Holy Death where a band from Poland that has had music reviewed before in this zine and on this recording played a very atmospheric and old school form of black metal and this is a review of their 1997 demo "Evil" which was re-issued in 2024 by old Temple.
A very dark and ritualistic sound starts off the demo along with some chanting vocals and spoken word parts while the synths bring in the atmosphere of a classic horror film which also mixes in with the heavier sections of the songs. When the music speeds up a great amount of blast beats can be heard and the vocals are mostly high pitched black metal screams.
Dark sounding melodies are also added into some of the guitar riffing while the tremolo picking in the fast riffs also gives the music more of a raw feeling. Some of the tracks also add in a good mixture of slow, mid paced and fast parts and all of the musical instruments also have a very powerful sound to them.
A couple of the tracks are also instrumentals along with one song also adding in a brief use of clean playing. When guitar solos and leads are utilized they are also done in a very melodic style as well as some of the songs also being very long and epic in length. A lot of the music goes for more of a mid tempo direction, growls can also be heard briefly.
Half of the demo also goes into more of an ambient direction, Gregorian chants can also be heard in certain sections of the recording and they also bring in a cover of Mayhem's "Freezing Moon" along with both a vocal and instrumental version of the previously mentioned song. The production sounds very dark and raw while the lyrics cover Occultism, Evil, Darkness and Death themes.
In my opinion this was another great sounding recording form Holy Death and if you are a fan of atmospheric and old school occult black metal, you should check out this re-issue. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Lord of Destruction" "Abyss Of Ecstasy" "Circle of The Astrals" and "Freezing Moon". 8 out of 10.
https://oldtemple.bandcamp.com/album/holy-death-evil
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