This is a demo from an American band playing raw black metal with occasional keyboards.

This is a good demo - the raw metal parts are well done, and the intros are especially suited to the music. As you might expect, the production is pretty basic, as befits this style of metal. My only production complaint is that the vocals are quite low in the mix, making them a bit more obscure than they actually need to be. In a few places, like in "The Knight's Return", there's some interesting vocal stuff going on, but it loses much of its impact because it's hard to hear it.

The guitar work reminds me of Graveland, if anything. Raw, repetitive riffs are used to create atmosphere. The drums sound like they've been programmed, and while that's a slight negative point to the demo, they have been programmed well, and don't distract from the music at all. The intros are especially noteworthy, and really set the tone for each track. In fact, the keyboard work here is very good throughout, even when used for atmosphere during the tracks.

All in all, this is a great demo, and worth buying. It's a bit short, and there's certainly room for improvement in the future, but the quality of the songs is still quite high. I'll look forward to future releases from Moat.

Standout tracks: "The Knight's Return", "Woodspirits of the Night"

© 2002 vorfeed