Demo Reviews

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Nachtreich – Sturmgang (2009)

    cover

    After releasing six demos (only two available to the public) this two man band blew my expectations away after just looking at the cover. I imaged it would be another shitty Ambient / black metal demo that was just going to make my ears bleed. And I was totally wrong.

    This demo features amazing neoclassical compositions using a variety of instruments, and of course, some distorted guitar riffs. The length of the demo is 55 minutes, but it felt like it was only 10 minutes. I was so immersed in the music trying to identify all the instruments used, and enjoying how each song is very well composed and executed. I must say I’m a sucker for good neoclassical music, but when it has distorted guitars perfectly blended, I’m even more enthralled with the music.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Hybrid Heaven - The Textures Of Spirits (2008)

    There are several reasons why I label this as a demo: 1) The production quality is not very good, 2) The band is unsigned and 3) It’s limited to 200 copies. Setting this aside, this Mexican band plays a pretty decent trash/death metal with progressive elements. The vocals are the weakest element in this release.

    The music however is pretty good for a first release from this band, they are clearly influenced by progressive music and they have enough skills to incorporate these influences in their songs.

    This release is around 50 minutes long and the songs are very short, however they are not too repetitive or annoying and they do a good job at creating different rhythms in every song. 

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    My Life's Despair - Love, Sorrow, and Suicide (2009)

    I will call this release a demo since it contains only 3 songs and it’s freely available on their myspace page. This is an American one man band that while not having the best production behind their demo, it clearly makes an impact.

    My Life’s Despair has their music style well defined to be a mixture of early My Dying Bride, Crematory and The Sins of Thy Beloved. And this release is a great stepping stone into hopefully a full length album with better production.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    The Worthless Dream - Trip Through Depression And Autumn (2009)

    There is only one way of describing this ‘rehersal demo’: WTF, yes I just said What The Fuck, how do you even leak something like this on the internet. The demo consists of only 1 song that is around 16 min long, and let me guide you through my experience on it.

    The first 6 minutes sound like just a shitty metal band learning how to make a doom metal song. Then I was almost in a boredom trance, when I hear some fucking screams like somebody out of an Asian horror film, it kind of caught me of guard and freaked me out, not because it’s impressive, but because it is so lame.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Norinian - Absent Seizure (2009)

    When this demo starts, the first track provides almost 3 minutes of nothing, since it is only a few noises and that’s it. I fail to see how this sets the mood for the album.

    This band labels themselves as black metal, however, the second track is an industrial type of song with some beats and deep vocals. At the same time, neither of the previous things is well realized and it just gets monotone and it’s easily forgotten.

    This band seriously needs to either define their style or just stop playing, since the next 3 songs are just a weird mixture of different genres and ideas meshed together in 3 different songs. While Cacotopian Masses is a more ‘straight forward’ black metal song, and the last 2 are more industrial-based, they are still in a few words: pretty bad.

Pages

Recent Image Galleries