Demonification
Hell Metal - The Holocaust Continues (Reissue)
7.5
This reissue pulls together the 2003 demo and 2004 full-length from the largely unheard-of Singaporean black/thrash trio Demonification, with the two sequenced in reverse chronological order. Ragged and ragtag and, for the most part, raging, Demonification reminds of fellow Singapore natives Impiety, though what’s here is less polished than that more well-known band’s most recent efforts. (My experience with Impiety is limited to the last three releases, so I cannot speak for their earliest days.) As expected, given the style, Demonification sports the expected Kreator-meets-Darkthrone vibe and some instances of a seriously “metal” lyrical slant – from the “Fuck off and die!” shout at the end of “Hell Metal” to the titular chant of “Bullets & Metal.”
Both Hell Metal and The Holocaust Continues were DIY affairs, as is this pairing of the two – the band was (is) unsigned and this compilation arrived on MetalReview’s doorstep on a CD-R. (The process of copying the discs inserted overlong pauses between the tracks, sometimes almost ten seconds of silence – talk about disrupting the flow of a record. I kept thinking the album was over. I won’t fault the band for that, but it definitely threw me for a loop.) The production of both the full-length and the demo is suitably raw but not unlistenable – when audible, the bass is a spongy and indistinct tone beneath the sheet-metal guitars; the drums are live and roughshod. As unpolished as they are at times, the tones work well for the tunes – a thicker and slicker production would’ve proved punchier, but given the blackness inherent in Demonification’s sound, the lessened sonics still fit the songs, giving them a lo-fi touch that helps underscore the thrash leanings with a particularly scruffy bite.
Overall, underground production values notwithstanding, Demonification succeeds through some solid instances of simple song-craft – songs like “Bullets & Metal” and “Hell Metal” and “Nuclear Sins” are pretty killer (if not ground-breaking) slices of blackened thrashing chaos, with one-beat (mostly) non-stop chukka-chukka drums and Kreator-styled riffs and high-pitched snarling vocals. Given the nature of the compilation, a few of the band’s best tunes appear on both Hell Metal and The Holocaust Continues – “Bullets & Metal,” “Hell Of Hell,” and “Thrash Attack” all appear twice on this release, with the earlier appearances better than the latter by virtue of the disc’s reverse chronology.
This latest take on Hell Metal is not a must-own, but it’s a more-than-adequate slice of uber-underground black/thrash for those who like their metal raw and dirty, bashing and thrashing, with fists in the air and middle fingers raised. It’s definitely a fun listen, and the (mostly) complete discography of a band that flew under the radar and deserved more attention than the virtually none that they got. Absolutely a collection worthy of further investigation for aficionados of obscuro thrash…
