This record is basically Graveland's demo put on CD. But before I get to the music, I feel necessary to express my opinion about the band. Graveland have been in the forefront of notoriously outspoken Polish Black Metal scene, and are well known for their National Socialist views. But, as a number of people has pointed out, Hitler and German National Socialists considered Polish people, and all Slavic people for that matter, to be a lower caste, or subhumans, who are only good for enslavement. So by expressing his admiration for Hitler, Darken is fighting a war against his own nation and against himself. A little contradiction here, unless the aim is self-destruction. Then again, there are various interpretations on the connections between Paganism and National Socialism, but in my opinion you don't have to worship uncle Adolf to be a nationalistic pagan, especially if you are not quite aryan yourself.

Now for the music. As I said above, this is Graveland's demo put on CD. It includes lovely folk song, as an intro and an outro, played over the sound of burning fire. After the intro the CD kicks into some very raw Black Metal with some keyboards to add extra atmosphere. Darken's rasps are extremely harsh, and guitar riffs are cold and grim. All music is done in a very primitive fashion, not to mention Capricornus' infamous drumming. To put it mildly, the drumming is very poor, but hey, this is Graveland's demo we are talking about. Honestly, I don't mind it. It just emphasizes Graveland's, and true Black Metal's, nihilistic approach and disregard for the listeners. Anyway, judging by Graveland's latest releases, Capricornus improved considerably. The CD also includes an instrumental track, as well as an all keyboard track with Darken screaming his guts out over some synth sounds. Overall, this early demo marks the beginning of Graveland's career and, therefore, not the best thing this band has to offer, however the fans of primitive, raw Black Metal and, especially, Graveland fanatics may want to get their hands on this.

P.S. Another thing about this demo is that it was released once more as a limited edition CD, which also includes Graveland's "Epilogue" demo.

© 1999 boris