996
1) Goathead (Intro)
2) Förintelsens tron
3) Baphometh

links deleted as it wasn't correct item!

More contributions follow, this is Malitiae from Sweden, loved by a few, dreaded by a couple more and unknown to vast majority. Not devotees of the Coven though! This is the second tape, of which Lord Azazel Djinn himself commented: "About the other tapes, the second one was in many ways worse (though completely different), whereas the two following ones were standard black metal." Thanks for the chance to hear it go to my collaborateur, the man who originally ripped and scanned this, monsieur Ronan of Psychopathological zine and my lovely assistant not doing a magic show my collaboratrice, the good sister Borderline who forwarded the rip to me and acquired permission to feature it here. Merci beaucoup! Hvala vam puno!

Ok, enough banter, let's move to business: three songs, first being an intro and two "regular" ones, total a bit under ten minutes. Good sound but unfortunately Ronan has ripped it at slightly too loud volume so it sounds a bit more abrasive and broken than it should. This is fully intrumental and resembles most fellow Swedes Landscape and actually a bit Emglev too, now that I listen to the second song while typing this. This might pass as metal, ambient/black metal of some sort perhaps, if one is feeling generous, with the percussion and all. Third track not so much, it's basically keyboards on the background and piano that is beaten played like percussion on the forefront. At the end of the day I can't agree with the artist's assessment of this being worse of the two early demos. And now I'm really curious to hear how he progressed on the stardard black metal demos III & IV! Not obviously for everyone but much easier to recommend than the first effort.

UPDATE: Lord Azazel Djinn sent me his rip of this promo and it's not the one I got from Borderline who got it from Ronan!!! Almost same running time but different material! It has vocals and sounds more like a continuation of "Azazel" demo, I'll probably upload it here as soon as I get some sort of clearence what the hell the item Ronan had ripped is then, as he had provided scans I wonder if he somehow managed to do wrong side of the tape or what ever else may have occurred. Damn it! Now I wonder if it could be a Conjured to Baphometh recording, also by L.A.D. and in that vein.

UPDATE II: Yup, it's partial Conjured to Baphometh demo, not "My Inner Blasphemy" and links are removed. I will make a repost with Lord A.D.'s sending, stay tuned! And eventually CtB demo too.

Paymon - The Way of Knowledge demo '96

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

Mega / Rusfolder

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

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

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

Sorg - Journey to Planet Satan demo III '96

Sorg - Journey to Planet Satan demo III 1996
1) Intro
2) Qual
3) Sathanas
4) Tod I
5) Tod II
6) Vacuumized
7) Journey to Planet Satan
8) Outro - Hail Satan

4shared / Mega

Let's post something quite disastrous today, here, as requested, is the third demo by German project Sorg which was mentioned on the entry for the first one. The second demo is still missing and the Coven would be very pleased to receive a copy, rip or a dub of it. Thank you. Right, this was in conspiracy with LKS again, thanks for the music and cover scans and as the title might tell you Astaroth must've been into Mysticum. Alas, this is not so apparent in the music.

What does that mean? Well, it is not industrial unhuman black metal for starters, nor is it the occasionally weird, other times moody and morose ambient/black metal mix of the first demo. It's mostly kind of annoying to be honest. More electronic and artificial sounding in general, with plenty of effects, wobbles and warbles and bad quasi-futuristic (think late 70's / early 80's lowest budget worst taste scifi-futuristic) instrumentation. I'd really love to hear the second demo and see how this development took course. It's probably meant to sound like a drugged out, nightmarish trip beyond the earthly sphere but I can't say that's the foremost vibe I get. It's not this bad all the way through, I admit, the less out of hand dark ambient parts like Tod I work better... until it starts to get silly again. Tod II would be pretty nice too if not for the utterly dumb voice bits, same pattern follows on Vacuumized. In general the later part of the demo is more agreeable. With appropriate substance abuse this might come across better, but so far I haven't managed to discover the genius here. If you feel bold, by all means take a trip to Planet Satan though I must refer the Norwegian travel service to be superior in all aspects.

Mord Umysłu - Promo '98

Mord Umysłu - Promo tape 1998
1) I
2) II

Rusfolder / Sendspace

Ok, more slightly unusual stuff and again we are in Poland. Looks like a pattern has emerged, I should probably break it as soon as possible before it binds me. But let's not discuss that, let's rather talk about this sending I got already months ago, thanks to the sender, but hesitated to post due lack of information. This is an obscure 1998 recording by Mord Umysłu which roughly translates as murder of mind, or maybe mental murder? Something along those lines anyways. It was a project, most likely an one-shot, by Aro who is best known from Perunwit though he did have a host of other projects as well. Many of them with very limited discography when compared to Perunwit I should mention. There's not really much info about this two song tape on the internets, just passing mentions of the band on Metal Archives and this entry, in Polish, on a blog written by Zuchu666 who used to contribute on the venerated Raf666underground blog. RIP, it strongly seems.

Where was I? Yeah, that entry, it had a download link too but that's expired so I've been unable to compare. It seems extremely unlikely these would not be same recording though different rips certainly. The recording itself consists of two untitled (probably, no-one at least seems to know the titles!) tracks and runs for a bit over ten minutes. Music is... pretty hard to describe with a simple neat term, let's try dark ambient metal, how's that? Way more ambient than metal, mind you. While Perunwit is very folky stuff this isn't that sort of thing at all. The sound is good, quite mellow and floaty, better than on older Perunwit tapes so it might be a studio recording. Most likely just a result of better equipment and experience. Vocals are in Polish and gravelly sort of half-singing half-snarling with slight variation thrown in. Keys and effects are omnipresent and it has a slightly dreamlike quality to it, whatever-wave touches. To toss a very misleading comparison, let's say My Angel-era Arcturus meets late-90s Christ Agony. No, it's not really like that, I had a better one in mind but it got away. Still, an interesting tape, I should ask Zuchu to reupload that other rip so I could compare quality. Oh yeah, no cover as this probably didn't have one, Z speculated it was never "properly" released, just dubbed to people.

Mantar - The Wrath of Hornuk the Great demo '98

Mantar (fra) - The Wrath of Hornuk the Great demo I 1998
1) The Woods Are Our Temple
2) Sodomized for the Cult
3) Unholy Conquest
4) Cult of the Witchdemon

Yandex / Depositfiles

Mantar - The Wrath of Hornuk the Great remaster 2005
1) The Woods Are Our Temple
2) Sodomized for the Cult
3) Gathering of Vicious Souls
4) Unholy Conquest
5) Feast on Satan's Cunt
6) The Wrath of Hornuk the Great
7) Cult of the Witchdemon (The Second Coming)

Mega

How about a non-metal contribution today, just for change? This here thing was sent by our comrade zargonath a few months ago and it's (according to the note included) Mantar from France, not to be mixed with the reasonably well-known current German one. Our subject was formed by two men in 1996 who went by the nom de guerres Lord Tenebro Maleficium and Lord Silvins Mortificus, made this demo and disbanded in '99. Lord Tenebro killed himself a year later so slight scent of cult may be detected melding into the usual gravestench and tombmusk. Judging from the cover my educated guess would be that this was released as a CDr but I might be mistaken (remaster was, original was on tape so 50/50).

The first track starts with an odd glitchy sound which I'm certain is not part of the experience before moving unto soft tolling sounds followed by an extremely familiar bit which is stolen borrowed sampled(?) from somewhere very well known but I can't remember it now damn this is frustrating!!! Help me out someone less demented and I'll edit this later (it was Dimmu Borgir's Master of Disharmony, 1996 EP version! Thanks Eugene!). Right, it goes on for quite long, repetitive as expected, but effective despite the nagging familiarity (is it from a soundtrack? I know this damn it!) with some additional elements tossed in like slightly pompous sounding accented voices. The second track goes on with the same dramatic, soundtrackesque dungeon synth feel and most likely as a residual trauma from the first track I find myself wondering if I've encountered these sounds somewhere before. Third song, surprisingly... uh, mellow, despite its name allows me to shake of the mental shackle and enjoy the cheese. Last song re-introduces the vocals, one a normal spoken voice and the other a malicious black metal style hiss. My initial frown quickly softens as the voices are used very sparingly and well enough. To my surprise the track suddenly ends, almost prematurely and the demo itself with it, leaving me feeling a mite peckish. This is actually better than I remembered from the original, extensive two playthroughs session back whenever. Apparently another one that is best listened to at least twice in row. Standout track: number three.

UPDATE: It appears this might be incomplete which would explain how it felt too short. Comrade Eugene sent me a full version of seven tracks with an inlay, appearently the cover is from a 2005 remastered version. I wonder if it is expanded also or was the copy zargonath had just weirdly incomplete. Priests are now investigating, please wait warmly... 

UPDATE II: After a brief yet vigorous inquisition it appears the remastered seven song version sent by Eugene does sound a bit different and the songs seem slightly longer. Perhaps the speed is a wee bit different (it was a brief and vigorous not thorough inquisiton after all!). It is still uncertain to me if the original demo was really just four songs and the remaster is an expanded version or if it actually managed to miss three songs scattered in between the rest! For now I've decided to have both available, personally I like the fuzzier, more dungeony original sound better and haven't really had time to properly listen to the additional new content, so to say. Oh yeah, apparently the bio crap I picked up elsewhere (U-tube) was a pile of pig entrails as the remaster cover's linear notes seem to contradict them (ol' Tenebro's passing was not of the permanent sort for starters and he hogs all credit there, no mention of Silvins in sight). Odour of kvlt turns to sour reek of falsehood.

Sorg - Demo I 1995

Sorg - Demo I 1995 (?)
1) Necronomicon
2) Subtle Punishment
3) Chalice of Sin
4) Initiation
5) Für Dich
6) Chaos

Mediafire / 4shared

Let's stick to Germania a while longer. This is again a collaboration between me and comrade LKS. Well, to be honest LKS did most of the work ripping the tape and scanning the covers, I just divided it into tracks, which was quite a bit of work too! Alright, Sorg of Germany was somewhat a mystery to both of us, despite having access to the covers as they're not very informative. According to another demo, to which we return later, a man who calls himself Astaroth is apparently behind all the music and most likely instrumentation too. Looks like Metal Archives has been updated recently to mark him as the same fellow who handled bass and vocals in Fjell, we speculated this earlier but were not certain. Good to see user Uglur knew this for sure. As you see from the question mark up there the release year is uncertain, '95 is just a guess but could be '94 as well. Please confirm if you know.

Music on this demo is what I suppose should be called ambient black metal as it has enough metal elements on it to merit that sort of a monicker. Pushing it, maybe, but very gently. More like nudging or perhaps poking. Mostly slow tempo and moody material, black metal voices croaking, crooning and occasionally growling over funereal keyboards and strings (sounds like bass to me), plodding percussion, you get the idea. Lofi but clean sound, atmospheric and quite mellow on the slow long opening numbers, gets a bit silly on faster bits like Initiation. Very interesting for sure and I would need the second demo, third one we already have.

Wolfhord - Realm of Pagan Storms demo '98

Wolfhord - Realm of Pagan Storms demo 12/97 (1998)
1) Winds of Battle
2) In the Forest of the Nightwolfs
3) Southern Holocaust
4) Pagan Blood
5) Ancient War Spirit

RGhost / Mediafire

Our usual Sunday chill turns south with even more Southern material bringing the heat, courtesy of comrade unholydeath again. Thanks for the rip & scan! Continuing fluently where we left off at the end of last month this is Wolfhord, another side project by Herr Wolf, here known as Warlord von Ravenclaw. Non-metal material this time, "battle stuff" as the cover says seems a neatly vague description. This is the first demo, strangely referred to as demo tape 12/97 when it was partially recorded in January '98.

Five parts, roughly 18 minutes and this "battle stuff" of his is basically somewhat lofi, but very loud and messy mind you, ambient reminiscent of LLN projects (not that much really but got your attention now) and more importantly the various folk/pagan/etc/ambient projects hailing from Poland. The first long track is basically wind samples, synth and a voice groaning/croaking a few passages over it, all in noisy, gritty texture. Second one is more winds but this time dominated by electric guitar which is joined by percussion at times, very folky or should we say volkisch melodies. This pattern repeats for the rest of the demo, all tied together by the slightly over-the-top wind noises. I must dash off now so let's wrap this up quickly; if you dig the old Polish material in similar vein or are in general a lofi dark/pagan ambient enthusiast, dungeon synth connoisseurs included, you might want to give this a shot. Be cautious of the sound though!

Alviss - Fafnir demo I '96 (?)

Alviss - Fafnir demo I 1995 or 1996?
1) Eternal Forest
2) Aura
3) Übermensch

RGhost / Sendspace

It's already Sunday again, time passes faster than necessary. Let us chill then with some German dungeon synth contributed by, once again, brother LKS. Thank you! This is the first demo by the rather obscure Alviss of which I know practically nothing about and the covers aren't helping much. Just the band name, demo title, "demo I" and tracklisting. And some "borrowed" Tolkien art for cover and a sunwheel symbol inside. I was supposed to post this already long, long ago but had issues dividing it into tracks.

This is a very short demo, a bit less than eight minutes for the three tracks which also again blend into each other except where they don't; there's an unfortunate cassette-related fail on the second song "Aura" with the sound dropping out for almost two seconds. I included a "fixed" version with simply the blank bit removed but that does not sound right either. Blessed tapes, have I cursed them often enough already? So unless the artist originally managed to botch up all the demos I'd appreciate a rip with unblemished audio.

Music itself is minimalistic, simple and purely instrumental dungeon synth. That probably does not read as a very exciting description but once I got over the track division issues and the audiofail on "Aura" I've found myself enjoying this probably more than I should. Why not try it if you like minimalist one-man forest ambient?

UPDATE: I've been told that the Alviss material is to be re-released this year so look forward to that! I will return with further info once I learn more about it.

Aeternum Maleficium - The Sons of the Sun demo 1995

Aeternum Maleficium - The Sons of the Sun demo 1995
1) The Magnificent Magnitude of the Night Body (Parts I, II, III)
2) Chant to a Star

Zippyshare / Yandex

Let us chill out once again, but today's items comes with a twist: a plea for assistance. You might've noticed this name appearing on my want list and still remaining there despite the fact I'm posting the demo right here, right now. You see, me and especially the donor of the tape this '95 demo of überobscure Brazilian project Aeternum Maleficium was dubbed on are very keen on finding someone with, preferably but not absolutely necessarily, an original copy of this or failing that, a better dub than the one we (well, mostly me) were working with. The contributed tape was not terribly worn itself but the dub is of nth generation and leaves its mark. We've no cover or any other illustration to offer either so that would be really appreciated too. A band pic/logo would do also.

To the content: there are only two tracks which I hope to have divided correctly. The first one is way longer of the two which is fitting as it should contain three parts. The second one runs in usual metal song duration. Dark ambient with somewhat otherworldly feeling to it, most of the time just synths floating around in the gentle waves of tape hiss, occasionally obscured by clouds of wear and buffeted by winds of tear. Some voices appear in the first track but they're scarce enough. And percussion, used also very sparingly and effectively. The sound forces my hand to add the dungeon synth tag too, this seems deserving. It's quite simple but pleasant and pretty relaxing, not at all harsh or threatening. The second track especially appeals to me today and makes me wish there was more. Somehow personally I've grown accustomed and even fond off of the challenges and limitations presented by the dub reminiscent of an ancient scroll, stained and nearly crumbling apart whenever you pursue to study the contents. I fear a pristine copy might lack the aura of mystery and otherness this has, but still, get in touch if you have an original tape. Meanwhile this is recommended for fellow scholars with a fondness for imperfect visions.

Blackthorn - The Black Vision of Northern Kingdom promo '94

Blackthorn - The Black Vision of Northern Kingdom promo I 1994
1) Winds
2) In Moonlight
3) Gate to the Stars
4) Gloomy Forest of Sadness

Mediafire / Zippyshare

Polish black metal. This is the Blackthorn I was referring to in the Chors post here. We discussed the connections already in that post so I am not going to delve deeper into the mire. Sent by LKS around the same time as the Chors demo, thank you again! Cover image borrowed from the Metal Archives and as usual, full scans would be very welcome.

Old Polish TTF black metal made by two men, I suppose you know what to expect? Raw and crude, yet melodic and atmospheric stuff with obvious influences from their peers and the Norse senpais (read: Vikernes). Sound is a little on the thin side but fits this better than a "good" production would. It's a bit odd, unusual thing really if you consider there is only one "proper" track, the longest of the bunch In Moonlight. First track is an intro with the omnipresent winds sounds, third is a shortish instrumental and last one dungeon synth/outro. I find it more fascinating now than on previous listen a few months ago and recommend it heartily. That is all for now.

Satanis Nocturne - Essence of the Dark Age demo 1998

Satanis Nocturne - Essence of the Dark Age demo 1998
1) Transcendental Overture
2) Unholy Ground
3) Desolate Aeons
4) The Conjuring
5) Passage into Shadows

4shared / Yandex

Sunday twilight chillout zone Mother's Day edition with an obscure US project contributed by our comrade master Fenrirsson, many thanks for this interesting treat! We don't have much information on Satanis Nocturne but apparently it was a project of someone involved with Anwyl and it was released by Nicola of Hellflame whom F contacted prior to us uploading this. Unfortunately he's lost his copy of the tape also years ago so no cover but at least we got his blessing for this necromancy. If you happen to possess an original copy please get in touch with scans!

This is neoclassical Satanic dark ambient music, fully instrumental (yayness!) and with touches of darkwave and dungeon synth. Very soundtrack-like also, quite easy to listen to for a neophyte but pleasing enough for a grizzled veteran. Or at least for me. I speculated with Fenrirsson if this could be another project of Mikai Tepesh, he was with Anwyl and was credited among other instruments for synth on the Nephilim cover. The uncertainity is driving me nuts, confirm, confirm, CONFIRM! For now, enjoy this if you like cinematic keyboard music with a flair for dramatic and an affiliation with the Devil, I must rush off to work.