Total Darkness #2

Total Darkness Magazine, issue 2 (1995)
Interviews:
Zephyrous
Behemoth
Blessed In Sin
In the Woods...
Funeral Winds
Occult
Blasphemer
Tha-Norr
Manes
Primordial
Bethlehem
Morphosis
Kane
Summoning
December Moon
Misanthropy Records
Ashen Mortality
Deprived 'zine
Adversary
Thy Serpent
Hades
Articles:
"Oderint Dum Metuant" by Wiking Herske
Bestial Summoning/Occult bio
"A Blaze in the Northern Sky" by Wiking Herske
"Diabolism/Satanism" by Bard Nocturnus
"The Truth in Thy Blood" by Taoiseach O'Malley
"Up from the Ashes" by Svarte Sirkel
Ancient
Carnun
"Black Metal Holocaust" by Bard Nocturnus
+ editorial, reviews, gig reports

Mega

Alright, as promised here's something before Nummirock to where I will be departing Thursday morning. A 'zine post, which is actually exactly the same thing I did last midsummer! Damn it, patterns woven around me ensnaring me in a devious web of my own making! No time for paranoia, or very long introductions either to be frank so let's get to business; second issue of Irish Total Darkness "magazine" which is way too grandiose a monicker for a messy fanzine xeroxed in sloppy manner. But that makes it, despite being a bit hard to read, a good 'zine. Very large scans were done by and sent to me by comrade thenecromancer, thank you for your efforts and donation!

This was an A5 sized 'zine and counting the covers features 74 pages (one spread is included twice as the other page turned out unreadable on the first try) crammed quite full of stuff by its editors Bard Nocturnus (of Carnun and Abhor ...not exactly fame but some will recognize the names, later vox for Myrkr as Vordr), Damien Looney (also of Carnun) and a fellow known as Fitzy. By the way, assuming the Abhor is the same as M-A one, I'd like to hear the "Abyss" demo listed there. The line-up does not seem to include our editor though. Oh no I'm starting to digress yet again and I was supposed to keep this short! Right, black metal 'zine, some death, doom and a random industrial unit (Kane) featured and despite including a couple of VERY common names (Behemoth being the worst offender here, followed by Sigh, Burzum and In the Woods...) they have, as if to balance out, some rare appearances like my old favourite Tha-Norr and Israeli Adversary. Excellent. Note that the lads, or more like the Carnun pair, were Varg-cronies so "all Total Darkness issues are in respectful dedication to Varg Vikernes" and feature plenty of "Cymophane" propaganda and so on. This is obviously a strike against if you're an old Euronymous-Jugend like me. But the past is gone so let's not dwell on that and just enjoy it. And I'm ready to overlook a lot when I encounter another Tha-Norr enthusiast. Props for also being one of the rare places where I spot comrade Veiko's old band! Recommended reading but mind you, the scans are enormous so it's a sizeable package to download.

Cruachan - Live in Cork 26.03.1994

Cruachan - Live in Cork, Ireland 26th March 1994
1) Fall of Gondolin
2) Maeves' March
3) (Unknown)
4) The First Battle of Moytura
5) Scéal Na Fienna
6) Cúchulainn
7) Tir No Bréagah

Reuploaded

I'm off to see live music tonight and to celebrate that I'm posting a recording of Cruachan's 1994 gig. This performance dates between the release of their "Celtica" demo and the signing with Nazgul's Eyrie Productions who then released the debut album "Tuatha Na Gael" in Beltaine 1995. An audience recording which I got from one of my tape traders, the sound is as you might guess less than stellar. It's a bit messy at times and especially Keith's more extreme vocals bleed all over the place in some of the songs. Yet I think it's still clear enough to be enjoyed if you're a fan of early Cruachan. Dub & rip quality are as good as can be with the source material.

I didn't receive a tracklisting with this so I was forced to try to figure out the titles all by myself. Despite my valiant efforts I couldn't figure out what track 3 is - even with him introducing it after Maeves' March! I just don't understand what he says. Any corrections and identification of the third track are welcomed!

Cruachan - Celtica demo 1994

Cruachan - Celtica demo 1994
1) To Moytura We Return
2) Maeves' March
3) Cúchulainn
4) Battle Frenzy
5) The Voyage Of Bran
6) To Invoke The Horned God
7) F.M.C.D.A.C.A.K.A.F.G.H.
8) Scéal Na Fianna (live)

Depositfiles

I enjoyed this demo quite a lot when one of my tape trader comrades recorded it to me in 1995, but was somewhat dissappointed with the debut album released on Nazgul's Eyrie. In a fit of nostalgy I downloaded a version of the demo from one of the various blogs but to my dissappointment it was at 128 kbps, sounded pretty weak and was incomplete. So I decided to rip my own tape - which has the disadvantage of being a 3rd or so generation dub and suffers from massive tape hiss. However, I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out, managed to eliminate the worst of the hissing without much damage to overall sound. Bullshit! UPDATE: I'm not at all satisfied with the old rip! So I ripped it again & re-uploaded. I also found better scan(s) of the covers which are included.

As for the content itself, this is Celtic pagan (black) metal with at times great raw vocals, endearingly clumsy clean vocal, pipes, melodic and very folky instrumentation. The sound is typical of the demo tapes of the time, audible bass is noteworthy, guitars are a little too low and the vocal is high on the mix. Songs vary from very short to epic lenght, at times a little too long for their own good I admit. Not much else to say, take a listen at Cruachan's rough past.