Though metal fans of the underground have
made an impressive effort to uncover all of the lost gems of the old-school
death metal scene, it is inevitable that some bands have fallen through the
cracks. One such example is the UK’s Blasphemer. Although they never put out an
album, they did put together a few demos in the early 1990s, and recently
resurfaced. In 2015, they unleashed the appropriately titled “Demo of Darkness”,
and gave everyone a reminder of what old-school death metal should sound like. The
riffs on this release hearken back to a time when the thrash influence was
still prominent in death metal, with many of the faster riffs sounding like
something you would find on an early Cannibal Corpse or Morbid Angel record. Similarly,
the vocals also take an old-school approach; they’re fully growled, but also
entirely understandable. A good comparison would be to modern-day Autopsy
(another band that Blasphemer worships, as they throw some slower, doomier
sections into their music occasionally).
One really awesome thing about this demo is
the approach to soloing. Both tracks have numerous guitar solos (though “Immortality”
definitely favours them more), and go for a noisy, spastic, Trey Azagthoth
approach. The solos are incredibly furious, and although they pay little
attention to coherent musical form, they do appear quite deliberately planned.
Of the two tracks, “Immortality” is
probably slightly stronger, if for no other reason than it feels a bit more
consistently fast. In reality, both of these songs are a prime example of a
band that fits in with the early 1990s quite well (because they were there). Once
again, it is the thrash influence that makes this obvious; bands are usually
better when they sound like they’re developing with a scene rather than simply
worshipping it. As much as I love modern rehashes, sometimes you just can’t
beat the original, and Blasphemer is original UK death metal!
Highlight
"Immortality"
Final Rating
4.3/5 or 86%.
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