Indulgence (Nzl) - Enigmatic Thought

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

1. Question
2. Pleasure
3. Threnody

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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.

Sinistrous Diabolus - Promo 2008 (2008)

Genre: Doom/Death Metal
Country: New Zealand
Year: 2008

1. Hollow Eyed
2. Necromantic
3. The Essence of Divinity Given to Abstractions of the Human Mind

Download at Mediafire
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Last.fm

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Risen from the ashes, Sinistrous Diabolus are back at it again, an entire 15 years after their release of Opus One. This is merely a promo and the tracks are considered "rough recordings" by the band, so hopefully this means we'll see something even better in the future!

Even if these tracks aren't completely mastered, you can tell right off the bat that nothing's changed in their hiatus. The first half of the first song "Hollow Eyed" morbidly depicts this with slow, droning funeral doom metal, then slowly erupts into a slightly faster-paced display of atmospheric, spacey death. Not much for vocals in this first song; we mostly get squeals, growls, and heavy, labored breathing, meshed with creepy keyboard overtones toward the end. This is the groundwork for awesomeness.

"Necromantic" is quickly becoming one of my favorite tunes, mainly for the sad, sorrowful, yet somehow lighthearted main riff/guitar lead. We first hear it at about 1:35, and I was instantly hooked. My only knock is that the song isn't long enough! This is a beautiful instrumental...

The final song is a great summation of the two previous songs, somewhat melodic, but also plodding and miserable. Still not much in terms of vocals, but for now, it's nearly perfect without 'em. I'm just amazed at how well this promo was structured, and I'm even more shocked at the potential for the next release by these New Zealanders. Holy shit. Wow. Recommended.

Sinistrous Diabolus - Opus One (1993)

Genre: Old School Doom/Death Metal
Country: New Zealand
Year: 1993

1. Sleep of the Damned
2. Wipe Out Christianity
3. Aeon Ended

Download at Mediafire
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Last.fm

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Seriously tortured, twisted stuff, Sinistrous Diabolus comes from New Zealand... not much metal comes out of there, but from the little I've listened to, it's been mostly positive! This is certainly no exception. Very slow, miserable-sounding, and painful. This demo is like pulling teeth. Except that you're the dentist from that cheesy movie The Dentist. You're some sort of sadist, hell-bent on revenge via infliction of pain in the absolute worst way possible, maniacally tearing teeth from a young child's mouth, forcibly removing the tongue from your helpless wife, all the while drilling viciously into the jaws of hapless patients, watching them writhe and squirm in unbearable pain... okay, that's enough of that! Must-see movie, btw.

But yeah, the music. Awesome. Sometimes gracing into Funeral Doom territory, but also lively (relatively speaking) at other times. The vocals absolutely slay, are completely inaudible, and sounds straight-up disgusting. Repulsive, even! Monumentally tortured music, very dark and foreboding, sure to satiate the morbid cravings in all of us. GET IT NOW!