DISCIPLES OF THE ULTIMATE VOID (DEMO)

Disciples of the Ultimate Void is a demo tape made by French experimental/ avant garde black metal act Deathspell Omega. This is a cassette demo tape that was only released in 66 copies. Lots have happened to the music from the band since this demo was released and I was a bit disappointed to learn that the band played very simple old school black metal on their first releases when I know what they will accomplish on later releases.

There are four songs on the demo and with titles like Raping Human Dignity and Death's Reign (Human Futility) you pretty much know where we are in the lyrics department. The music is rather simple old school black metal with aggressive raspy vocals. No keyboards here. A dark, occult and aggressive mood is the order of the day.

The musicianship is surprisingly tight and especially the drummer shows some pretty impressive skills. Considering the very primitive demo- and quite frankly annoying sound quality the band does prove that they have skills. Both in the way the compositions are made and in the musicianship.

The sound quality which most of all reminds me of a very bad live bootleg recording drags Disciples of the Ultimate Void down bigtime though. I know some people enjoy these noisy and lo-fi black metal productions but I´m not one of them. I like to hear details in music and not just deliberately made bad sound quality. you can call it authentic or what you will as much as you like, I just don´t enjoy it. Had the sound quality been bearable I would have given 2 stars. As it is now this is a 1 star recording. If you´re new to the band let me suggest that you start with some of their later releases instead. Disciples of the Ultimate Void does not represent how Deathspell Omega sound today.