This is somewhat different from the band's previous effort, 'Sadness'. Listening to this stuff tears me apart because it's so depressing. I guess a lot of Avernus's music, for me, is linked to periods in my life that sucked, and those times helped enhance the music's melancholia.

There are only two tracks this demo but they're both quite good. I'm not too into the clean direction Rick too with some of his vocals but at least there is a fair amount of harsh vocal usage. The first track is the title song. In 1995, Avernus still had longs songs. "Godlessness" clocks in at over seven minutes and sports some damn depressing lyrics. The remaining track is a kind of remix (not in a gay techno way) version of "Anastasia" (originally from the 'Sadness' demo) called "Anastasia II/Resurrection". It just uses the basic music from the original with some newer clean guitar parts and some good repetition. It's rather trance-inducing. I've always enjoyed Rick's skill at playing the synth guitar. He can pull out some very melancholic riffs. I could really do without Rick's clean vocals, though. This is a good follow-up to the 'Sadness' demo, but after 'Godlessness', the band should have changed their name.

© 1999 goden