DEMILICH

Right from the first one-track demo "Regurgitation Of Blood" from April 1991, it´s obvious that Demilich were on to something special (on this release the track "Uncontrollable Regret of the Rotting Fles" from the demo is placed last on the tracklist). The material on the second demo "The Four Instructive Tales Of Decomposition" from July 1991 saw great growth and a more mature band, but with the May 1992 third demo "...Somewhere Inside the Bowels of Endlessness...", Demilich found their abstract, angular riffs and twisted harmonies and leads, laid-back groove laden, and burbing growling death metal style and further cemeneted that sound and approach on the August 1992 "The Echo" demo.

The "Nespithe" album is of course missing from this compilation and it´s the missing piece to understanding Demilich story, but Svart Records have still opted to include the material from the "Vanishing Sessions", which for the most part are older material, which Demilich didn´t record until 2005-2006. Other than the fact that "Em9t2ness of Van2s1ing / V34ish6ng 0f Emptiness" is a limited edition clear vinyl release, which pretty surely is a collector´s item, there is no reason to get this compilation when the "20th Adversary Of Emptiness" exists. The latter features all recorded material by Demilich (including the material from "Nespithe"), so that´s the compilation to purchase if you want to experience all recorded material by Demilich. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

Lead vocalist/guitarist Antti Boman had been working on a compilation of all recorced material by Demilich since 2006, but he wasn´t able to finish the project until Svart Records stepped in with a helping hand. "20th Adversary Of Emptiness" is a great idea though, as all material featured on the compilation is worth the price of admission. Right from the first one-track demo "Regurgitation Of Blood" from April 1991, it´s obvious that Demilich were on to something special. The material on the second demo "The Four Instructive Tales Of Decomposition" from July 1991 saw great growth and a more mature band, but with the May 1992 third demo "...Somewhere Inside the Bowels of Endlessness...", Demilich found their abstract, angular riffs and twisted harmonies and leads, laid-back groove laden, and burbing growling death metal style and further cemeneted that sound and approach on the August 1992 "The Echo" demo.

Almost all the material on "Nespithe" are re-recorded versions of tracks which had already appeared on "...Somewhere Inside the Bowels of Endlessness..." and "The Echo". But the tracks feature a more professional studio sound quality and there is a reason why "Nespithe" are often mentioned among the seminal Finnish death metal albums from the early 90s. The last part of "20th Adversary Of Emptiness" are the three tracks from the 2005-2006 "Vanishing Sessions". All high quality material and at least "Emptiness Of Vanishing" and "Vanishing Of Emptiness" are older material written between the releases of "The Four Instructive Tales Of Decomposition" and "...Somewhere Inside the Bowels of Endlessness..." which Demilich didn´t record and put out back then.

"20th Adversary Of Emptiness" is upon conclusion the perfect way to be introduced to the strange and abstract death metal world of Demilich. Fans of "Nespithe", who haven´t listened to the preceding demos and the material from the "Vanishing Sessions" owe it to themselves to give that part of "20th Adversary Of Emptiness" a listen. The quality of the material and the performances are high throughout. A brilliant compilation this one and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

I´m not sure about "The Faces Right Below the Skin of the Earth", but both "Emptiness of Vanishing" and "Vanishing of Emptiness" were written in the period between the July 1991 "The Four Instructive Tales ...of Decomposition" demo and the May 1992 "...Somewhere Inside the Bowels of Endlessness..." demo, but not recorded and released during that time. If "The Faces Right Below the Skin of the Earth" is a representation of a Demilich song composed in 2005/2006 it´s proof that Demilich still had a lot to say, because it´s quite the brilliant dissonant technical death metal track in typical Demilich style. Abstract, weird, vile, and oddly charming death metal with a burbing growling vocalist in front. The two older tracks are slightly more "old school" and simpler, but still quite sophisticated and technical in execution. Demilich were never you run-of-the-mill type old school death metal act.

"Vanishing Sessions" features a powerful, raw, yet detailed sound production, and it´s a near perfect sound for the material. Demilich are as well playing as ever, delivering their laid-back heavy grooves, twisted leads and harmonies, and an abysmal dark atmosphere. A 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)

That sound is continued on "The Echo" and to some extent even further developed. Strange angular riffs, laid-back heavy grooves (and occassionally blast-beats and faster-paced sections), twisted and morbid sounding leads and harmonies, and Antti Boman´s weird burbing growling vocals in front. All tracks from the demo (except the short intro "egasseM neddiH A :ortnI") were re-recorded and included on Demilich´s debut full-length studio album "Nespithe" (February 1993). "The Echo" is in every way the natural progression of the sound found on "...Somewhere Inside the Bowels of Endlessness..." and as both demos are high quality releases, it´s no wonder that most of the tracklist on "Nespithe" are culled from "...Somewhere Inside the Bowels of Endlessness..." and "The Echo" (albeit appearing in re-recorded versions on the album).

"The Echo" features slightly more raw and unpolished sound production values compared to "...Somewhere Inside the Bowels of Endlessness...", but it´s still a well produced demo recording and the rawness of the recording perfectly matches the oddness and brutality of the material. Upon conclusion "The Echo" is a high quality demo release from Demilich and they prove here that they were more than ready to enter a professional recording studio and start recording "Nespithe". A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

It´s obvious from the first notes of opening track "(Within) The Chamber Of Whispering Eyes" that Demilich have spend the 10 months between the releases of "The Four Instructive Tales ...of Decomposition" and "...Somewhere Inside the Bowels of Endlessness..." wisely to hone their playing skills but maybe more importantly their songwriting. In fact all five tracks from the 17:24 minutes long demo were deemed suitable to be re-recorded and included on Demilich´s debut full-length studio album "Nespithe" (February 1993). So obviously Demilich had arrived at a sound and style they found gratifying and a musical path worth pursuing.

Stylistically Demilich have shed their previous relatively strong Carcass influence and now produce some very unique sounding angular riffs, twised morbid leads and harmonies, some very distinct almost laid-back heavy grooves (but also faster-paced blasting), and a perfection of the burbing growling vocals, which people also know from "Nespithe". "...Somewhere Inside the Bowels of Endlessness..." features a well sounding production job, and Demilich unique sound is perfectly captured and presented to the listener. Although the demo is loaded with heavy riffs and grooves and the brutality factor is definitely up there, the sound production is still clear and detailed enough for the listener to hear every instrument and vocal part in the mix.

Upon conclusion "...Somewhere Inside the Bowels of Endlessness..." is the exact point where Demilich found their sound and it´s a high quality demo recording through and through. Nothing else really sounds like it and it´s definitely among the most unique sounding demos from the early 90s Finnish death metal scene. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

Although "Regurgitation Of Blood" was a demo which was recorded at a studio, the sound production values were lo-fi and the the demo sounded murky and savage. Compared to that "The Four Instructive Tales ...of Decomposition" features a much clearer, defined, and detailed sound production. It may be lacking a bit of heavy bottom and the croaky burbing growling vocals are placed slightly too high in the mix, but other than that the sound production is an asset, and it perfectly shows how much Demilich have grown in just a few months as musicians and songwriters. I still hear a lot of Carcass influences on the demo and in the slower parts a Bolt Thrower influence is also heard (just listen to the opening of "And The Slimy Flying Creatures Reproduce In Your Brains"), but Demilich are arguably on their way to sounding more unique.

The full transition wouldn´t come until the next demo, but that doesn´t mean "The Four Instructive Tales ...of Decomposition" isn´t a quality early 90s death metal demo, because it certainly is. Out of the many intriguing and quite original sounding Finnish death metal acts from the scene Demilich always stood out as the most unique and already on this demo that uniqueness is heard. Maybe in smaller doses than on the next two demos, but the almost laid-back heavy grooves and twisted harmonies (and the strange vocals) are already part of the soundscape on "The Four Instructive Tales ...of Decomposition". A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

While it´s maybe a bit unusual for a band to put out a one-track demo, Demilich felt they were in a bit of a hurry to get something out there, as contemporary Finnish death metal artists like Demigod and Sentenced had strong demo releases out, and there was a sense of competition in the mind of band leader/main composer Antti Boman, who wanted to be recognized as one of the most unique artists on the scene.

While "Uncontrollable Regret Of The Rotten Flesh" certainly sounds like Demilich and also features some of the laid-back heavy grooves of the subsequent releases, there is a strong Carcass influence here too, which isn´t as dominant on subsequent material from Demilich. "Uncontrollable Regret Of The Rotten Flesh" is still quite the impressive composition featuring many twists and turns and Boman´s otherworldly burbing growling vocals are already in the making. The demo features a pretty lo-fi, murky, and unpolished sounding production job, and it´s not always easy to make out what´s happening. It´s still a both effective and charming release though, and for all the warts and faults of the demo I still think a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

This album is very similar to Gorguts' Obscura in the way that it's astonishingly brutal, heavy, very brutal, and I mean super heavy. Oh and it's also very brutal. Spread across eleven tracks with exaggeratedly long titles, Nespithe is the debut and only studio album by Finland band Demilich.

This album became a cult classic due to its pompous definition of Death Metal, it grabbed Death's music and made it far heavier and darker, with barely any melody and a toad singing on top. Good luck understanding what those lyrics even talk about! I can't say much about individual songs since most of them sound very similar, but they're the cream of the top of death metal.

To be fair it's sad that this was the only album this band released, considering how promising it looked and sounded. With that said I must say it's five stars for me. Absolutely love that album cover by the way, those girls are hot.

NOT RECOMMENDED TO PROG ROCK FANS!!!

The double disc set i possess is chock full of detailed liner notes including an interview with DEMILICH founder and head deviant Antti Boman. The package is also lavishly graced with an entirely new album cover depicting the same grotesque world as seen on "Nespithe" The new cover is also from Turkka Rantanen but worry not for the original "Nespithe" cover is on the inside of the packaging obscured only by CD1 upon which it exists. The remastering job is excellently done and breaths new life into the 20 plus year recordings making them sound fresh and dynamic. Box sets rarely get the job done as well as this one. Not only is this the perfect one-stop shop to acquire DEMILICH's entire output but they also released several collectors items such as a 3LP set limited to 1000 copies with 150 on transparent blood red vinyl, 350 on transparent gloomy green vinyl and 500 on good old-fashioned black vinyl. Maybe not quite as exciting as a full-fledged new album but a perfect release of this unique band's entire history.