The Horned Moon

The Greek Demogorgon, one of numerous bands named for said malevolent pagan deity, is another of the myriad faceless black metal entities to manifest in the 90s, produce very little, and then scatter to the four winds. This is a one-man project, 'Demogorgon' himself later moving on to play with Legion of Doom for awhile, and while that's a common configuration in the black metal medium these days, it was slightly less prevalent during the rise and fall of the second wave. A pair of brief demos were written and released, leading up to this two track 7" EP which represented Demogorgon at the height of his powers, performing all guitars, drums, keyboards, bass and a typical but nonetheless resonant rasp hellish enough to summon up said deity should it truly exist...

The Horned Moon is not much to look at, and neither is there much content. Of the two tracks, the titular "Horned Moon" is a five minute sorrowful swell of synthesizers in traditional Gothic haunted castle fashion. I actually rather enjoyed this, for what it's worth, but the same creepy aesthetic, when applied to the metallic track "The Seal of the Dragon", does not work out nearly so well. Not because the keyboards suck, no, Demogorgon has quite a good grasp on composing a spiral descent into madness, but the malicious tone of the vocals (between Varg Vikernes and Dani Filth in execution) and the rather dull riffing does little to stir the imagination beyond the mere lowest denominator of the genre. The guitars rove between simple, ineffective chords behind the synths to a pretty bland melodic charge, and though it bears that same, subdued authenticity that most 90s black metal carries, it's just not memorable.

That said, The Horned Moon isn't bad, but it was unlikely to win the attention of an audience already stoked on Emperor's In the Nightside Eclipse or the first few Dimmu Borgir albums, more significant works of keyboard-fueled symphonic black metal, since there are just no riffs or sequences catchy or unique enough to bear mention. Demogorgon also doesn't seem to follow the same points as most of its Greek peers, aside from the obvious use of the synthesizer as a central instrument, so it exists only as another obscure curiosity for those seeking to swell their ranks of grim and methodical 90s black metal with substandard but inoffensive production. Wish there was more to it, but it's over in 12 minutes and forgotten in about twice that number.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Fast paced and crisp and clear, "The Horned Moon" starts off with a traditional black metal guitar part, backed up with drums and vocals that are familiar but somewhat unique at the same time. Then, 1:20 into the song, there is a progression that reminds me of classical influence in black metal. It's rather melodic, and despite this the vocalist keeps on with the grim bridge around 2:20, leading into a driving beat. Then again, the melodic counterpart arrives once more. Around 3:30, you can hear keyboards assisting the music with a very moving progression.

The music itself is pretty great, though I think the vocals take a little bit away from the music. They're used a bit too much, and the vocals sound a bit too high pitched, are "screamed" more than anything, and are too abrasive for the rather melodic music accompanying it. I feel that the vocal style wouldn't have annoyed me as much if he didn't implement it as much.

With that being said, the guitar work really is well done. The solo at the end of the first track was beautiful. The second track was equally so, ambience with organ and clear vocals. Then, the music fades into a well done keyboard part which involves a string effect (violin?) if I'm not mistaken. I think it would have sounded much better with a plain piano (no string effects or any others for that matter), seeing as it would have added to the contrast of the music. Then, there are other keyboard effects that are used here, they all sound roughly well done. When the chorus of the second song comes back, the organ is a bit overpowering for the music, but it's not to the point of detracting too much from the overall quality of the music. It's actually quite eerie to hear a loud organ in black metal. Within the last 20 seconds of the music, Demogorgon brings back the string effects for the finale.

With all of this said, I'm pretty impressed that this release encapsulated as much ambient music as it did. I was also impressed that the keyboards weren't misused, other than my opinion of the lack of volume balance during some parts, it was perfectly done. Definitely listen to this if you're a fan of keyboards and ambient music in black metal, and don't mind eccentric vocalists.