BIFROST
“Pagan Reality” (1994)
Nazgul’s Eyrie Productions
rating: 4, 5 of 6
“Pagan Reality” is the debut CD from this cult band coming from Netherlands, and (what seems to be quite obvious) their weakest effort, especially “thanks” to the incomprehensible sound engineer’s work. But, in spite of this (rather serious) shortcoming, “Pagan Reality” still is a decent stuff. Already back in 1994, BIFROST was a unique band with their own style, better described as pagan thrash metal… Tunes like “My Ancestor, Now A Dark Woodspirit”, “My Lady Of Winterfire” or “Battlelord Odinn (Father Of The Victories)” clearly prove my words. Those who have never heard of this band before, should better begin getting familiar with BIFROST through “The Wildest Fire” (1996) or “Mythistory” (1998) CDs, but the ones who already know what they’re all about but still don’t own “Pagan Reality” CD, have to get it NOW!!! (Herr Stalhammar)

DARKLORD
“… By The Force Of Sacred Magic Rites…” (1994, MCD)
rating: 5 of 6
The sound is awful. Rhythm guitar passages suck incredibly turning into one meaningless noise, the vocals are in a grindcore vein and it seems like they were done with help of harmonizer, while bass spawns only some kind of puking… All in all, this MCD seems to be a total failure, but… what’s most strange, I like it very much despite the aforementioned drawbacks. Finally, it has few good sides like powerful leads, pleasant keyboard intros (which also appear in the songs’ background sometimes) and utter sincerity… Generally speaking, DARKLORD stand very close to their countrymates, BESTIAL WARLUST. At least, “… By The Force Of Sacred Magic Rites…” seems to be an attempt to make something in the vein of “Vengeance War Till Death” CD… (Herr Stalhammar)

DEAD CAN DANCE
“Dead Can Dance” (1984)
4–A–D Records
rating: 2 of 6
If I’m not mistaken, this LP is a debut full-length from the band which later became the legendary source of inspiration for countless bands and musicians, from pop to black metal ones… Maybe someone would consider this stuff to be brilliant for the year of 1984, but I won’t say anything like that. “Dead Can Dance” features quite boring stuff based on female voice and synthesizers, too emotionless and dull… This LP is good only as the collectors item, I believe… since such tracks as “The Trial” or “A Passage In Time” just lull me to sleep. (Herr Stalhammar)

DOOMSTONE
“Those Whom Satan Hath Joined” (1994)
Nosferatu Records
rating: 5 of 6
This is pure underground but still kicks ass! “Those Whom Satan Hath Joined” consists of thirteen tracks with somewhat naive titles like “Unholy Rosaries”, “Christian Burial”, “Tales Of Voodoo” or “Twisted Priest”, appearing as true underground (although ‘top-notch’ when it comes to both, performance and producership) and unholy heavy metal (yeah, first of all exactly ‘heavy metal’!) mixed with some death and black, especially singing-wise. The music is quite simple (however, not primitive), with mighty riffs, hellish shrieks, excellent guitar leads, some keyboards and horror movie samples, featuring King Fowley of DECEASED and Demonic of GRAND BELIAL’S KEY. By the way, how do you like such handles as Cross Turner Upside Downer, Keeper Of The Brazilian Death Metal Albums and Urinator Of The Holy Graveyards, ha ha!? Brilliant stuff!!!! (Herr Stalhammar)

DYSENTERY
“Crawling In Blood” (demo 1991)
rating: 2 of 6
Bleaaurrrgghh! It sucks! Some stupid unholy grinding death metal, composed without any trace of fantasy or imagination, extremely primitive and thoughtless, with anti-christian lyrics and weak vocals. I bet this guy didn’t even know what he wants when he entered the studio (or his parents’ bedroom?) to record this worthless crap. So, as you see, not all of the old black / death metal outputs are worth something… (Herr Stalhammar)

EMPEROR
“Wrath Of The Tyrant” (demo 1992)
rating: 4 of 6
Including eight tracks (“Ancient Queen”, “My Empire’s Doom”, “Forgotten Centuries”, “Night Of The Graveless Souls”, “Moon Over Kara-Shehr”, “Witche’s Sabbath”, “Lord Of The Storms” and “Wrath Of The Tyrant”), intro and outro, this tape appears as the first more or less ‘official’ release by EMPEROR which was a trio back in 1992, consisting of Samoth (drums), Ihsahn (guitars, vocals) and Mortiis (bass). This is less intriguing and majestic and much more primitive stuff in comparison to the genius “In The Nightside Eclipse” CD, however it has that inimitable hatred and sombre atmosphere captured in each songs, eventhough keyboards weren’t used here. Despite the bad sound quality, it was very decent release back then… “Wrath Of The Tyrant” and “Night Of The Graveless Souls” were later included into EMPEROR’s self-titled MCD (which was also issued as a split CD with ENSLAVED), while “Witche’s Sabbath” and “Ancient Queen” were unleashed as the “As Shadows Rise” 7’EP through Nocturnal Art in 1993… (Herr Stalhammar)

MANES
“Maanens Natt” (demo 1993)
rating: 4 of 6
Hmm, I’m wondering where have they gone now? “Maanens Natt” was very good for the beginning… This four-man band (formerly called PERIFA) consists of Darklord (guitars and main composer), Sin (guitars, bass), Cerenunnus (guitars, bass, drums and synthesizer) and Sargatanas (vocals) claim(ed) to be ‘unholy metal’ band, not BM, you see… However, their music sounds exactly the way Norse black metal could sound in 1994… “Maanens Natt” includes four tracks of pure black metal, influenced by such acts as BATHORY (early) and maybe also SAMAEL. It’s less chaotic and more mid-paced in comparison to f.ex. IMMORTAL, CRYPTIC or EMPEROR, i.e. the Norway’s bands who also made their debut that time (a year before, or a year later… - doesn’t matter), featuring undoubtedly grim atmosphere… I liked it, but… too bad but it seems like they’re no more?? (Herr Stalhammar)

OBSCURITY
“Damnation’s Pride” (demo 1987)
rating: 2, 5 of 6
Together with BATHORY, this band was one of the first Swedish death / black metal acts, and here we have their demo released twelve years ago… Well, actually, I liked BATHORY’s demo stuff much more than this tape. “Damnation’s Pride” brings some raw and evil mixture of black / death (musically) and thrash metal (vocally), lacking anything interesting or attractive… It reminds me a lot of early SEPULTURA (circa “Bestial Devastation”) as well as earliest DEATH SS and KREATOR’s works. When I first has a chance to listen to it (and it was more than eight years ago), “Damnation’s Pride” impressed me thousand times more than now… But time passes, and any music demands some necessary development (even black metal one, ha ha!), while such acts as OBSCURITY appear of no interest to me now… I’d better listen to the aforementioned BATHORY’s demo, SODOM or INFERNAL MAJESTY… “Demented” is the only track I really like here, others sound just too boring for me… Also, those weak, almost ‘shouting’-alike vocals… (Herr Stalhammar)

PAGAN RITES
“Hail Victory!” (1993, 7”EP)
rating: 4, 5 of 6
PAGAN RITES is the band which preceded TRISTITIA, but I doubt if any of latter act’s fans know about it. “Hail Victory!” was their only more or less accessible effort, since despite all my attempts I couldn’t find their early demos, especially those which were issued under the name AUTOPSY TORMENT. This 7”EP has two tracks on it, “Hail Victory!” itself and “Heathen Land”, featuring primitive but not thoughtless melodic black metal with lots of “clean” voices by Tomas (pretending to be an opera singer, heh heh) and fine guitar solos. The sound could be MUCH better, but it’s not awful… so check it out. It’s worth your attention (of course, firstly you have to find this 7”EP, ha ha!) (Herr Stalhammar)

POSSESSED
“Beyond The Gates” (1986)
Under One Flag
rating: 3, 5 of 6
Firstly, I wanted to review “Seven Churches”, however later I figured out that most of you, most possibly, are already familiar with that legendary LP, so I decided to review it’s follow-up instead. If it was “Seven Churches” here, it would get a highest mark, although (unfortunately) “Beyond The Gates” is not so exciting and innovating… also being less brutal and complex. This LP features some satanic thrash / black / death metal, with really stunning leads (the rhythm guitar doesn’t sound so impressive), powerful drumming and surprisingly nice producership, but it’s incredibly less brutal if comparing to their former effort. Also, it’s more thrash-oriented, while “Seven Churches” sounded exactly like black / death album could sound in 1985. Vocals is what I don’t like here as well. Unfortunately, due to some unknown reasons, Jeff doesn’t sing as aggressive and hellish as on POSSESSED’s debut output. Generally speaking, this LP has some good pieces anyway, like “Beyond The Gates”, “Beast Of The Apocalypse” and absolutely killer “Dog Fight”, for example… (Herr Stalhammar)

SUFFERING
“Sowing The Seeds Of Suffering” (1994)
Arctic Serenades Records
rating: 5, 5 of 6
SUFFERING was one of my favorite Norway’s black metal acts back in 1994, however it seems like they’re defunct now…? If yes, it’s really sad, because with “Sowing The Seeds Of Suffering” they proved that they’re not just ordinary Norse band pretending to be “true” with boring, primitive and badly recorded music. This CD has a very pleasing apperance and it’s contents are even better than the packaging… SUFFERING perform mid-paced, evocative black metal in the vein of early IMMORTAL and ULVER (it seems like we can find here few similarities with MANES and MOCK, if talking about lesser known bands), with inimitable atmosphere (while no synths or any other suchlike instruments were used here!), grim vokills and brilliant leads (especially the ones by Ole Morten Persen). Guitar work is the strongest side of SUFFERING – how many Norway’s bands featuring extremely talented musicians have you heard in 1994? FESTER? Ok. Perhaps, also CARPATHIAN FULLMOON and aforementioned IMMORTAL together with ULVER. And… looks like that’s all. So, SUFFERING undoubtedly stood against the background of countless DARKTHRONE and BURZUM-clones back then… I really would like to believe that this splendid band is still alive… (Herr Stalhammar)

UNANIMATED
“In The Forest Of The Dreaming Dead” (1993, CD)
No Fashion Records
rating: 5, 5 of 6
Looks like we should say “R. I. P.” in regards to UNANIMATED? It’s truly a pity, no doubts, simply because it was an outstanding band, one of the best in Sweden – at least when talking about “Firestorm” demo (1991) and “In The Forest Of The Dreaming Dead” CD (“Ancient God Of Evil” (1995) was much weaker and too heckneyed, at least after such an original debut effort). It’s something better described as black / death / thrash metal, melodic though brutal, with recognizable hysteric voice by Micke, atmospheric keyboards here and there (played by Jocke Westman) and definitely staggering guitar work with plenty of powerful leads. And fortunately, no trace of DISSECTION / AT THE GATES influence here! “Blackness Of The Fallen Star”, “Silence Ends”, “In The Forest Of The Dreaming Dead” and “Cold Northern Breeze” are killer tracks! Check ‘em out first! (by the way, “Silence Ends” was featured on “Blackend” compilation released by Blackend / Plastic Head Records (UK) in 1994). The only bad thing here goes for the stupid and quite primitive layout and design, as well as the cover art… erh, actually, there’s no ‘cover art’, just a band picture and I hate such things. (Herr Stalhammar)