ABSTRACT is a melodic instrumental band from Slovakia. What we have here is their new demo in CD format. Seven tracks in 24 minutes with good quality, sadness and melancholy. This five-men band give us a great insight to the mix of Metal and classical music. I like their demo so much 'cause sometimes it gives me the right mood to relax a bit. Here and there the demo presented with some keyboard effects too. Both, the acoustic and distorted guitars performed quite well. The bassist plays artful themes. And for all this you can imagine a soft sound of drums. I've forgot to mention the solos which constitute the basis of their pure instrumental art.

The roots of ALL DIES were founded in the year of 1994. In the same year was released a debut demo called "Human Sacrifice" and two years later the second demo "All Dies…But Something Remains". The group consists of seven members: Alexey (vocals), Igor (guitar), Pavel (guitar), Misha (bass), Gena (drums), Natasha (vocals/fiddle) and Alyona (keyboards). This demo contains 6 well-structured songs of sorrowful Doom Metal in a quite harmonic interpretation. The guitar riffs are not so complex, though for such slow music it's important to use simple and memorable riffs as they've done there entirely. Keyboards are mostly tuned in to organ making their stuff more sad and dark at once. Fiddle parts and beautiful female vocals lend some plus to these doomy compositions till the deep growls brings more death to the stuff. The demo has a tolerable sound and come with a plain-xeroxed cover.

The third demo of ALL DIES has a bit slower orientation as on the demo'96 was. Moreover, their line-up is shriveled to the following persons: Alexey (vocals), Igor (guitar), Pavel (guitar), Misha (bass) and Alyona (keyboards). The basic line of ALL DIES still remained, though this time the atmospheric tunes got a leading role in their repertory as well as the enchanting female vocals and deep growls. There are a few weird harmonies and special effects in the 7 songs of "Slave Of Soulitude", especially I like them in the intro and outro themes. I would definitely call their music as Atmospheric Doom Metal even I found there a couple of Heavy, Thrash and Death Metal elements as well.

The first release of ANGEL'S DECAY defines brutal and antichristian Death Metal in 6 tracks. Take it seriously, because these five guys - Terno (guitar), Cimbo (guitar), Pedo (bass), Depress (drums) and Amor (voclas) - have created a very strong material with good quality sound and rather interesting description of what brutal Death Metal is all about. These songs are great enough to satisfy not only the skilled level of musicians but every inch of the entire stuff. The only minus of ANGEL'S DECAY is in the riffing of guitarists, 'coz they seems to me very like to use the well-proved DEICIDE-formula for riffing. But, on the other hand, we have an interesting mix of deep ultra-brutal growls and high-pitched screams which adds some plus, of course. Should I mention we have arrived to balance. No, but let me finish this sentence with mentioning the price for "Victims Of Belief". So, here we go: 8DM (Germany) / $4 (Europe) / $5 (World).

This promo tape contains two tracks of atmospheric Death/Doom Metal. The first track "The Ar-ma-ged'don Day" begins with a nice keyboard intro and soon after turns into a bewitching and melodic Death Metal tune. The second one "Sentenced To Everlasting Hembleness" is a bit slower track but with more double-bass parts and some clear female voices. The male vocals has a quite original raw sound which sometimes reminds me to the noise of a grinding wheel. It's a complex, atmospheric and interesting stuff with a good use of keyboards.

APOTHEOSIS is a Death Metal formation from New York, which stands for pure brutality in this 3-song demo. The line-up of the band is: Ozzy Maldonado (vocalist) formally of DETHRONED, Anthony Prieto (guitarist) formally of ABYSMAL MALEVOLENCE and currently session guitarist for MORTICIAN, Cecile Hansen (bassist) and Kyle (drums). Their music mixes raging, incredibly fast Death Metal with non-stop brutality. The first track "Innocence's Lost" comes like a hurricane over me and left only a few reminiscences in my mind. Shortly after follows it "The Quest" in the same brain-crushing vein but with more variety in its song-structure. This song has lots of rhythm changes, cool distorted bass tunes, hyper fast grinding beats as well as quite deep-growling vocals. The last track "Deceiver" is a more lengthy piece which combines of rather thoughful guitar riffs, some slow parts and a big dose of fast drumming, while the vocals alternates in two ways, deep growls twisted by crazy black-type screeches. If you like aggression and brutality, that's it!

Well, this demo is a fantastic piece of art even if the band called its style as Archaic/Black Metal. But who cares what's the label if the music good and interesting. These Maltese guys - Darkmortem (vocals/keyboards), Lord Trebor (guitars/piano), Adrameleck (guitars), J.P.S. (drum programming) and Eblis (session bassist) - had created an unbelievably well-structured 3-track demo. Their music mostly deal with dark, eastern-based melodies but do not think there's no aggression and brutality in these tracks. On the contrary, they mixed it all together and developed their music to originality. Well, let's see all the tracks in details. The first song "Beneath The Seas Of Absu" come with lots of guitar harmonies of the so-called East, majestic keyboard parts, complex drumming and of course with high-pitched rasping vocals. It presents also some killer solos and grinding beats as well as some relaxing acoustic inclusions which makes the song more masterful. The next track "Cataclasmic Incantations" has more atmospheric touch of keyboards but shows the same technical riffing of guitarists and infernal vocals of Darkmortem. Then follows the last track "Acatalepsy (Part I)" which is actually an instrumental piece, based totally on acoustic guitars and some special effects. Finally, I would like to mention the outstanding work of guitarists which is more than great. By the way, after the release of this demo J.P.S. and Eblis left the band. And now the band work as a trio: Darkmortem (vocals & synths), Lord Trebor (guitars, bass, drums & keyboards) and Adrameleck (guitars & drums). Everyone who have interest in getting of this masterpiece should send $6 (Europe) / $7 (USA) to ARCHAEAN HARMONY.

Starting up with the first demo tape "Blasphomet Sin Abset" in 1997 (it was reviewed in the 1st issue), AVERSE SEFIRA unleash again with a brand new release, which is a promo tape actually. This tape features two tracks, quite long ones of rather ass-kicking Black Metal. Unfortunately, the guys (Wrath Sathariel Diabolus - bass/vocals and Sanguine Asmodel Nocturne - guitars/vocals) left those Death Metal influences they had on their first demo and therefore their style changed a bit to a more aggressive and grinding Black Metal. Nevertheless, it isn't bad at all. So, the opener "For We Have Always Been" is a pretty fast grinding track which blasts well with its unstopable drumming and awesome vocals. This time the vocals are higher than ever while sounding very IMMORTAL-ish. The second one, namely "Ad Infinitum", includes more mid-tempo oriented parts and for this reason it's much varied song. I like this tune more, mainly because of its complex structure and cool guitar riffs. The sound is pretty O.K. though there was no drummer on this recording again. However the drum-machine doesn't sound bad at all. It's a raging, I would say brutal Black Metal material which is pretty worth of your attention.

BESTIAL MOCKERY is a formation of four fraternized demons: Carl Warslaughter (drums), Master Motorsåg (vocals), Micke Doomanfanger (guitar) and Sir Torment (bass). The demo begins with infernal screams of someone who was ripped off by chainsaw later on. So, after this brilliant intro you can find there six songs in the most hateful and chainsaw-filled old-school Black/Thrash Metal ever. Motorsåg's screams are kind of awesome and brutal ones, for example in songs like "Path of Death" and "Shrapnel Fire" you can hear some really weird and inhuman vocals, it's for sure. The riffs of Micke and Sir Torment have been structured incredibly good, though I've find some SODOM and IMPALED NAZARENE influences there. Concerning Carl's drumming, it varies a lot. He plays mainly crushing mid-paced parts, but there are a few blasting grind beats as well. The demo ends with a nice outro again.

The debut demo of BLEEDING contains 4 tracks of Death Metal madness. Featuring Pavlovsky Eugeny on vocals, Trembatch Dmitry & Lazovsky Oleg on guitars, Volkov Vitaly on drums and Dvoretsky Alex on bass, they composed a rather brutal stuff overloaded by piles of massive riffs, intense drumming and ultra deep growls. Tracks such as "Buried In Fog", "Chopped Up To Bits" and "Deep Inside Guts" were strongly influenced by CANNIBAL CORPSE's "The Bleeding" album, while the last track "Headhanter" shows something special and characteristic only for BLEEDING. The sound is O.K. and the tape comes with pro-printed b/w cover.

Well, BLEEDING's new stuff surprised me a lot! From the previous line-up remained only Pavlovsky Eugeny (bass/vocals), Trembatch Dmitry (guitars) and Volkov Vitaly (drums). They improved their music in all parameters. Technically and sound-wise it's more professional and blow their debut material away. There are 5 compositions written in a quite fast and complex way. I would say the progression is more than audible. They've done a big step ahead. Songs like "Masses Of Lies", "Enjoyment To Behead" and "Pray To Cunt" can smash your head with the intensity coming from there. They also used an interesting effect to connect their songs into one another, that makes a special atmosphere between them. However, in songs like "The Web" and "Carnal Altars" the influence of CANNIBAL CORPSE still dominates. To cut it short, "Carnal Altars" is a worth material, which comes with pro-printed colour cover, photo, etc.

Michael, the guitarist of BRODEQUIN, was great and sent me this killer stuff. The basic line of their music has the well-known formula of American Brutal Death Metal bands, which peculiar to INTERNAL BLEEDING and PYREXIA for example. BRODEQUIN combines ultra fast grinding beats, dynamic yet awesome guitar riffs along with the deepest growls I ever heard. In short, this demo has the essence of massive brutal Death/Grind assault injected in four intense tracks. The first piece "Spinning In Agony" I warmly recommend for the bulldozer drivers 'coz of its non-stop grinding devastation. The second piece called "Ambrosia". It kills very well, having the same brutality and a bunch of great complex guitar riffs. Oh, "Infested With Worms" will be another nightmare for the neighbours, it's for sure. And the demo ends with "Hollow". A fantastic piece again with crushing mid-paced riffing and quite crazy drumming. I fond of this tune a lot. Check it before you die!!!

BRUTAL MASTURBATION consists of Péter Jakab (vocals), László Spirk (guitar), Zsolt Menyhárt (bass) and two members of ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST, namely Valentin Noszov (guitar) and Hubert Sági (drums). Seven tracks of brutal Death/Grind with lyrics in Hungarian language are waiting for you on this demo. Their music mainly deal with screwed guitar riffs and fast yet sometimes chaotic beats of drums. To define what exactly they play I should cross the materials of CANNIBAL CORPSE with BRUTAL TRUTH's stuff and add some thrashy parts to the result, though it's only my point of view. The most interesting aspects of the band are in the perplexed growling and screaming of Péter plus in the perverse lyrics.

Wow, this Brazilian Death Metal quartet surprised me a lot with their first 4-track demo. The music they play combines melodies, emotions, brutality with thoughtful lyrics on apocalyptic, surrealistic, futuristic, etc. themes. Their songs are full on energetic riffings and quite interesting song-structures, which sometimes reminded me KATAKLYSM's "Sorcery" era. As for the sound, it's great, even if I found the bass guitar a bit loud, till the drums a bit confused here and there. Songs like "Impregnated Reality of Loathing" and "Insurrection" are from the sort of brutal pieces spiced with deep yet screamy vocals and grinding drum parts, while the song "Hyperdimension" shows a totally unique interpretation of Death Metal by CARCINOSI. No doubt, it's their best song! If you like varied Death Metal, that's it! It comes with excellent colour cover, photos, lyrics and costs you only $4. Finally, let me name you the bandmembers. Here they come: Tiago Vargas (vocals/bass), Rafael Bruno (guitar), Maurício Zettler (guitar) and André Martins (drums).

CRANIAL TORMENT's third demo contains 4 tracks in the vein of American Death Metal bands such as OBITUARY and SUFFOCATION for example. These are not too complex tracks having 8-9 riffs per song, but as a whole they sound pretty O.K. Most of all, I liked their "Putrid Mass Mutilation" song, because of the great combination of old-school thrash riffs and interesting drumming there. The growls are deep all the way and production-wise "Death Is Rising" has a quality sound. Songs like "Bodybug Lust" and "Thoughts Of A Graverobber" are based on slow mid-paced riffs, while "Amputation Of Vital Organs" mixes some fast yet grinding parts as well.

This is the third demo of this quite unique swedish Doom/Thrash Metal band. Its line-up consists of Ola Lithman (lead & rhythm guitar), Paul Boman (drums & percussion) and Anders Gustafson (voclas & bass). So what we have here is their 8-track demo, from which 5 are new songs and the rest are the old ones taken from their previous demos. In general they mix the thrashy riffing of guitars with clear-sung vocals plus here and there combines it with slow doomy parts. Songs like "Carry Your Cross" and "Downfall" amazed me much with its powerful guitar parts and precise rhythm-section. To tell you the truth it is the first Doom/Thrash band I've ever heard and I would say it's an incredibly well-structured stuff which I warmly recommend for every die-hard thrash fans worldwide. It costs you 30 Kr (Sweden) and $4 rest of the world (p&p included). Order this great demo, which comes with lyrics and other additional info.

This promo is from the sort of very strange releases. Why? First of all, CRYPTHOWL features only one person, namely Oupire who handled all the instruments and wrote the lyrics to this stuff. The second point is that there are no distorted guitars on it. And this fact makes hard to categorize the style of CRYPTHOWL. Fortunately, Oupire did it and call his music as Atmospheric Horror Metal. He does something really original in these two tracks, though their keyboard filled music sometimes reminds me to CRADLE OF FILTH's materials as the lyrics-wise too. The first track "A Dismal Nocturne (Haunting The Family Vault)" is a beautiful intro which is full of majestic keyboard effects and give a calm before the storm mood to listener's mind. After this short piece comes a fast, brutal and at the same time quite melodic tune, namely "Of Seductress In Obsequal Attire", which contains everything from grinding drum parts, growling, screaming and clear vocals, galloping bass lines through seductive female vocals of Irena. I've never heard something like that before, that's why I'm restful to say you that Oupire built his own style which can be described only by atmospheric and horror things. However with the add of distorted guitars it could be many times better, but then it will be just another copy of CRADLE OF FILTH. In general, CRYPTHOWL's promo is worth of interest and warmly recommended for the fans of keyboardish stuff.

"Simply Nothing" is the very first demo of this Italian Death Metal quintet. The quality is amazing and to tell you the truth for me it's much more as a demo tape. The four song tape ("Inside...", "Simply Nothing", "Last Breath" and "Why?") includes all the greatest motives of Death Metal style. Three of it are studio tracks and the last one namely "Why?" is recorded live in Summer of 1997. Due to the high abilities and skills of musicians the quality of the demo is above the average materials. It can be characterized by its powerful guitar rhythms, melodious guitar solos, pulsating bass and quite unique variations of drums at the double bass parts. Vocals are mostly in the typical growling style but there is a bit of thrashy influence in the music and vocals as well. The main goal of DEVASTATION INSIDE is in their complexity. They show us a good combination of dynamic and technical Death Metal. It is the way how the real Death Metal nowadays should be. No doubt, they are able to create their own original way of playing Death Metal and being one of the winners who survive in time. For all the lovers of complex Death/Thrash Metal the chance is yours to get this demo now for only $5 (world) with pro-printed b/w cover, lyrics, photo and additional infos.

Let's see what we have here. The booklet says their music guarantee the extreme gore grind brutality... And really, this material can be described only by these terms. The demo includes six themes of horror-film-influenced grind assault performed by five serial killers: Hugo - neoplasmatic strings & high-throat vomits, P.N. - uncontrollable & putrescent beat, Kurika - sub-throat regurgitation, Ricardo - four strings' brutalization and Mosh - spill decomposed strings. Some of the songs has a nice intro from horror movies and other keyboard-based effects as well. The lyrics tells about little gore-terror-stories. So there's no pleasant experiences at all. The cover back up this fact very well. Songnames like "Insane Cannibal Desire" or "Ulceral Abdominal Decomposer" speak for itself. Concerning their sound I must add that I didn't expect such a quality sound from a Gore/Grind band. They've a big dose of originality in their compositions, though sometimes I've noticed the strong influence of early CARCASS and KATAKLYSM stuff in it. The power is there and the gore is here, ha-ha... Dynamic and pulverizing Gore/Grind. I guess that now you know what to expect from the Portoguese DOWNTHROAT. This stuff recommended for all the gore maniacs and grind freaks worldwide but I'm sure the Death Metal fans should like this stuff too. The demo comes with a full-colour cover, lyrics, photos and interesting infos about the bandmembers.

DUST was formed in 1996 by Wenngren (vocals, guitar and bass) and Jocke (drums, synth). And this demo they recorded during 1997 which contains 5 songs of pure swedish Black Metal in the traditional fast and piercing way. Buzz-saw guitars and crushing blast beats break into quite melodic grooves, while incredibly razor-sharp vocals assaults your ears. There are two amazingly well-composed instrumental pieces after the tracks "Tears Forever Laid To Rest" and "Through The Night" as well as four frosty storming ones from which I like mostly their "Red Sky" tune. This demo ain't full of originality, but as a whole it has some unusual and weird parts in its song-structures which surely kick some so-called "true" Black Metal bands' ass as well. The chance is yours to get this 14 minutes of dark wanderings with b/w cover for $2 Europe, $3 elsewhere (prices incl. postage).

This is a 6-track demo performed by six talentful musicians: Péter Árva - guitar, Sándor Papp - bass, Péter Schmidt - keyboards/vocals, György Monori - lead vocals, János Moldoványi - drums and Lajos Papp - lead guitar/vocals. To define the music they play, I can easily say it's Doom Metal in general mainly with clear vocals, a lot of melodies and very keyboard-filled atmosphere. On the other hand, their repertory was strongly influenced by the materials of IN FLAMES and SENTENCED as well. The keyboards got a more specific way here, but sometimes it is too loud and some guitar riffs are drowning in it. Nevertheless, songs like "Under The Dreams" and "Somewhere In The Deep" I found interesting, while "Faces Behind The Mirror" and "It Hurts Again" are quite soft and melodic pieces, which I can recommend only for girls, ha-ha. By the way, they still use deep growls and punishing drum-parts here and there. So, if you like Doom Metal overloaded with tons of Heavy Metal-ish riffs, then don't hesitate to order this 38 minutes long demo, which has a pro-printed coloured cover with lyrics, photo, etc.

Recently I got DYSANCHELY's newest stuff, a 5-song promo tape. One could say it's more melodic, emotional and aggressive compared to their "Tears" album. Indeed! They have progressed a lot, both musically and sound-wise. This stuff can be divided into two types of songs. The first type has the above mentioned aggression incarnated by swedish-type of riffing and blackish screams, e.g. "Song of Sorrow" and "Trembling". Till the second type contains more guitar-harmonies, pleasant female vocals and yet more doomy melodies in songs like "Extasy of Death" and "The Dark Lord". Overall, their style remained the same, that is Death/Black influenced Doom Metal, but they performed it in more professional way, though. Also, find enclosed there a cover of KISS' "God of Thunder". They play it quite well, especially I like the growling vocals and drumming there. So don't hesitate to order this great stuff, which will be released soon by the russian Oupiric Productions on MC.