Demo Reviews

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Yith – Demo 3 (2013)

    cover

    Bringing back the days of tape trading and home-made demos, today we have Yith and ‘their’ “Demo 3” on a Maxell tape. This American one-man battalion delivers six tracks of punishing Black Metal with Doom Metal influences. As we dusted off our tape player, this demo is quite well produced and will send shivers down your spine with its devastating riffs and demoralizing atmospheric passages.

    Opening with “Beneath the White Mountains”, the Yith immediately punishes the listener with savage Black Metal riffs and vocals. The moment of awesomeness comes when the track mellows out a bit and atmospheric keyboards and a Doomy passages breaks through the cloud of BM onslaughts. “The Woman in Black” is a more ‘mellow’ track where the Black/Doom vibe is very well crafted and creates a very bleak landscape.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Destractive – Gospel of Warheads (2013)

    cover

    Delivering their fourth demo release, today we have Finland’s Destractive and their very unique and cohesive combination of Death/Thrash/Black Metal. Featuring four destructive tunes, this demo release shows the band’s maturity and how well they manage to blend all their influences in a very solid and powerful way. With a traditional line-up of two guitars, a bass guitar, drums and vocals, the band focuses more on effective musical structures than any gimmicks, making this release quite solid from beginning to end.

    The demo title track delivers the first wave of aural assaults with some Thrashy riffs and pummeling drums. The band nicely changes the temp into a more run-and-gun situation with excellent catchy sections and brutal speedups. This track has both Death and Thrash elements with some Black Metal-esque vocals, making a very solid combination and delivering sheer brutality to the listener. “Blood on the Soil” changes the pace a bit with incisive drumming and a slower tempo, giving more of a Black/Death Metal vibe at first, reminding us of Inquisition and even Watain at certain moments.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Crippler – Threshing Sledge (2013)

    cover

    Hailing from Finland, today we have Crippler and their three-song demo “Threshing Sledge”. Delivering pummeling old-school Death Metal, this band showcases their power in every second of music they present on this release. For over 12 minutes the listener will be transported to the days when Death Metal ruled the scene and we measured albums based on how brutal and devastating they were.

    Leviathan’s Gaze opens the demo with overpowering riffs and deep growls. The band’s chugging guitars and pulsating bass line create a very thick and crushing sound. The drumming is also quite powerful, allowing Viisainen’s vocals to shine through the brutality of their sound. “Weakling Servants” keeps the incisive guitar work rolling with more sheer brutality and chugging riffs. The band’s sound is quite potent and this track is the perfect example for it.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Aratron – The Recovery (2013)

    cover

    With the costs of professionally producing demo’s and releases getting lower by the day, we are glad that bands like Aratron can showcase their quality and have a powerful and lively sound on their demo’s. “The Recovery” is the band’s latest demo and it features five crushing tracks with a timeless Thrash infused Death Metal sound that is quite powerful and well crafted.

    The starts leads with guns blazing on the song “The Recovery”, a very direct and brutal track that combines relentless riffing with excellent vocals. The band’s sound reminded us of early days Grave and similar Swedish DM outfits that rely on Thrash Metal foundations. “Imprisoned” keeps the album flowing with another dosage of solid riffs and very tight drumming. The band’s musicianship is quite good and they are not afraid to show it with their incisive tracks.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Hod – The Uncreated (2013)

    cover

    Packing in a lot of fire power in three songs, today we have Hod and their 2013 demo “The Uncreated”. Delivering relentless riffs, tight drumming, and hellish vocals, this band has what it takes to take you by surprise and command you to headbang from the beginning to the end of this nifty release.

    Opening with the sheer power of “Beneath The Mountains of The Scorpions”, this nearly six minute long opus delivers high-octane energy and plenty of killer riffs, showcasing the band’s brutality and musical abilities. The vocals are quite entertaining and keep things fresh, but what hooks you is the massive drumming surrounding the catchy riffing. The band does a great job in keeping the song fresh and diverse by switching up tempos very graciously.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Transgresión – ..de sangre y represión (2012)

    cover

    Arriving today from Puerto Rico we have Transgresión and their two-song crushing demo “.de sangre y repression”. With a very old-school vibe, this band delivers around 10 minutes of no-bullshit Thrash Metal with some Speed influences and social commentary behind their lyrical approach. We love releases that manage to capture the sounds of the past while not being copies of any other bands.

    This demo opens with the crushing “Guerra Civil” and its heavy riffing surrounded by a very old-school Sepultura vibe from the “Arise” era. The vocals are very traditional and surprisingly delivered by a female vocalist named Estrella Sola. While sounding a bit flat at times, they actually fit very well the overall vibe of the music and are greatly enhanced by the additional vocals of some of the male members of the band.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Refusal – Grasp (2012)

    cover

    Remember the good old days when extreme music did not had faggy clean vocals and breakdowns?, if you do, then Refusal’s latest demo “Grasp” provides a nice stroll through memory lane. Delivering four songs of very typical Swedish Death Metal, this band from Finland does a great job in capturing a timeless sound and making it their own with super catchy tracks.

    Opening with the neck breaking “Do Your Part”, the band’s sound immediately has that old-school vibe. The riffing is quite catchy and the vocals are raspy and powerful. This song also features a pretty solid tempo that is nicely marked by the well-crafted drums. The band reminds us of Grave in certain instances. Keeping the catchiness flowing, “Grip” delivers nice and meaty guitars paired with excellent growls. In this track we can verify that the band does a great job in creating a certain tempo that works perfectly with the riffing and the vocals.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Wall of the Eyeless – Through Emptiness (2011)

    cover

    Delivering their first demo “Through Emptiness”, today we have the incredible Swedish/Russian collaboration named Wall of the Eyeless. Mixing Death Metal with some Doom and melodic passages, this two-person band delivers quite an interesting release. With four tracks covering around 24 minutes of music, this demo is one of the most promising ones we have received in quite a while.

    Opening with “The Hands”, the band starts with a very typical Death Metal piece that features a few hints of melodic sections at first, and then it explodes into an excellent Doom-ish atmospheric section after the 3:30 mark. We love that the production is a bit raw and it allows the guitars to sound very crunchy. Things open in a more melodic fashion in “Do We Belong Here?”, a track that is more dramatic and quite crushing. The vocals are pretty solid, and the acoustic passages in this track are excellently crafted.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Pandemonium - Promo 2010 (2010)

    cover

    As a little taste before the release of their highly anticipated full length “Misanthropy”, Pandemonium has unleashed their 2010 promo with two ‘un-official’ versions of the songs from said album and a few video clips. Packaged in a nice digipack version, this promo will surely generate more expectation after listening how crushing the two ‘advance’ tracks sound.

    “Black Forest” gives us a very dense and atmospheric track that showcases brutal drumming sections tightly coupled with dark and desolate Black/Death riffing. The vocals are truly haunting, maintaining a very deep and decadent sound to this song. The overall atmosphere of the track is very effective and features a very good improvement over anything presented in the band’s last album “Hellspawn”.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Forgotten Legacy – The Oracle (2009)

    cover

    Hailing from Pennsylvania, today we have Forgotten Legacy and their 2009 demo “The Oracle”. If you are a fan of old-school American Power/Heavy Metal you will find this release very enjoyable.

    Featuring 5 songs, the band quickly gathers momentum with the opening track “2012”. In this song we are treated to very effective riffs and powerful vocals. The production is evidently weak, but this does not diminish the abilities presented by the band. The song is very catchy, the riffs are well crafted and the drumming is very effective.

Pages

Recent Image Galleries