Festering

The most agressive Überthrash Metal recording ever done by a Dutch band! Yes, everything is perfect about this demo. The demo opens with “The Festering” and it becomes clear the band has managed to keep the speed and intensity of their earlier 1989 livetape yet incorporating more and more thrash breaks. The stop-and-go
attitude is excessive here yet the song remains catchy and superbly aggressive. It is remarkable how the band can keep up this speed for so long. “In Your Room” is a song that starts slow, real slow and slowly builds up, taking seveal minutes until becoming a nice raging thrasher. The song is composed well, the dynamics are great and the (musical) story told is very convincing. And also, the song is very catchy. Both riffs as well as the vocal lines. Once you’ve heared it, you’ll never forget it! Closing song “From Belial” is over 8 minutes and combines the essence of opener the “Festering” with more slower sections like for instance “In Your Room” has. This keep the song from getting monotone but also prevents it from being just as briliant as the opener. And then there is a track that didn’t make it on a full length studio album. “Sawn In Two (Hooks Of Hemorrhage)” is short. It is fast. I has more in common with their earlier 1989 livetape and their songs on the Metal In Rocks sampler but it does work out
nicely on this demo. Especially after the dynamic “In Your Room” this shorter eruption of thrash metal madness (once again filled with marvellous thrash breaks) is welcome and refreshing. Oh, and please don’t call this deaththrash. It’s just aggressive thrash. Ok? Like a mixture of Kreator’s “Pleasure to Kill” and “Terrible Certainty” with some early Sadus and Darkness-era Dark Angel thrown in. Nothing ‘death’ about it! Last but not least we have the production. It is remarkable how good this demo (still) sounds. Their next album should have sounded like this and it would have become an ever bigger classic.