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Sunday, October 24, 2010

Lamentations - Promo 1993 (1993)



Genre: Death Metal
Country: France
Year: 1993

1. Forbidden Unacceptable Suicide
2. Lamentations
3. Reborn for Dying
4. Infamous Death

Download at Mediafire
Metal Archives
Last.fm

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This time from France, let's focus on something that hasn't seen the light of day for many years. Not much is known of this band, and everything I know comes from the inlay... I'm sure they've released more; I mean, how could they not have, considering the quality of this promo!

The first thing I noticed about this demo was the production. It's not as clear and crisp as most stuff out there, but rather subdued and "soft". Obviously, this is a huge contradiction, considering it's full-on Death Metal, but I feel that it's a little smoother, which is great!

Again with the atmospheric tinges, these guys know how to build up a song, constructing it the way songs are meant to be constructed (see: "Reborn for Dying"). I always love it when Death Metal bands extend their songs over the average 3-4 minute mark, because, more often than not, we're left with experimentation, and opportunities to slow down the fury and create a better song. The first song here is your standard Death Metal, but then the band progresses with some dynamite riffing and song structure. This is some involving and complex stuff, so don't miss out!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Dismaed - Messages From The Place of The Dead (1995)



Genre: Death Metal
Country: Greece
Year: 1995

1. Bleeding
2. Erebus
3. Aeternus Dark
4. Escaping Soul

Download at Mediafire
Metal Archives
Last.fm

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Another forgotten Hellenic band from the bowels of Greece, we have Dismaed. Some very atmospheric stuff is present here, sometimes melodic, sometimes straight-forward Death Metal with a punch. I'm sure most of you can recognize that classic Hellenic riffing style, heavy tremolo picking with higher pitched riffs that seem to be never-ending, saturating each song. In addition, there are spouts of synthesized melody to create eerie overtones in between vocal parts. This is used to great effectiveness in giving the atmosphere on Messages From The Place of The Dead a creepy feel akin to a place where you would find dead people! Ohoho! It sounds very spiritual and fits the imagery of the dead appearing before the living.

The pacing on this demo is particularly interesting, varying from slow, breakdown styled, deliberate riffing, to full-fledged, fast paced chaos, drums pounding away, the vocalist going crazy, and quick riffs galore. A very solid release and pretty damn rare, to boot!

Gotta give this one my seal of approval. "Aeternus Dark" is a fabulous song.