Godcrucifier - Jerusalem (1994)

Genre: Melodic Doom/Death Metal
Country: Italy
Year: 1994

1. In the Mist
2. Useless Tears
3. Genesis
4. Jerusalem

Download at Mediafire
Metal Archives
Last.fm

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Godcrucifier’s breakthrough release, Jerusalem! The perfect blend of doom, death, and sorrowful melody, all contained in a rough, scratchy atmosphere, ready to blow you away. The first band I thought of when listening to this was Cauteror, which probably doesn’t mean much to you all, since it’s about as obscure as this band. Oh well! Herein you’ll find alternating switches between rocking Doom/Death and bizarre, melodic interlude passages. On the first song “In the Mist” there is even some tape manipulation and it sounds as if the tape is rewinding; obviously included to help further the atmosphere and strangeness found within! Overall a great song, look out for parts like at 4:20, which just sound like the atmosphere itself is collapsing all over the place! Neat stuff, to say the least.

The rest of the demo follows suit, the two promo songs have been cleaned up and appear sharper here, with the riffs clearer and more hard-hitting. The vocal performance on all of these songs consists of a heavy male vocalist, growling menacingly in tune with the music—the kind of “creeping” vocals, where it sounds like the guy is gonna getcha! Also mixed in are some clean vocals, if not just serving the purpose to shake things up a bit.

“Jerusalem” is one hell of a track to finish it all off, and features one of the best introduction minutes I’ve ever heard in a song, slowing creeping into a withering whisper and infectious acoustic guitar..ing. The transition into the metal part of the song is seamless, and keeps the whispers, while layering the acoustic on top of the electric guitars. Really cool effect, and the subpar production actually helps with the throbbing, depressive doom of some of the main riffing parts. A liberating song, and you’ll sure as hell feel it when listening!

Overall a fantastic demo, and a great effort from these heathen bastards. It’s amazing how a band with such a blunt name can make such beautiful music. Recommended!