Demo Reviews
Steinherj ‘Utgivelser’ demo [Review added May 13th 2007]
	As obscure as bands can get, Steinherj, are just venturing out into the Black Metal void. This three track debut demo, is trying to blend a melodic outer frame to the direct simplicity of the icy music’s basic form. The low budget, bedroom sound, both adds to the flavour of the music’s menace, and reveals the lack of experience in musicianship. With tracks hitting 6 minutes, the band try to make a simple idea stretch maybe a bit too far. The format is a regurgitated template of what Darkthrone and Trelldom were doing years ago. That said, the songs do have moments of inspiration, riffs that haul the tedium into a more interesting level of scrutiny.
The band really comes into their own on the final track Kampen Mot Livet. This is a brooding atmospheric piece of music smothered by vocals snarls. The composition is a real standout moment, as the previous two tracks are positively lacking any of the class revealed at the demos close. From this solitary track should the band build their sound. www.steinherj.tk/
Skaur ‘En Hyme Til Dauden’ demo 2006 [Review added February 1st 2007]
	17.02 minutes, one track. A bold statement for a demo to make and one that could meander up its own arse if not carefully constructed. Skaur play a raw icy Black Metal that evokes the caustic legacy of early Burzum to great effect. The barren guitar style is set within a texture of hypnotic arrangements not to dissimilar to the way, Enslaved, weave their unorthodox guitar lines. This demo issue an atmosphere of hollow bleakness emanating from a candour of embittered vocals, The track is divided between ambient sections of storm weathered rain, wind and thunder, to create a brooding soundscape for the songs proper to elevate their desolate moods.
When the guitars and vocals collide, there is an acute melody that oozes out of the draconian emptiness, revealing a well crafted musical spine that holds the whole creative process together. This is pure Norwegian Black Metal as you would expect, a demo that makes its path in the new millennium from a musical foundation set in the distant past. www.skaur.com
Regin ‘Her hvor intet lys finners’ demo [Review added November 2006]
	Raw, primitive guitars set to standard simple scales that gnaw at your ears with slow brooding menace. With track1, Dodslengsel meandering at a mid-tempo pace, the following, Merciless, blasts off in true chaotic Norse Black Metal fashion only to subside into a slower atmospheric mid section. There is a fine degree of song writing ability woven into the material, as the melodies ride alongside the extremity in equally measures, thus allowing the music to flow more freely. The production is audible, and above average for a demo, though still very much wallowing in that muggy tonal mist. There is a thrashing element to track 3, Mannefall, although set to a cumbersome melee of
snares ,guitar fuzz and snarling vocal delivery, the track works well enough. Hird, is a ferocious Black Metal head charge, setting the scene for the final track of the demos title. Here we find much of what preceded, in terms of interacting bass and guitar lines whooshing amongst the thundering snare attack. The momentum is sustained for near on seven minutes, and much of the pervious material clocks in at around 4-5 minutes, making for some interesting moments. Band home page http://regin.cjb.net
Abomino Aetas ‘Demo’ 2006 [Review added November 2006]
	A strange guitar style accompanies this highly constructive 4 track demo. Fashioned in the ‘TRUE’ mould of the likes of Sarath, Mord, and other low-fi acts of the same grisly ilk, Abomino Aetus, have a captivating guitar approach that singles the music out as fresh and instantly different. The vicious vocal snarl rips though the air as the music is dragged along at a plodding, funereal pace, occasionally bursting into life and yet it is this hypnotic guitar drive that embraces the ears with a specific trance like melodies, whilst harsh snarl vocal distortion vocals shudder the senses.
The production is pretty dire, yet there is a brooding aura of something special emanating from the music, uniqueness that s rarely absorbed nowadays. http://ihfi.ingensteder.net/abomino
Mord ‘Unholy Inquisition’ demo 2004 [Review added November 2006]
	Ugly, stripped to the bone Black Metal that drives along in a basic Dark Throne style. Chopping guitar riffs eat through the air as the snares chase swiftly behind in a primitive example of modern Norwegian Black Metal. The cover of Dark Thrones, Inn I de Dupe Skogers Favn’, reveals all you need to know about this face ripping release. If you like your Black metal uncultivated and chilled to the marrow, then Mord will benumb your whole being. The album ‘Christendom Perished’ is now out on ‘Southern Lord’, and is more of the same aural meltdown. Mord is Norwegian for murder by the way. www.mord-horde.com