Horrorment - Homemade Horror Promo

Every year, I get a free demo at Maryland Deathfest, that I find about as hard to put down as a cold bottle of my favorite beer. The first year I went I discovered the Bolt Thrower inspired machinations of the appropriately named Texas death metal fabrication known as War Master. Last year I'm pretty sure I came home with Nordor's His Ficticious Grandeur. I can't seem to remember where else I would have gotten it. And this year's demo of choice, plucked fresh from the steamy streets of Baltimore... Horrorment's Homemade Horror promo, appropriately dubbed "Dirty Rotten Old School Death Metal." I find it hard to turn away from such a proclamation, as meaningless, generic and vague as it may be.

So simply put, the CDr has two songs with all the instrumentation done by Daniel Karlsson and the hymns by Mike Chatman. Lead off track, Multiple Forms, starts out with a sinister brooding and doomy intro, slow but persevering, stomping it's way through the nether. It speeds up in feel after a few turns through the verse with some slight snare variation before once again slowing to a creepy metallic crawl. Haunting melodies of no particular sort meander across the landscape at times, and such leads begin the opening of second track "From Beneath," which shares the general format Horrorment have displayed in From Beneath's predecessor. On this demo, the atmosphere isn't ultimately too suffocating, letting subtly exist due to songwriting prowess and not by production faults. You know those albums which at first listen are full of tiny details that would almost be missed because of the production or mix, and thus are deemed subtle recordings... this isn't that.

Horrorment have something going on. I wish my copy had the awesome artwork on it but I'm just happy to be turned onto the band. I expect something awesome from them soon. The real tape release of this demo is available out there through Plague Tapes and contains and intro and outro as well. I've got no idea what they sound like but I sure hope that I get my tape copy soon. Look for an update to this review when I get the tape.