Horns Defeat Thorns (A Vision of Human Salvation)

This demo is strictly limited to 333 copies, and the liner notes indicate there will never be a repress. So it is another one of those rare 'kvlt' collectors items, I suppose. I hate it when bands do this. It is a very stupid thing indeed, and it is the trend among black metal bands.. With this cheesy and overdone gag not effecting my opinion on the release, I find it to be an average black metal demo.

The intro is a great one... a church in session, the organ opens with a cheery little melody, then the priest speaks in French (as would be expected, I suppose, as they are a French band) as the people in the church respond with their obligatory words, then you hear a door open, footsteps, and a machine gun rips through the church goers and screams are heard.
Then the music kicks in and it is fast slightly melodic black metal with some fine harsh, echoed shrieking by the vocalist Sateo. It is apparent from the first notes of the music that the production is a raw production, although not as raw as many other black metal bands. But still raw for today's standards. The music gets a little more interesting as it slows down, but just because of little variations, nothing too startling or exciting. The second song is even more raw than the first. The vocals are about the same level, but the music seems a little quieter. The melodies used in the songs are standard, pulled off well, but stagnant. The rest of the songs after the first are all a bit more raw. Perhaps it is just my copy, I don't know. This doesn't really take anything away from the demo, since sound quality does not mean too much to me.
The atmosphere is sort of middle of the road. It is not really, really dark, but it does have its moments of darkness and evil, like a few moments in the song Paedophilic Orgasmatron, or Live the Lie. The music itself is sometimes menacing and dark and evil, as I mentioned, but the rawness of the atmosphere is what really emphasizes these elements to make the overall atmosphere as it is.

In the end, it is an ok demo. Most bands don't sound too original on their demos anyway, and it is normal for black metal bands to start out sounding like all the others, and progress and find their own sound as they go along. There is potential here, and I am sure the later releases sound better, more extreme perhaps, and more confident.