Fuck Off Nowadays Black Metal

Having just found a copy of this demo some few weeks ago, I feel I can now type up a proper review.

When I opened the casette up I found that it's not only Kanwulf on this release, but guitarist Charoon as well. He does all guitars. Kanwulf is responsible for vocals, bass and drums, so it is not a drum machine as you may think. The layout is all very minimal, with just a black background with white text and black and white photos of the two band members. Included is the tracklist and a letter written by Kanwulf on the state of BM. But now, onto the songs.

The music is all very raw, which shouldn't be a surprise really, seeing as how Nargaroth always loves to deal in this side of the BM spectrum. But I wouldn't stop there. It's also very atmospheric as well. This type of BM can be either very boring or very inspired and I find that this falls into the latter. I can feel the emotion Kanwulf has put into this, his anger, hate and resentment towards all modern, watered-down BM. The sound on this demo is very good for being just that, a demo. The drums are well produced with the bass drums having that clicky sound you hear so often nowadays, and the bass is audible for a change. The guitars are very harsh, like the bass was turned down and nothing but mid range and treble were left. Being how it's like that, I find myself enjoying it even more, seeing as how I love lots of treble on the guitar sound. Kanwulf's vocals are very harsh and high pitched. Not CoF high, but high nonetheless and at times kept in the background so as to let the the other instruments have their say.

These songs also seem to be different from the respective albums they first appeared on, or the album they would make it onto. Black Metal ist Krieg and Possessed by Black Fucking Metal appear to be slower, not by much, but slower than what would appear on the BMIK album. The rest also seem to be slightly different in their speed and sound. This may be due to the fact that Kanwulf himself is doing the drums, instead of Butcher or Occulta Mors, who would both appear on the following full length, Black Metal ist Krieg. Other songs include Karmageddon, which appeared on the debut full length Herbstleyd and Shall We Begin which has been on a few different releases. Both of these also sound slightly slower and of course more raw. The outro is only around 2 minutes and is an instrumental. It's an alright track, nothing great, but I guess it does its job of ending the demo on a high note.

There is also a track called simply "A Black Metal Song, Just For Black Metal Maniacs," which is around 8 minutes long and is slower, more depressive, something akin to the material on Geliebte des Regens. Not sure there are any real lyrics to this, seeing as how none are printed in the layout. Seems to be just Kanwulf screaming relentlessly.

All in all this is a worthy demo and is worth a lot of money, so if you see a copy by some chance, go ahead and buy it. You can either enjoy it or sell it on ebay for a ridiculous price. Black Metal ist Krieg indeed.

Wow, what an interesing demo release we have here from Kanwulf. Starting off with almost a minute and a half of high pitched whine, and some evil growling, we burst into the song we all know and love, 'Black Metal Ist Krieg'.

Sounding somewhat different to the album version, the guitars seem to be rather unproduced, and have a rather spacey feel and sound to them. The drums sound like a drum machine being used, as they seem to be faster than the album version, and the cymbal sounds are always the same noise. Kanwulf's growls are a lot less developed, but sound so much more raw, and even better than the album. It adds to the effect of the song, making it sound rougher, which is a good thing. The 'slower' section is still pretty fast, and the guitars are still pretty spaced-out, but it retains the album version's quality. Ending with some more feedback and growls.

'Karmageddon' is rather a short song by Kanwulf's standards, starting with a bass introduction, and bursting into a strange sounding drum beat. The snare sounds really hollow, which makes the beat even stranger than it seems. After the one minute mark, this song bursts open, and plays away with all of Kanwulf's fury, and the guitars seem very erroneous, as they seem to miss notes and even full chords. Despite this, the song still progresses well. Another thing about this song is, Kanwulf's vocals, he doesn't use a complete growl, and sometimes you can start to hear a somewhat normal voice coming through. Very interesting.

'Tod Den Feinden' starts with more feedback and evil growling, much like the first song, and then a guitar comes in, playing a high-pitched tremelo riff. Very strange, but you feel content with this song, once Kanwulf's vocals and the other instruments burst in. Kanwulf's vocals are back to his standard affair, painfully growling out, but the guitar still retains its strange high tone, which isn't heard very often. Due to this, the bass is actually comprehensible, but never seems all that amazing at anything, just holding the rhythm down. Again, the drums sound like a drum machine, because of their speed and repeated similar cymbal noises, but I could just be too skeptical.

'Herbstleyd' we all know, and love, and again it starts with high pitched feedback and evil growling (noticing a trend here). But, quicker than the other songs, it bursts into a riff-o-rama of Kanwulf's black metal goodness. As this is very similar to the album version, there isn't a great deal I can say about it. Except, it's much more underproduced, similar to the demo before it was mastered into the album version.

'Possessed By Black Fucking Metal' starts off with, yep, you guessed it, feedback and some evil growling. By now, I'm starting to thing that the growling is Kanwulf introducing the songs, but in German. A language I fail to understand. This song is rather slow for Kanwulf's standards, but I think this is where he really started to devlop his breed of depressing black metal, as the riffs are painful and seem rather depressing. The drumming does nothing for the song, as it's too slow and simple to mean a great deal of anything. About three minutes in, the song slows down to just the bass and drums, and then comes alive, back to Kanwulf's normal sounding black metal. This is a slight disappointment, as I rather enjoy Kanwulf's more depressing music, and the faster stuff just seems to be repeated too much. This being the longest song, also allows it to have more progression than the other songs, and as you get towards the end of the song, it slows back down into a groove riff (something you won't hear often), and an almost sing-along section, as Kanwulf growls out 'black fucking metal!' until the end.

'Shall We Begin' starts off again with the feedback and the growls. The bass introduction is... strange to hear, as it doesn't go anywhere. The guitar comes in, playing a similar riff, slow and painful. The first growl you hear in this song is very gutteral, not something you'd normally hear, and then after that the growls are very low in the mix. They also seem slightly distorted, and echo out. The middle section in this song, is another showing of how Kanwulf can writing depressing music, but still retain all of the normal black metal qualities. Unfortunately the guitar is completely buried here, by vocals and drumming, so it's really hard to make out. A shame, as the riff you can hear sounds rather good.

'Fuck Off Last Episode' starts the same as all the others. Another rumbling bass introduction, and then all the instruments burst in for a speeding run on the senses. The vocals are very high up in the mix now, and the guitar is more comprehensible than before. Again, the drums sound like a machine. Just under two minutes in, Kanwulf attempts something which sounds almost like a guitar solo, but seems to just be random notes played really fast. After this, the song ends and continues with more feedback and growling for around a minute.

The outro starts off with a very high mixed guitar, and drums. Playing a semi-depressing riff. I believe everything is so high here, because there are no vocals to drown everything.


All in all, this is a great demo, and with only one really disappointing track. If you ever find it possible to get your hands on this, do so, as it's definately worth it, as this is a great piece of Kanwulf's history.