Apostate (Fin) - Flight Of The Halcyon (1999)

Genre: (Melodic) Death Metal
Country: Finland
Year: 1999

1. Bewitched by thy Flame
2. Hunger for Blood
3. Flight of the Halcyon
4. Pakkasukko

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Last.fm

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Here's another band I don't see much around the nets. Started off as Apostate and is now Godskill and still hasn't produced much in the past years, so who knows where this project is right now. So this is me keeping it alive!

As hinted in the genre descriptor, this one's got a melodic fringe to it. It's trying to be death metal, it really is, but what we're left with in the end is Death Metal Lite^TM. That's not to say it's bad, of course!

Not sure the best way to describe the vocals beyond that it sounds as if he's straining like he is going to blow a blood vessel or something. We've also got some mediocre clean vocals thrown in, but it's the guitar work that makes the demo.

"Hunger For Blood" has some incredible tremolo riffing throughout and for the most part, the riffs are pretty damn catchy. It's a shame they're set so far back in the mix, though.

Comment Captchas

Just a heads up, but it seems like the spammers have gotten out of control and are flooding my email with useless shit, so I'm enabling word verification on comments from here on out.

If that is still a problem, then I might restrict comments to only those with a Google account (which most of you should have).

Sorry for the inconvenience!

Indulgence (Nzl) - Enigmatic Thought

Genre: Doom/Death Metal
Country: New Zealand
Year: 1995

1. Question
2. Pleasure
3. Threnody

Download at Mediafire
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Last.fm

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I'm uploading this because it seems to be a bit of rarity, and with all the recent Mediafire takedowns across the internet, it can't hurt to have a few more links of obscure material out there.

The demo opens with a bit of a cheery flute intro, almost in a folk metal vein. Happy times to come, right? WRONG. Complete and utter doom and gloom follows. Hell, I'd go as far as to call this funeral doom metal. Very slow and deliberate, like trudging through impossibly dark caverns unknown. Hopeless grief and death surround you, but the music plods on.

The production is stiff and stuffy; quite fitting with this style of music, fortunately. A lone guitar lead drones on, accompanied by an eerie echo of a double bass. The cover art is that of Auguste Rodin's "The Thinker", and again, very fitting as this is the kind of music you sit still in a dark room and listen to as you ponder life's unknowns.

Infinifixion - Eternal Crucifixion (1996)

Genre: Death Metal
Country: USA
Year: 1996

1. Bound Up In Blasphemy
2. Beyond Blood
3. Phantom Of The Opera
4. Last Rites - Unholy Sacrament
5. Eternal Crucifixion

Download at Mediafire
Metal Archives
Last.fm

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I've had this on rotation quite a bit recently, so please allow me to share the wealth! It's always good to see old bands close to home-- I can almost reach out and touch these guys! Well, if my arms were 200 miles long, but hey, close enough.

The first song starts out with some tribal chanting/didgeridoo-sounding atmospherics (gee, never thought I'd be able to mention a didgeridoo in metal!) and slowly transitions into rhythmic pounding, keyboards, and finally guitars. But even then it's not done! Once that first riff shattered through at around 3 minutes, my jaw dropped at the raw emotion and melody on display. This is not your typical death metal.

The composition on this demo is great. Every instrument and vocal matches and complements each other, leading to a well thought-out structure that perfectly suits the music being played.

The demo centers around a rough-around-the-edges production with gritty harsh vocals keeping up with the harsh guitar tuning, and even the melodic solos retain that raspy sound. Keyboards add that melodic tinge that clashes in the best way possible with the scratchy sounds of the other instruments for a unique sound. Well done and recommended.

Plus a bonus Iron Maiden cover! New spin on "Phantom Of The Opera" that almost sounds like original material!

Funereum - Re-Velatio (1996)

Genre: Melodic Doom/Death Metal
Country: Italy
Year: 1996

1. Great Silver Eye
2. Re-Velatio
3. Moonless Night
4. Black Silence
5. Of an Endless Farewell
6. Time Will Cure Me
7. Dreaming of Eternal Sadness

Download at Mediafire
Metal Archives
Last.fm

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Italy seems to do that whole melody thing quite well and Funereum are no exception. Here we have a moody and darkly melodic piece of gloomy doom/death. The first song starts out with the rhythmic chime of a bell followed by spastic guitars exploding into melodic keyboards. Right off the bat you know you can expect something a bit different from the norm.

As melody ensues, female vocals burst through the foggy production complemented by violins and just when you though it couldn't get any more varied, the usual harsh male vocals change to clean! Not entirely sure what to make of these, but they're used sparingly.

All of that in the first song!

The rest of the demo follows suit, hinting at an urgent sense of impending doom. Ominous synths permeate the atmosphere as much as cheery keyboards add light to the darkness. And I haven't even touched upon the guitars! Quality riffs meld wonderfully with the other instruments showing just how beautiful something called death metal can be.

The back half of this demo emphasizes the doom n' gloom with some catchy rhythms and more female vocal showcasing. Hell, "Of An Endless Farewell" is 100% woman! Some truly unique metal and quite a refreshment from trudging through the veil of darkness surrounding traditional doom/death metal. Recommended.

Back... again.

I know I said the same thing last year, but cut me some slack, Mediafire ruined all that within a month.

Call it a new year's resolution (really I just have a few weeks off), but I've gotten off my ass and finally gotten around to re-uploading every last dead link.

I suppose I can blame all of you for drawing Mediafire's attention to my account, but really, that's exactly what I want. I was surprised to find relatively consistent visitor statistics even with all this inactivity. So thank you all!

The overarching goal here is to keep this shit alive and I will continue posting and diligently re-uploading broken links to ensure that. If something is amiss, please shoot me an email!

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Not much has changed.

I've added the band's country directly to the post in an effort to make each entry more of a resource of sorts and all links have been re-uploaded to Mediafire, since despite the shit they've put me through, they're still by and far the best provider.

Mediafire is kind enough to notify me of a copyrighted file before sacking my entire account, so I've gone through and rooted out all the links that have slipped through the cracks and uploaded them to 4shared. There aren't many, but I expect the list to grow almost randomly. I mean come on, Beyond Dawn is copyrighted material? Are you kidding me?

So please, give me a heads up if a link is acting funny so I can delete it and draw as little unwanted attention as possible.

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Happy Holidays!