Helmskey
Misere Nobis
5.5
You know when your buddy wants you to check out his band on a cassette they recorded on a boom box in their garage? This demo sounds only marginally better in that the instruments are mixed in line with each other but the sound is just plain atrocious. It’s so washed out it reminds me of the really bad early 90’s black metal bands with zero bass, anemic guitars and spineless drums that you had to crank on your stereo to even hear it. I realize it’s a demo and not everyone has the cash to plunk down to record in a proper studio but I’ve heard music recorded and mixed on a home computer that is miles ahead of the production on this. To add insult to injury, the second song is pretty much unlistenable as it’s recorded at a substantially lower volume than the rest and the last song is a throw away instrumental. On a five song demo that kind of sucks.
Musically, it’s not too bad from the three songs I can make out. Of course it’s got a black metal feel due to the poor production, frequent use of blast beats and the strangled vocals but there’s a strong current of melodeath style melodic riffing running through most of the songs. This makes it a bit more interesting than straight black metal as the pacing is much more start and stop than traditional black metal. They’re also not afraid to throw out big hairy solos which give them points in my book but would probably put off traditionalists. Where they stumble is in their songwriting and an overreaching drummer.
You can tell he’s trying hard but the drummer blows numerous fills and generally seems a step behind. I might get this impression because I can barely hear him but it seems like they could work on making the sound a little tighter. As far as songwriting, each song clocks in at five or six minutes and, after a usually interesting beginning, a huge chunk of the rest of the song is devoted to one riff and one chorus. This, coupled with the horrible production, makes listening to this somewhat of a chore.
I think this band has the talent to take this to the next level but they have to upgrade their sound. This demo might have worked in the tape trading days but now people have stereos rigged to pump out Dolby surround sound. With a little more time practicing writing more varied songs and little more money to throw down in the studio I could see these guys doing something interesting in the future.
