Decomposing, but still living

I must confess I have been lacking motivation the past few months, hence the long silence.

I shall be returning soon and plan on changing things a bit.

New flesh, new blood. Something along those lines. We shall see.

Kathonik - Conscious Damnation (Demo 1991)

Kathonik hail from Houston, Texas. Formed in 1991 as a death metal band, their style had shifted to black metal by the time they broke up around 2002. The picture below is taken from metal archives, and while the tape in the picture (and my own copy) say "Demo '91", I have heard that it is actually from 1992. I stuck with what was written on the tape, but if anyone can verify this for certain, it would be appreciated. The band can be seen a black metal video compilation that came out sometime ago features only bands from the U.S.. I have the video in its entirety so if anyone is interested I can send it to you.


This recording is some very raw sounding early 90's death metal. Not the best recording, but still some good stuff. I have one or two more of their demos that I will post at some point that are more black metal in flavor.

Kathonik - Conscious Damnation (Demo 1991)

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Goatrot - Frenetic Goat Worship (Demo 2001)

Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and formed in 2000 as a side project of Belial from Lethal Prayer. Goatrot play filthy blasphemous blackened death metal that I find rather hypnotic and ritualistic. Sadly the project is on hold due to Belial's move to Florida and the inability to find a full time drummer or bassist. This remains their only recording to date, although Belial has been trying to revive the project.

Goatrot - Frenetic Goat Worship (Demo 2001)

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S.V.E.S.T. - France (Rehearsal)

Back after another unexpect hiatus. Suffered some hard drive failure and lost a fair amount of stuff I had ripped but things appear to be working again. 

Provided to me from a friend in Australia sometime ago. I quite enjoy this two track rehearsal. The first track is a rather folky sounding introduction. The second track "The Black Art" was featured on their first demo, but this is a different version of the song that is about 3 minutes shorter. This would lead me to believe this rehearsal is from either before their 1998 demo "Scarification of the Soul" or shortly after. There are other variations to the song as well.

I know nothing of this release to be honest and have nothing else to say. If anyone is familiar with this and knows more about it, let me know.

S.V.E.S.T. - France (Rehearsal)

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Carpe Noctem - Days of Dark Winter (Demo 1998) +(2001 Re-Release Bonus track)

Carpe Noctem was a German black metal band formed in 1997. They released a demo and an albumbefore, for all intents and purposes, becoming defunct. While this is nothing special, I really enjoyed this demo quite a lot despite being nothing terribly new. It is raw, effectively played, black metal plain and simple. I have both the original release and later re-released version with a live bonus track so I added that to the post here.The bassist on both of their recordings left in 2003 shortly after the album was released. A few years later he met an interesting demise which can be read about on the metal archives page.

Carpe Noctem - Days of Dark Winter (Demo 1998)

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Lethal Prayer - Evil Filth (Demo 1994)

Back up and running... sort of. Had some problems with my archives that are now sorted out and things can return to as normal as they will get.

To start it off we have Lethal Prayer. Formed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1986, Lethal Prayer play no frills old school blasphemous death metal. A few years back I was involved in trading material with Belial, the vocalist/guitarist. He gave me a copy of this tape when he passed through town while playing with Incantation (vocals/guitar) on a tour sometime in 2002. It has been a few years since we last spoke and at that time the project was on hold as he was in the process of relocating to Florida. I'm sure he has restarted it by now, but I have yet to hear anything new, which is a shame.

Lethal Prayer - Evil Filth (Demo 1994)

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More to come....

Due to some extended travel I have not had the chance to post anything new. I have returned and will begin posting anew once I have recovered, and once I have finished ripping a few things I picked up on my travels. I will also be doing a review of the last 'En Nihil' album as well at some point in the near future. This is rapidly becoming something rather unexpected and for someone as disorganized as myself it is quite a task. I haven't forgotten about it, I am just slow.

Expect new things soon is basically all I am trying to say.

Demoncy - Commencement of the Dark Crusades (Demo / Rehearsal 1996)

Recorded in 1996 as a rehearsal,  sometimes credited as a demo. My understanding when I received this from Ixithra was that it was the former. Contains songs that would later appear on the "Within the Sylvan Realms of Frost" album released in the same year. I must admit I slightly prefer the ones on this recording to the album versions.

Demoncy - Commencement of the Dark Crusades (Rehearsal 1996)

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Murdergod Pack (Promo 1995 / Demo 1995 / Demo 1996)

Death metal from Portland, Orgeon. Currently split up with no plans (to my knowledge) of reforming. Members play in various bands in the death/black metal scene in the northwest of the US and Canada.

Murdergod - Murdergod (Promo 1995)

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Murdergod - Torturechrist (Demo 1995)

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Murdergod - God Destroyer (Demo 1996)

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En Nihil - Death Keeps (1997)

En Nihil is a ritual/dark ambient project from California. Formed in 1994 by Adam Fritz, "Death Keeps" was recorded between October 1995 - October 1996 and released by Red Stream in 1997. Excellent atmosphere and best digested, like most things, in its entirety. Still available for purchase from Red Stream if you are so inclined. His newest release, "The Absolute" was released in 2010 by 'Love Earth Music' and is also highly recommended. It is less ambient and more focused on power electronics but equally as excellent.

En Nihil - Death Keeps

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Akitsa / Song of Melkor Split (2001)

Released in 2001 on Heavy Distorpion Records and limited to 70 copies, this tape was sent to me by O.T. of Akitsa upon its release. Both bands play straightforward black metal, but Akitsa (CAN) is noticeably more listenable than Song of Melkor (USA). SoM is another creation of Sado-Stan Dementor, one of the people behind Sadomaniac, which was posted earlier.  The Akitsa tracks were later release on a 'Best of...' album. Sado-Stan Dementor discontinued Song of Melkor sometime in 2002. Rip done from the original tape sometime in 2001.

Akitsa / Song of Melkor - Aube de la Misanthropie

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Mysticum - Piss Off (Promo 1995)

Since Mysticum was mentioned in the post below, and I am feeling particularly charitable this weekend, here is another promo tape. "Piss Off" was released in 1995 strictly as a promo tape for labels/friends and found its way into the vaults thanks to a former acquaintance in Sweden who obtained it from the band. The tracks can be found on the 1996 album "In the Streams of Inferno" and on their demos preceding this release, but the incarnations presented here are my favorite versions. There is a slight skip in track 3 "Wintermass" thanks to a hiccup during the encoding of the raw files. Unfortunately I do not have the ability to re-rip it at the moment. Take it or leave it.

Mysticum - Piss Off (Promo 1995)

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Manes - Promo 1993 (pre-Ved Buens Ende)

Here we have 'Promo 1993', released by the band Manes from Norway (Askim). Not to be confused with the more well-known Manes also from Norway (Trondheim), this one evolved into Ved Buens Ende in 1994 shortly after the release of this promo. I'm sure these tracks are floating around out there somewhere since they were bootlegged on a split with Mysticum, but these are ripped from the original self-released tape. The track times are different from those listed on Metal Archives and that is because MA is wrong. The second track is  longer than the 1:07 credited on the website. Enjoy.

Manes - Promo 1993

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Mayhem - I Love Transylvania / Random Morbid Live Tracks

Ripped from a bootleg vinyl, "I Love Transylvania" is a 7" released in 1999. It contains two unreleased rehearsal tracks with Dead on vocals. Recorded sometime between 1989 and and 1991, there is no date listed on the 7" and no information on who released it.

Mayhem - I Love Transylvania

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Next up are three tracks from Morbid, also with Dead on vocals. Ripped by K88, and taken from a live recording. K88 did not provide me any information on the origins of this recording, but it bears the title "Deathexecution", also the title of a Morbid LP which contained some live tracks. There was no track list provided on the bootleg, but the titles of these tracks appear to be different from what people have been able to determine form listening to the LP. It may be the live tracks from that LP, or they might be different. This is not the same as the "Live in Stockholm" LP which contains a live show from 1987. Recorded on February 26, 1988 in Stockholm.

Morbid - Deathexecution (Live 1988)

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Sadomaniac - Sadomaniacal Desecration (Demo 2001)

Sadomaniac was a two man project from Staten Island, New York formed in 2001 and play raw sounding old school death metal. They broke up in 2003 after three releases on Rancor Records, which is run by founding member Sado-Stan Dementor of Song of Melkor and Wrath Ritual. The band tried to reform in 2006, but both members felt they, and the project, lacked the luster once possessed. From what I understand there is still some interest in reviving the project, but nothing new has been produced since 2003. Nothing of any substance at least.

Sadomaniac - Sadomaniacal Desecration (Demo 2001)

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First Offering // Perdition Hearse - Mala Fide (1992) / Rehearsal Track (~1992)

For the inaugural material of Tower of Silence, I present two tape rips done by K88.

Perdition Hearse was formed in 1988 in Norway and play black metal. The first sacrifice is the 'Mala Fide' demo recorded in 1992 and re-release in 1993 by Wild Rags. This is from the original release. The second is a rehearsal track titled Stealthy Beyond Death and was provided to K88 by a friend of the band, or so his story goes. I haven't been able to dig up any information on it, but it sounds like it was recorded around the same time as 'Mala Fide'. Enjoy. Or don't.

 

Perdition Hearse     -     Mala Fide (Demo 1992)

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Perdition Hearse  -  Stealthy Beyond Death

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Obligatory Mission Statement