This has all the right elements before you even play it; pentagrams, upside down crosses, half naked sluts in the pics. I sold this as I thought it wasn't impressive before. After ten months and buying it back, my substance/ alcohol abuse must have really altered my perceptions; Demoniac's album from 1994/95 is a great work of black metal, true to the old school. This New Zealand band is in nature close to the Dark Throne and Bathory sound and feel. Cold, bleak, straightahead throat slitters, but other influences show too. "Hammer of Damnation" is an accoustic, early Iron Maiden/NWOBHM-type melodic piece. "Celtic sword of iron" sounds like Scottish bagpipe lines played superfast, black metal style. I'm still scratchingh my head, 'Was that good, or just fuckin' weird?'

I like the duelling raspy vocals, especially when growling, like on what starts off as ambient, turns bleak, Sabbathy doom metal than into mid-80s basement black thrash. The song "Dormant Entity" grows from nothing into a killer!

I also like to crank, well, hell, practically the whole album from start to finish! "The birth of diabolic blood", "The earth calls me", "Missein Anthropos", the excellent cover of Bathory's "The return of the darkness and evil", "A. Narain", "Chaoist", ....all good stuff. Demoniac are one of the few bands that can throw the occasional keyboard bit into the mix and still make it sound cool. Almost an hour of real metal for you.

Behemoth-Vocals & Bass
Adramolech-Vocals & Drums
Heimdall-Guitars & Narain
The Magus-Additional keyboards

Evil Omen Records
c/o Ludo "evil" Lejeune
40 Res. les becots
Hardelot 62152 FRANCE
Fax: (33) 21 83 89 65

© 2001 mlotek