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.

Kraina Wiecznego Mrozu - Ziemia ojców demo I '98

Kraina Wiecznego Mrozu - Ziemia ojców demo I 1998
1) Pruskie leśne królestwo
2) Nigdy mu się nie poddam
3) Wojna
4) Ziemia ojców

RGhost / Yandex

I think I owe you folks some black metal and this item is a bit overdue, I was supposed to post it pretty much right after me and sister Borderline finished the discussion over at her blog. If you actually took time to skim through the conversation in the comments and the update note on the write up, excellent - you know what's going on and why! If not, I suppose I'll tl;dr even though I really don't want to: this is an early version/first edition of Polish pagan black metal band Kraina Wiecznego Mrozu's demo "Ziemia ojców" which was re-released, possibly remastered or mixed or something but at least expanded (sound effects, acoustics et all added) by Reakcjonista Magazine in 1999. That is the version you see on M-A and has also been ripped and posted on Dorosłe Dzieci blog. The split by Werewolf Promotion was also based on this version of the recording but he messed the tracklisting up as told by sis B. I've not added a cover image for this since I do not have it and I'm not sure if it had one different from the '99 version. Would obviously appreciate a scan. Interestingly the title of the second track comes in two variations: Nigdy mu się nie poddam and Nigdy mu się nie poddać and both can be correct as first one translates "I will never give up" and second flavour "Never give up" so one is more of a statement while second one would be advice. I went with the version on the tracklisting I got.

Ok, so if you're already familiar with the other version it's the same four tracks but in different order and slightly more stripped down, the interludes and special effects are missing as well as some acoustics. This is roughly two minutes shorter in all. If you are new to the band, good since it's probably better to first hear this rougher take and then the extended one. Generally the sound here is rawer and somewhat more clear and audible than on the split. Music is Polish pagan black metal, of the slightly crude and almost primitive sort with patriotic flair. It's quite METAL too, just check out the very heavy metal break on the second song, halfway through or a little later. It's one of those things that on certain days you dislike and on others adore. Today is strongly the latter. I like the honest enthusiasm you can clearly feel (especially on this version) complimenting the earnest and frantic playing style. Recommended for folks into Polish black metal, pagan black metal and raw screaming coupled with youthfully eager musicianship. Next time again something Finnish. Unless you absolutely want something else, then it will probably be old US stuff. Or a 'zine.

Holocaust #8

Holocaust 'zine, issue 8 (1995)
Interviews:
Ancient Rites
Moonspell
Gorgoroth
Absu / Equimanthorn
Hades
Behemoth
Altar
Trelldom
Mortiis / Vond
Misanthrope
Bård Faust
Accursed
Immortal
Sabbat
Amon
Grand Belial's Key
Alastis
Esoteric
Chris Moyen
Nightfall
Isengard ('89)
Necromantia
Graveland
Sadistic Intent
Sephiroth
Ancient
The Whores of Babylon
Black Funeral
Mortuary Drape
Unpure
Vlad Tepes
Infernum
Bethlehem
Different State
Marduk
+ reviews, articles on Balder, Mastiphal and B.R.S.A., art pages with illustrations by Dark Arts, "poems" by Nethor and... things by Wicca Graphics

Depositfiles

Here is the 8th Holocaust issue, as hinted at in the post of the seventh coming and much if not most of what was written there applies here as well. Though I must say first thing that came to my mind when I saw the cover for this was "why is Blackie Lawless hiding under a trio of sixes?" which might not be the original intent. Let's not that distract us from the fact that this is a very good 'zine. A great selection of interviewees, even with slight repeat from previous issue and a couple of "usual suspects" inevitably pop up (Behemoth fitting both categories, arguably Graveland too and then there's Mortiis). Tomasz has a bit more contributors this time around (which explains certain repeats) and the characteristic article/reviews hybrids are this time replaced by more typical reviews.

Highlights include the Gorgoroth interview by Nethor with an enthusiastic if not outright gushing introduction that is longer than the interview itself, Rob Darken & Capricornus writing about topics Tomasz gave them and Trelldom interview with Gaahl, again by Nethor. Does not feel fair to pick out just a few though, as this is full of great reading and interesting statements.

I should also mention that I botched up the scan a bit and as a result there's an extra single page of the aforementione Trelldom interview which I was supposed to remove before packing up and uploading. Oops. Well, you can delete it yourselves. Definitely recommended.

Blackthorn - Instrumental Rehearsal 95

Blackthorn - Empire of the Ancient Time instrumental rehearsal tape 1995
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX

Rusfolder / Mediafire

Another lengthy one for today, let's return to Poland with the last of the Blackthorn releases sent to me by LKS. Thanks for the contributions! This is a 40+ minutes instrumental rehearsal tape from 1995, most likely post-"Ancient" material and lacking a tracklisting. It might be the same as the one featured on the 2010 compilation tape listen on Metal Archives as "Empire of the Ancient Time" though that one lists only seven songs. But just how many instrumental rehearsal tapes did they record and dub people in '95? Well, it's actually quite possible the answer may be "a lot" as we've certainly seen examples of that. Unless I come across a rip, or a physical copy, of the "Empire of the Ancient Time" compilation we remain uncertain.
UPDATE:
A reader verified it's the same recording, the version on the compilation is a bit cleaned up and tracks  I & II (the aborted takes) were left off it.

Alright, like a proper scholar I started to write and upload once again before taking a refresher listen to the item in question and now I must say I'm almost certain this is the "Empire..." rehearsal as tracks I & II are merely "false starts" for III and I must assume the compilation's tracklisting lumps them all together. Not going to meddle with this anymore so we go with it as it is!

The sound is quite easy on the ears even for a novice, drums get buried to a muffled rumble leaving guitar dominant. It's a slightly messy yet pleasant sort of buzz which is nice seeing this is a rather stripped down effort as fully instrumental recording. I was going to write a bit longer entry for this but a brief yet annoying episode with my inter nets browser made me want to get done with this quickly. If you like old Polish black metal, especially the other Blackthron releases, you'll want to check this out.

Holocaust #7

Holocaust 'zine, issue 7 (1994)
Interviews:
Acheron
Emperor
Godsend
Schizo
Mutilated
Graveland
Mass Psychosis
Mayhem
Ceremonial Oath
Supuration
Beherit
Funeral Winds
Crucifier
Asphyx
Nun Slaughter
Behemoth
Thou Art Lord
Dark Tranquillity
Pitch Shifter
Malediction
Burzum
As Serenity Fades
Exmortis
+ articles "Speak with the Tongue of Serpents" & "Magick" by Anubis Press, South African scene report and a ton (88 by a quick tally) of short article/bio/review hybrids as well as a separate Polish section and an album/EP review section

Mega

We return with what we departed with; another 'zine post. This one though is a request by our comrade Kurgan and in essence a repost as raf-sempai had already posted scans of almost all issues of Poland's classic Holocaust 'zine in his RAF666underground blog. I had somehow managed to miss the more recent ones and ended up requesting two of the issues (this one and the following) among the 'zines I borrowed from comrade passetiermes the other year, scanned 'em, noticed they were already up for grabs and there was much lamentation. Seeing how raf's blog seems to be dead and abandoned I thought it'd be fine to make the issues available to interested parties again. Not to mention scanning 'zines is a pain in the ass so I'd really not prefer my time and efforts to go waste.

Ok so in case you don't know yet, Holocaust was a famous Polish black/death metal 'zine - though the editor, Pagan Records mainman Tomasz Krajewski, did not exclude other styles those were clearly most dominant. 60 pages and over 110 bands covered within the 23 interviews and 88 article/review hybrids is a lot to read and while either the interviews or the articlettes might not be epic length they're generally well written, informative and entertaining enough to read even if you might not be too much into band in question. The unlisted 88 bands range from the well known (Gorgoroth, The 3rd and the Mortal, Grand Belial's Key) to very obscure (Naephragorious, The Cross, Mototronko). Clearly well above average 'zine, classic status fairly deserved in my opinion and mandatory reading recommended to all ages. Maybe not children. Most ages then.

Host - Host (2008)

Host - Host CDr 2008
Demo I listopad 2002
1) Ścieżka 1
2) Ścieżka 2
Demo II grudzień 2002
3) Ścieżka 3
4) Ścieżka 4

Depositfiles / Zippyshare

Return to Poland is in schedule, though again with a little twist. Today's post is a contribution by our reader Opiekacz and this is his one man band Host, where he operated using the name Grzechu ("sin") and a 2008 CDr compilation of two demos dating to end of 2002 (November and December). The actual disc was released in pretty limited quantity but he's had the files available elsewhere, so I'm making sort of an exception here. Most links seem dead, so I guess it is justified really. No actual cover scan, but he included a flyer which has almost the same image as the cover had anyways so let's go with that.

You're probably expecting bedroom black metal by now? And yes, that is somewhat justified as the production is quite minimalistic, drums by machine (UPDATE: nope, electronic drums human-played) and generally things have that computerized feeling. Sound is of the clean and clear variety, guitars slightly weaker than vocals and percussion... well, they're actually pretty much on the same level, neither strings nor pounds drown other one out. It's fine, not trying to pass for necro and considering the music fits decently. Voice is raspy and rough, but still quite sing-songy, reminds me a little bit of Master's Hammer actually. The music is, as already hinted, not of the standard sulking in the sleeping chamber variety either, actually it's also closer to "The Jilemnice Occultist" than "A Gate Through Bloodstained Mirrors" as it sounds in places very close to classical inspired heavy metal. Or is it power metal? Well, I guess you know what I mean. The minimalistic naming sense is an interesting decision too, seeing as the songs are titled Path 1 and so on and the demos just by month of release. Or actually the CDr cover just mentioned tracks 1,2 and 3,4 so perhaps he retconned that. Well, whatever the case might be it's different from what one might expect and agreeable in a dose of this size, a bit under half an hour. Have a listen if you don't mind some neoclassical leanings in your black or maybe more accurately dark metal.

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.

Sirrah - Acme demo '95

Sirrah - Acme demo II 1995
1) Acme
2) Passover 1944
3) On the Verge
4) A.U.Tomb
5) Iridium
6) Pillbox Impressions
7) Panacea
8) Bitter Seas

RGhost / Mediafire

Some of you might not be too impressed with today's post, sure, it's not a TTF-relic dug from a sealed tomb but hey, at least we're in Poland again! Yup, it's melodic death/doom with touches of gothic, think stuff like earlier Paradise Lost (not "Lost Paradise" or demos early!) or perhaps more accurately bands inspired by their "Gothic" album? Anyways, Sirrah from Poland released two demos, two albums (first of which was a re-recording/-arrangement of this demo) and an EP on their few years of activity around the mid-90s, to apparently re-emerge in 2013 with two new songs released so far. And this is the demo II, though I think I saw it referred as cassette album too. The running time would allow it to qualify and sound is not at all bad either. Much better than certain economically produced albums. Some of the songs date back to the first demo from '93 already so they've taken their time to refine 'em.

I haven't actually even heard the re-recorded album version, though it did catch some attention being released by Music for Nations. Or actually I might've heard it whilst drinking at certain associate's place, pretty sure he had it. Well, whatever, I wasn't really into them after all back then, I had originally come across this tape while looking for replacements for Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and Tiamat whom I considered to have wimped out, become all girly and/or sold out, to differing degrees. This must've been early '96 or so. I already knew several more or less exotic alternatives such as Dissolving of Prodigy, Silent Stream of Godless Elegy and Love History to mention a few Czech examples but sought more. For various reasons I didn't like this tape, possibly something as seemingly trivial as the odd song titles, can't be certain anymore. Now it doesn't sound bad at all, even the always difficult clean vocals work ok. The song Iridium is a bit annoying though. Too modern-metallish if you know what I mean. Might be about time I gave their albums a chance too. If you enjoy the bands mentioned so far you could do worse than giving this a listen. The rip was made from a traded copy so imperfections are inevitable. Pretty good overall and it features tasteful, artistic nudity on the cover so obviously it has a redeeming quality even if gothic doom isn't your bag.

Blackthorn - Ancient demo '94

Blackthorn - Ancient rehearsal demo II 1994
1) Ponad krainą cieni
2) Rogaty wojownik
3) Gniew
4) Ponad krainą cieni (rehearsal)
5) Rogaty wojownik (rehearsal)
6) Gniew (rehearsal)

Mega / Rusfolder

Black metal from Poland once again and here we continue, with the assistance of comrade LKS who provided the rip, from where we left off in May. This is Blackthorn's second tape and it is a rehearsal demo also dating to 1994. Interestingly, this version features the same tracks as, uh, rehearsal versions. On a rehearsal demo. Yo dawg... no, not going there. No cover scans so as usual an image from the Metal Archives was used. See the entry for the first demo for more background on Blackthorn. Or the Chors post.

Three songs, with titles and lyrics this time in their native tongue, offered and they're all quite long (over 5½ minutes) while the first demo had both various short numbers and a longer black metal song. The alternative rehearsal takes that follow are all much longer still. Sound is kind of thin and sharp, with no discernible bass and distant, faraway percussion. No synths either. Bloodfreezing shrieks add to the cold atmosphere, tempo varies from frantic pace to slow and contemplative within each song. It's essentially a very simple and tried formula but nevertheless enjoyable and I like this sort of "poor" sound personally. I'm not saying this would sound like Burzum but... I guess I already kind of did by dropping the name, didn't I? Not to mention the write-up to the first demo. The third song Gniew has a shift in sound, to kind of worse as it heavily shifts to favour one side, as well as in vocals which are dominated by even sharper, hysterical screams. It also has a riff in the beginning that sounds extremely familiar. Translating the song titles we see the topics would seem to fit the TTF formula well  ("Above the Land of Shadows", "Horned Warrior" and "Anger" if you've not heard of Google translator) and continue from the first demo.

The alternative rehearsal takes actually have a slightly fuller and more balanced sound, with more audible drumming. They also feature false starts and all sorts of unedited glorious mishaps. Hard to say which I prefer more, the desolate chill of the "demo" tracks has its own charm for sure, but why choose when we have both? Recommended for those who enjoyed the first demo, Chors and old Polish black metal in general.

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.

Graveland - Carpathian Wolves Rehearsal '94

Graveland - Carpathian Wolves rehearsal 1994
1) Barbarism Returns
2) In the Northern Carpathians
3) Impaler of Wallachia
4) Witches Holocaust
5) At the Pagan Samhain
6) Unpunished Herd

Mega / RGhost

Without further ado, here's more Graveland rehearsal material courtesy of Baldemar, thanks for the rips! This is the '1' in the 1½ posts promised, a 1994 rehearsal for the "Carpathian Wolves" album, with all the metal tracks in instrumental versions. Convenient for your karaoke evenings. Had no cover either so I made another placeholder while I was at it. Regrettably, I had to use the logo on the album cover for it. The previous one is just better but we must strive for accuracy.

Enough about that, to the music. This is essentially a condensed version of the album, ideal if you dislike things like vocals, keyboards and intros. Which seems quite silly to me but to each their own. Condensed actually isn't correct as the songs run their full durations (and over), let's just stick to instrumental. Very good, thick and powerful sound. Makes me think this is probably recorded in the studio. Dub quality is excellent as well so there is nothing to complain about. Recommended to all Graveland enthusiasts, old Polish black metal nuts, people who collect instrumental versions of recordings and karaoke hosts.

Graveland - Celtic Winter Rehearsal '93

Graveland - Celtic Winter rehearsal 1993
1) In the Glare of Burning Churches
2) Through the Occult Veil
3) For Pagan and Heretic Blood
4) Instrumental

Sendspace / Yandex

Poland won the poll, with a reasonable margin of 1½ votes which accounts for 1½ posts so here we have a sending by brother Baldemar, a rehearsal tape from the one and only Graveland dating to 1993 and titled for some reason "Celtic Winter rehearsal" even though the tracks are from the "In the Glare..." demo?! Well, I decided to roll with it whatever the case plus it made it easy for me to whip up a mock cover and a good excuse to include my absolutely favourite version of the logo as seen above. I've always liked that one best, a pity they(/he) didn't use it more. This counts as a ½ post as there's been a low bitrate rip circling around of the same recording.

First three songs are all very short, less than three minutes and last one, title of which being quite ironic as this is an instrumental rehearsal, runs for almost six minutes. Obviously these are stripped down rehearsal versions, devoid of keyboards, effects and other extras as well as vocals. Very good rehearsal sound, rough but clear and generally strong. Performance is guaranteed full-band Graveland material. Actually this is relevant to present times as master Darken has gathered a band to perform live for the first time at Hot Shower 5 in Italy, 2nd April which is very soon actually.

Chors - Słowiańska chwała demo 1995

Chors - Słowiańska chwała demo 1995
1) Tam, gdzie cień mrokiem zachodzi, gdzie płoną wrota niebios
2) Ogień pogańskiej wiary
3) Lasy Rastemburg
4) Władca piorunów
5) Chors
6) Zapomniane imperium

Yandex / Zippyshare

It's a new year or has been for several days already as I'm a bit behind my self-made schedule. Without further ado, here's the first entry for this year and it's Polish black metal contributed at my request by comrade LKS last year, thanks for finally letting me hear a complete version of this! You see I've had a slightly incomplete (read: half of it, first three tracks I think) version of the only demo released by Kętrzyn's Chors since '96 or so and only a few years ago noticed the fact when I was about to rip it. Tape trading issues. Anyways, this was a one-shot by Pagan Temple / Blackthorn members teaming up with a fellow called Natang. Speaking of Pagan Temple I was pretty sure I had the '95 demo "Fullmoon" but can't seem to locate it. Might've been lost with the HD a few years past. I could use a rip of that one. No proper cover scan, used Metal Archives pic.

Musically this is labeled at the Archive as pagan black metal and I suppose it's close enough, especially since the subject matter would seem to be Slavonic paganism. Musically I'd say this is closer to Blackthorn than Pagan Temple (though I can't compare to "Fullmoon" demo) and sounds slightly better than either, simply by adding a third musician the sound is much "fuller" though stays in the cutting, thin rehearsal region. Vocals are the near-hysterical Burzum-school shrieks and screams familiar from their other bands. Tracks 3 and 5 are instrumental, the later being a synth piece and what else to say... well, I like this. Don't remember if this and related bands made into the TTOF-banlists or not but if you enjoy old and raw, Polish black metal you'll want to check this out.

Jarowit - Za dawne dni demo 1996

Jarowit - Za dawne dni demo 1996
1) Zew umarłych legend
2) Płomień
3) Za krew naszych przodków
4) Wicher

4shared / Yandex

Let's do some non-metal material again, this is a contribution, from the same source as the Brunei stuff posted earlier - thanks you know who you are - and a rather obscure project from Poland called Jarowit with a four song demo released in 1996. As far as we know, that is. Seems legit, considering that quite a few similar projects appeared around that time in Poland. Most likely inspired by Perunwit who were among the first to pioneer a sort of mix between (neo-)folk, ambient and some metal elements with a pagan and often nationalistic ideology. Well yeah Lord Wind obviously did something similar too but I feel it's a bit different from what most of these sort of projects put out. Sadly no covers nor is there anything online that my extremely lazy and half-hearted search would've discovered.

You might've noticed I approached describing the music herein somewhat cautiously but I suppose best short description might be low-fi pagan folk/ambient. This is a pretty long demo, that is it feels kinda long running 23+ minutes spread over the four parts here. First song consists of quite monotonous and slightly erratic guitar strumming and tape hiss for almost five minutes. Second one features more guitar, slightly muted clean-ish singing, some sort of percussion (he might be drumming on his guitar case with his hands for all I know) so there's more going on there. It's still kind of sparse and most likely performed "live" or "rehearsal" so to say, whatever he (they? but it's probably, almost certainly, one guy) used to record this just set up running and capturing the result on tape. Third track seems to follow in same vein but has variation by adding what I guess is supposed to be a wolf howling (I'm almost certain it's the artist himself) as well as harsh black metal rasps for more aggressive parts. Those moments make me imagine this as some sort of extremely stripped down pagan metal solo performance in street corner or small square in less-than-presentable part of town. If this was properly recorded in a studio it would have none of the oddly compelling charm present in this forme, though it's a very trying listen, mostly overstaying its welcome and demanding a certain amount of patience from the listener. I'm not really sure whether to recommend this or not as my own reactions seem to vary from one listen to another. I suppose if you're into old Perunwit, Svantevith, Nirnaeth, or other of the several similar projects I can't seem to recall now when I'd need to you'll want to check this one out too. Though those are really not very good name drops as they're so much more, um, refined? This is closer to Messier than December's Fire, to offer some perspective.

Capri Sancti - The Witches' Sabbath Land demo 1995

Capri Sancti - The Witches' Sabbath Land demo rehearsal IV 1995
1) Welcome to My World
2) Forgotten Song to the Fullmoon
3) Dociledo Vampire
4) Aiwlys Chim (In the Name of Witch)
5) The Black Barrel Organ
6) In the Sign of the Funeral Flower
7) Diabolic Moonlight
8) Call from the Bare Mountain

Mediafire / 4shared

It has been a while but again the signs are favourable for the Coven's return. Without further ado we start with a contribution sent by comrade LKS and while both Capri Sancti (later Vim Patior) and this demo "The Witches' Sabbath Land" might be familiar names to the people interested in Polish scene I decided to seize the opportunity to get a better, full rip of this demo as the ones I've encountered so far have been lacking in various equally dissappointing ways. Including the old dub I had which apparently was missing no less than two of the admittedly short songs at the end. LKS included a very decent cover scan too which was especially welcome. Not perfect but few things are, thank you again for your offering!

I had actually all but forgotten about Capri Sancti but they popped up in a discourse I had with sister Borderline some many months ago and I resolved to gather as much of their more obscure old recordings as possible, while also getting proper versions of the better known demos (this and "Under a Dying Sun..."). So far this project has had very little success but perhaps the old tapes will eventually be excavated from one tomb or another.

That's all very fascinating but what is this like? Well, dark ambient dungeon synth parts mix merrily with raw and crispy lofi melodic black metal served with noteworthy amounts of cheese and really generous helpings of keyboards. I'd say roughly 1/4 metal and 3/4 synths. So if you're not a fan of cheap 90's keysounds you might prefer to avoid this and pick up instead... Hödur maybe? Then again if you're at all into this sort of stuff you'll probably love this. I find it absolutely delightful though some parts overstay their welcome a bit and eventually some of the initial charm wears off or it might be just me today. Anyways, recommended to certain scholars among the flock and I'd really like the three tapes recorded prior to this!

Cultes Des Ghoules - Treading the Darker Paths demo 2007

Cultes Des Ghoules - Treading the Darker Paths demo spring 2007
1) Treading the Darker Paths
2) Supreme Black Illumination
3) Outro

Mega / Yandex

Today I'm posting black metal again, no news there, but deviating from the usual line of the Coven with a relatively "modern" post, this is the second demo by the Polish Cultes Des Ghoules from 2007. I've been a fanboy ever since stumbing into their debut album "Häxan" in 2009, the vile atmosphere and sound of that album reeked of necromancy, medieval devil-worship and old school black metal feeling. Some have complained about the sound and the long songs but for me the murky, bass-heavy sound was a definite charm point, bringing associations to things like Necromantia and old Barathrum to mind and I've always liked lenghty tracks so can't fathom what the problem could be. But enough about that album and back to this demo. I've understood the line-up changed pretty much completely between the debut "Angel of Poison and Death" and this demo, the former personnel concentrating on their original band Bestial Raids. I got a dub of the demo, as well as copies of the covers, from a trader and ripped it a little while ago, the result turned out decent enough.

There are two proper tracks here as well as a quite long outro (3½ minutes) which is unlisted on the cover and was taken from the soundtrack to "The Ninth Gate" so it's by another Pole, the late Wojciech Kilar, known probably best for the Dracula ('92) soundtrack, also widely used for intros and outros. Both original tracks are long, 7+ minutes and the title track is exlusive to this release while "Supreme Black Illumination" re-appeared, re-recorded, on the '07 EP "Odd Spirituality". The sound is a little muffled and the strings somewhat more subdued than on the EP for example but everything is still reasonably audible and Mark of the Devil's vocals are as recognizable and demented as ever. Enjoyable demo if you're into unhealthy, tomb-robbing, infant-sacrificing, devil-invoking black metal. Wojciech Kilar's soundtrack is also recommended, by the way.

Northland - Śmierć to nienawiść demo 1995

Northland - Śmierć to nienawiść demo 1995
1) Światowit
2) Stormwind
3) Mokradła Swarożyca
4) Złoty koń Czernoboha

RGhost / Yandex

The Coven's Baltic Sea tour moves further south and a bit west too as today is Poland's turn. Well, actually there would be that bit of Russia with Kaliningrad but since we already did Russia it's fair to skip ahead a bit. Here is another contribution, a nameless benefactor sent me some items burned on a disc and this was among them, one of the three '95 demos of Northland. I think someone was looking for these the other year and one ("Nadchodzące zło") can already be found online so that leaves two missing, unless there are some unreleased/super-limited things out there. No cover, I used the rather charming image of Nahald found on Metal Archives. He probably enjoyed Salvatore's early books. Speaking of Metal Archives, the Northland entry claims the band changed to synth project later but this is already fully ambient material.

Pretty short demo as three of the four songs are in "intro-lengths" with durations ranging from 01:06 to 02:07. The first track has a rather neoclassical feel to it while second one sounds wonderfully casiolike and has that old game soundtrack/dungeon synth-vibe. Third one is middle ground for the first two, quite solemn though that feeling is a bit ruined by the background (I guess?) noise at 01:33 or so, sounds like a car alarm or really cheesy UFO sound effect kicking in. Fortunately it is fleeting and not very loud but still a little jarring. The last, longest song is another solemn piece, I think I hear some Burzum-influence there which is not a problem in the slightest. Enjoyable demo and I certainly want to hear at least the other non-metal demo. At least in small doses synth-Northland is vastly better than metal-Northland. Recommended, even if you hated "Czernoboh" (most reviewers did, back in the day).

Neohellist: True Black Metal Compilation (2000)

Various Artists - Neohellist: True Black Metal Compilation tape (2000)
1) Crusade - Camella's Glare Upon Candleflames
2) Impiety - Sodomythical Frostgoats
3) Santhet - The True Witcraft
4) Cryogenic - Fimbulwinter
5) Armageddon Holocaust - The Seven Churches of Apokalypse
6) Unseen Darkness - Glorifications on My Sign Existance
7) Autumn Verses - The October Land
8) Perish - Burning Soul With a Winter Shadow
9) Vaakevandring - Some Day
10) Borgomil - Inferno Resonance
11) Behemoth - Satan's Sword (I Have Become)
12) Neurotic of Gods - Terbuai Mimpi Di Laut Duka
13) Kekal - Embrace the Dead
14) Mortality - Abandonment Unto Our Lady the Infinite
15) Gorbalrog - Sternengriff
16) Mystical - Evil Spells
17) Moonsorrow - Luopion veri
18) Hellgods - Ahl Sohn Bar
19) Maelstrom - The Darkest Winter

Depositfiles / Mega

This is the last of the compilation tapes Henri Sorvali sent me amongst the legion of other rips, well that's not entirely accurate as he sent also two of the Beverina compilations (#2 and #3) which I'd already ripped and posted. I'll still need to compare the quality of our rips to see if I'll replace mine with his rips. But back to today's item, this is a "true black metal" compilation made by Extreme Souls Production from Indonesia. I find it hard to take them and their "true" and "pure" black metal seriously when they start their thanks list hailing "GOD" but perhaps I'm missing something here. Let's not tarry on the label's possible poser status, it should not affect the content of the compilation nor is it the bands' fault.

A good thing about this compilation is that it has a large selection of Indonesian bands which I'm not very well familiar with, making it more interesting than a standard selection of Nordic bands with a token local band tossed in seen too often. The first band Crusade starts with a rather COF-esque track of quasi-symphonic black metal which isn't terrible but not very interesting either. Fortunately the next two bands keep it more real and especially another local Santhet manages to sound quite raw. The compilation goes on alternating between differing takes on black(-ened) metal and manages to maintain a somewhat uniform sound volume- and qualitywise while having enough variation to not get too dull. No major lapses, except maybe Borgomil who sound like their track was recorded in a can, not that it would be an issue. The covers have some errors, Hellgods is spelled "Hell Gods" and Moonsorrow is listed with wrong track. Overall better than average compilation tape, unless you for some reason hate Indonesian bands, and recommendable.

'Til Your Ears Bleed: Vol III European Attack (2000)

Various Artists - 'Til Your Ears Bleed: Vol III European Attack compilation tape (2000)
1) Moonsorrow - Taistelu Pohjolasta
2) Hödur - Unpure Race
3) Tharapitha - Demon's Night
4) Alcoholic Smashing War - Hail to a Long Awaited Alcoholic Victory
5) Eviternity - Cant IV
6) Tangrycan - Immortalize Sacrament
7) Consecrated - The Charming Voice

Rusfolder / Mediafire

Today I've decided to post another compilation tape master Sorvali sent me. Thanks again for the rip and scans to Henri! This is a bit unusual one, though unfortunately does not include extra goodies like the previous one's newsletter. The very non-standard length (a bit less than 38 minutes) is the thing that really puzzles me. Just about every other compilation tape ("A History of Time to Come" would be the first exception that comes to mind) was practically as long as the tape the person used (so either 60 or 90 minutes usually) and seeing as this was divided pretty evenly to two sides makes me wonder if the guy had scored a load of 40 minute tapes somewhere?

Ok, to content. Another thing that I was perplexed by was the timeline presented by the tracks here, four of the seven date to 1997, Tangrycan's track is from '96, Alcoholic Smashing War (jesus what a name!) dates to '98 and Moonsorrow is (again) featured with "Taistelu Pohjolasta" from the '99 demo. Did it really take so long to compile this? Or did he make three volumes and released them simultaneously when finished? And why does he stubbornly misspell Hödur as "Höndur"??? So many questions, so few answers and nobody probably cares. Well, I do so if you have more information, please share. Sound levels here are even and things flow surprisingly well, bands present are interesting enough and almost all play some variation of black/pagan metal (even A.S.W. - to my surprise) with the notable exception of Consecrated's gothic doom. A pretty neat little compilation.

Hödur - The Majesty demo 1995

Hödur - The Majesty demo 1995
1) The Shadows
2) Master
3) Eternal Night
4) Wilczyca z SS

Yandex

I decided to do another repost and by now some of you are probably staring in disbelief: "He can't be posting that damn demo again?! For the third time?!?" Hell yes I am, and I even have no fear of death. Actually I have yet again an at least semi-decent reason to do this; I bought an original copy the other year and ripped and scanned it naturally promptly. This is after all one of my favourite demos. This version had a different cover than the one I was sent, I'm not sure which one is the earlier. For some reasons I'm inclined to think this might be.

Musically and soundwise there are some differences. Main one, again, being that these versions are longer which obviously means one of these tapes is not running or dubbed at correct speed and to be honest I'm not really 100% which one is correct! So, I guess it is prudent to keep this "slow" version and the old "fast" version both available until someone appears who can confirm the correct one. It might be me being so used to the old speed that this feels too slow. But feel free to check for yourselves and make up your own opinion, I'd be interested to read them too.