96 DEMO

After releasing their debut album "To Dimension Logic" in 1994, VAUXDVIHL founder Fab Gallen was left to pick up the pieces after two members went on to pursue other musical endeavors and without their influences Gallen was free to pursue his own experimental path which led him out of the world of 80s Queenryche type of metal and into a darker form of progressive alternative industrial metal. He released 96 DEMO in 1996 and was a prequel to two EPs that would showcase this new more sinister sounding style. DEMO 96 contains only three tracks and was released independently on cassette assumably for promo purposes. Two of the tracks ("Pilots" and "Isis-Pekt") would find a home on the 2001 release "Siberian Church Recordings" which left only the track "Alienation" never to find a home on any official release.

The track "Alienation" is the opener and is a heavily brutal industrial metal track with heavily distorted guitar and bass with depressive vocals and bleak ambient background. While it tends to sound a lot like a more metal version of Skinny Puppy at first it changes into a type of progressive metal sound that reminds me of Enslaved's later albums with clean vocals. The other two tracks follow suit with the same type of intense build of an industrial wall of sound with extra emphasis on murky distortion feedback that resonates with higher pitched key sounds sustaining in the background. Overall this is a really decent sound that VAUXDVIHL moved on to and proved that their 80s vs 90s sound on "To Dimension Logic" wasn't just a gimmick but that they could master both decades with ease.