Where "Tongues Of Death," Imynvokad's debut demo could be akin to listening to a television evangelical preacher of the demonic persuasion, "Ad Ordines Descendens" is being in the chapel, staring into the gloomy eyes of the sinister priest no more than a foot in front of you as he condemns your souls to hell for eternity. I love everything about this slab of vinyl, Pale Horse Records' first go at a release on the medium, and it has been done with the same conviction as anything else PHR has put out. Imynvokad take to the wax really well, holding the 7" in my hand, especially with the excellent album art, evokes feelings of obtaining a hidden occult treasure, and with a doomier reworking of "By Blood Does The Beast Arise" as the B-side, I wouldn't be so keen to dismiss this release holding true mystical qualities.
grave. Imynvokad do this so well - tell a story with sound. Even though the lyrics to the two tracks are available - what beautiful lyrics they are - I find myself running lost through the atmosphere across the two tracks more often than not.
From the very bowels of depravity and filth comes Desolate One's second sacrifice to the ancient gods of Blasphemy, Sarcofago, and the other myriad South American black thrash legions. Where Desolate One's first demo fell short, Desecrate The Night pulls itself onwards and rapes the very soul of the night. One listen, and I've got tracks stuck in my teeth like plaque and clinging to my skin like leeches.
upfront but they are audible. Though Desolate One's first demo was cleaner and easier to digest, the emotion on Desecrate The Night is thick and steamy like a midnight orgy to the black demon gods.
Opening with feedback, wailing guitar grit and filth and one of the demo's best riffs, "Desecrate The Night" is a true bludgeoning. The vocals on the track are the best on the tape though never does vocalist Hideous Possessor falter in delivery. There are moments when he is difficult to hear but on this demo, everything is charmingly murky. Following is "Serpent's Blood" which contains another of my favorite riffs, a riff I call the zombie march. Its a slow, swinging undead-stomping-dance riff which should evoke memories of Messiah Marcolin in a forest leading a band of damned doomsters to who the hell knows where... whatever, you'll be swaying too.
So, in addition I have attached information from both demos. The first demo is actually side two of the tape so those who missed out on the first demo can still check it out on this tape. I would hurry though if ugly dirty black thrash tickles your sensitive side. Last I heard, the tapes were all close to gone. Salute to the awesome demo(n)-art which as been provided courtesy of Raquel Thulcandra.
01. Eyehategod - Take As Needed For Pain - Blank
Unlike a lot of black metal, particularly what passes as depressive black metal, I don't think I would be so fast to call this black metal. There are elements of black metal in the vocal delivery which doesn't appear until second track, "Don't Worry For Others," but the general style is ambient. The guitar is more of a synthy sounding affair on these tracks, especially opener "My Name Is Sad." Ideally, for my own purposes, I would label this as ambient though with a strong amount of black overtones. It would be appropriate to say that only "Don't Worry For Others" and "Illusion of Emerna" have vocals and drums at all.
may disagree with me, are a strong and befitting aspect to this release. Though the highlights are definitely the guitar tones and some of the sampling work used on the title track, his vocals are also enjoyable. Though slightly bassy for me, they compliment the smooth guitar tone by adding something rough and gritty. "Don't Worry For Others'" acoustic interlude is a smart addition, breaking up one and a half tracks of repetitive ambient. The break doesn't contrast at all melodically, but the change from the weird tone to something more normal is comforting momentarily. The peculiarly captivating and foamy guitars return shortly along with the helicopter convoy.
Chris Bombeke, Not Me, Tim Blackman, Bob Perna
Bob, Chris
Tim, Bunny Ears, Bob
are being portrays through this music? It is clear Omen are trying to create these feelings through their music with the use of a couple tracks of ambience, sounds of wind, storms, and explosions as well as the use of some chanted vocals on a few tracks. I don't get anything specific however from all this attempted atmosphere. The intro has a great production, with thick low tones and well balanced treble as well. This is great until the music kicks in. "Wrath of the Black Witchery's" production takes a nosedive with the guitars and bass and drums all sounding powerless compared to the introduction. The guitars are low in the mix, the bass mixed too loud and boomy (coming from a bassist, this is almost a ridiculous notion as I tend to love bass heavy albums - I'm looking at you Barbaros) and the drums have no real punch to them. Though the production on some of the tracks on Observance... do sound better, that immediate intensity that was envisioned by Omen has been lost. I can see what Omen were intending though: A strong quick transition in an appropriate, albeit cliché place, would make use of the introduction's building tension and draw the listener into Observance's demonic nightmare. Sadly, this is not the case here and the transition sounds dead and amateurish. "Wrath Of The Black Witchery," like most of the EP's material, is like being teased by a beautiful woman and then watching her leave the room, neglecting to release the handcuffs holding you to the bed-posts. This song misses the climax.
For me though, “Into Diabolical Ancientness” is the best song on Observance. It’s just well written. The song has interesting moments that flow into each other helped by an excellent vocal showing that provides intensity, momentum and atmosphere with clean vocals in the style of the Langsuyr cover. These half-wailed, half chanted vocals really add texture to Omen’s material when they include them. If these vocals were used at other points in the earlier songs, I would find the album more memorable, more varied and also less generic. The album could have taken a more dramatic turn and contain a heavier sense of vision. I think “Into Diabolical Ancientness” is a track that Omen should take into consideration when modeling future material. It epitomizes their style – subtle atmosphere, intense raw black metal riffs and simple construction. The albums finale cleans off whatever dirt may have been left, ending the album in a similar way as it started with sounds native to cave dwellers.
