MESSE NOIR
«Messe Noir»
demo
Ever wonder what happenned to that old brutal death metal sound from '92? Well, here it is! MESSE NOIR execute an intense opus of brutally blackened death metal, complete with a unique sound & pro packaging!  This band is the next VITAL REMAINS, without a doubt!  If you're into satanic death at its best then you must contact MESSE NOIR at: P.O. Box 4059 / Meriden, CT  06450 / USA
(Mark Riddick)

VARATHRON
"Sarmutius Pegorus"
Promo 1997
rating: 6 of 6
Kings will be kings... VARATHRON comes back with brand new promo tape, consisting of three tracks of supreme atmospheric black metal with majestic keyboards and aura, surrounding each tune... All of them ("The Grim Palace", "Spirit Of The Tomb" and "The Vision Of A Nameless Soul") have different mood and atmosphere, distinguishing from each other but still staying the part of one whole thing. VARATHRON improved their skills incredibly since "His Majesty..." CD, therefore music became much more interesting and impressive. So it seems that upcoming "The Lament Of Gods" MCD and "Crow's Reign" CD will be definitely worth bying! Excellent. (Herr Stalhammar)

INHUME
«Demo '96»
Demo
Of all the releases I heard this year, the demo from the Netherlands' INHUME probably made the greatest impact on me in '96.  Their grind onslaught mixed with death elements and maybe even a few thrash sprinklings is so insanely good that I can't believe everyone isn't talking about them.  It's not just the sheer power that's appealing, there's an underlying catchiness to it that really works for them.  Plus their duel vocal blitz is unrelenting in delivery.  Word is that Inhume are a side project, of which bands I don't know, but could they possibily be as good as this?  I just can't say enough good about this ten song tape.  Fuck off to any label that won't sign this maiming band! (Dallas Elmhurst)
Contact address: INHUME / Roel Sanders / Baand 40, 6086 CG Neer (Limb) / The Netherlands

GLOOMY GRIM
"Friendship Is Friendship, War Is War"
demo 1997
rating: 6 of 6
Vanguard, progressive, atmospheric sympho-black metal - that's my definition for GLOOMY GRIM's music. This band appears as a solo-project of Agathon Frosteus (THY SERPENT's drummer), which also includes Whisper (NOMICON) on female vocals, Torso (VINTERSEMESTRE) on bass and Morgoth on guitars. There're four tunes here: "War", "Ashes", "Blood" and "Reign". You know, it's very hard to describe what is going on this recording - it's extremely atmospheric and weird, however "Friendship..." doesn't become boring; right after it stops you'll play this demo over and over again, until your audio set will get fucked up... Amazing stuff; at least I've never heard anything like before. Watch out for their debut full-length CD on mighty Holy Recs. very soon! (Herr Stalhammar)

ZODIACALIUS PATHOLOGOANATOMOS
"Aqua Mori"
demo 1998
Sorry, Orkkh, but "Aqua Mori" didn't impress me at all...  This 25-minutes demo includes eleven tracks of primitive pseudo-black metal, performed exclusively with acoustic guitar (!) with typical BM screams / whispers. Sounds like ordinary punk with black metal vocals... (Herr Stalhammar)

REGURGITATED CORPSE
«Shitlovers»
demo
Judging by the photocopied j-card, band title, demo title, and the picture of one woman shitting into another woman's mouth on the cover... I could guess that this would be some noisy music.  Well, I was correct in my assumption.  REGURGITATED CORPSE could easily make it big in Japan or Rotted Head Records (USA).  As you might have already figured out, this one man trauma play in the vein of ANAL GETAWAY, GORE BEYOND NECROPSY and C. U. M.  I was quite surprised that Adam, the deviant pervert behind this project, did not use any vocal effects on the recording as they are quite inhuman and I could not fathom such sounds expelling from a mortal throat.  If you like this kind of extreme noise / grind then REGURGITATED CORPSE are a good choice! (Mark Riddick)
Contact address: Adam Rotella / 35 Tuthill St. / Huntington, NY  11743 / USA 

ROMANTIC SUB-V 19/X P.C.
«Horrible Dictu,...»
Music Violence Productions
rating: 3 of 6
How do you like their bandname, eh? Heh heh, seems like these guys pretend to be original this way. I read many reviews, praising «Horrible Dictu,...» however I didn’t find anything interesting for me on this tape. ROMANTIC... plays heavy, psychopatic industrial with weird atmosphere and disgusting «vocals». Nothing really special, with an exception for good-sounding poetic lyrics, as weird as their music’s atmosphere... (Herr Stalhammar)

SARTINAS
«Demo CD ‘97»
Owarai Records
rating: 2 of 6
Horribly typical Swedish black / death metal. You can’t imagine anything more loathsome and soulless than this stuff... Nothing more to say, nothing more to add. «No future» band. (Herr Stalhammar)

SUB VERSION
«Nucleus»
Demo
There seems to be a weird little genre that has been developing in Western Canada for the past few years.  This sound can best be described as a hybrid of grind / death and hardcore.  Leading this movement are MUNG (Winnipeg), PERPETUAL DISTORTION (Edmonton), NEEBAH (Edmonton), and the sadly disbanded PROCESS (Vancouver).  You can now add New Westminsters' SUB VERSION to this list of sonic deviants.  It comes as no surprise that vocalist Jim Huhn comes from the now defunct PROCESS.  Together since '95, their second demo «Nucleus» show a solid growth in both songwriting and execution from their debut demo.  IF the live show is anymore near the intensity of this five song cassette, it won't be long before the labels come drooling. SUB VERSION is the knife to the throat of trends! (Dallas Elmhurst)
Contact address: SUB VERSION / P. O. Box 42585 / 105-1005 Columbia Street / New Westminster, BC / V3M 6H5 / Canada

GARDEN OF SHADOWS
«Heart Of The Corona»
demo 1997
rating: 6 of 6
«Over 30 minutes of emotional, atmospheric death metal. Powerful music to stir your mind and soul» - that’s what written in their flyers. And it seems like I totally agree with afore-cited words. This demo consists of intro and four rather long songs featuring various and fresh-sounding material, which could be described as a cross between furious (but never loosing the atmosphere) death and beatiful, celestial doom metal. Performance and production are excellent, while music grips your very soul and refuses to loosen it’s grasp. Besides that GARDEN OF SHADOWS have one attribute which I consider to be VERY important nowadays - these guys play undoubtedly Original music. Of course, those who want will always find comparisons, f.ex. like SEPTIC FLESH (mainly thanks to inhuman Chad’s growling {more in the grind vein} with tremendous, celestial and... somehow unreal Mary’s voice {who also play guitars, by the way}). And if those Greeks will wimp out (I hope they won’t), GARDEN OF SHADOWS definitely will be worthy substitution. Although I believe that comparing them even to mighty SEPTIC FLESH is not the right way... GARDEN OF SHADOWS have found their own niche, at least they’re the only ones who play such kind of music (and do it at unattainably high level) in USA at the moment. To say that «Heart...» is ‘a must for everyone’ is to say nothing. All fans of extreme music, be it black, death, grind, doom or gothic - GET IT OR YOU’RE PATHETIC LOSERS!!! (Herr Stalhammar)
P. S. Watch out for the interview in the third issue.
GARDEN OF SHADOWS email: BMissant@aol.com