Very strange. Nothing about the band name, song titles, or artwork suggests it, but this band plays raw black metal with a totally rugged sound that hints at a lot of classic influences of the genre, though there are also a good amount of melodic influences. For the most part the songs are moderately paced with some dissonant riffing and snarling vocal screams, but there are some singing vocals and melodic runs, as well as thrash riffs and such as well. Honestly it's far better than I had anticipated on a songwriting level. The recording needs a hell of a lot of work, but I can definitely appreciate the atmosphere of the songs. I actually really like their approach, because it's neither original nor completely stagnant. There's a lot of feeling to the delivery, and that's what this style is all about. With a more appropriate presentation or some sense of professionalism as far as how they convey themselves they could really be curious. "Broken Father" and "Corridors" are both rather lengthy attacks of vicious black metal, and then "Falling Away From Time" closes the demo with nothing but thick clean guitars and distant distorted textures ringing in the background. The recording? I mean, it sounds like a demo. The drums are distant, the guitars rugged, the bass throbs away in the middle, etc. It's listenable, but the drums are mixed unevenly and can be a bit disruptive. A slightly cleaner mix would make an enormous difference. But I like the ruggedness for the most part. As with many demos the packaging is a tad unprofessional. The CD-R has the band name and "promo" handwritten on the face and comes in a slim jewel case with a xeroxed insert whose master copy probably came from a home printer, as the imagery and text are somewhat pixilated. It looks like a weird close-up shot of an eye on the cover, but I can't tell. The back of the insert is nothing but plain white text over a black background, listing the lineup, song titles, etc. Nothing very exciting. I'd definitely like to see the lyrics to see if the content is as interesting as the music, though I sort of have my doubts based on the sub-par visual aesthetic. I don't know, though. I'd really like to hear more from this band... I'd give this a higher rating if the package didn't completely clash with the force of the music.
[self-released]
Running time - 12:09, Tracks: 3
[Notable tracks: all three are pretty good, actually]
Deviant - [email protected]
