Eternal Darkness

Demon Sword is a one-person band playing Black Metal. It comes from Nevada in the U.S.A.
This CD is a great one, especially for a one-person creation. One of the things I often notice in these one-person things is the drum computer. But it sounds like only real drums are used on this creation. Either that or the drum computer is so good that it doesn’t sound like one.
There isn’t a lot of art on the CD or the case, and that (together with the fact it comes in a slimcase) gives me the idea of a low budget release. Nevertheless, I was glad to notice there have been no savings on sound quality.

The first song starts with a somewhat funny intro, followed by great guitarwork and very nice vocals. There’s just one big snag: After two or three minutes of hearing the same (background) guitar-riffs over and over, it tends to get a little boring.
The second song is another good one. The vocals are OK, as are the guitars.
The third song has a slight impurity in the sound of the backing-guitars, but for the rest it’s (just like the previous) very good.
Song number 4 is a small pause between the noises. It is a small melodic part with no vocals. I didn’t at all expect such a thing. I found it very funny and it adds something to this cd as well.
The next song has a bit of a tragic sound in the beginning, but this disappears after the female scream you hear somewhere halfway. After that it is all just like before: great music.
The Sixth song is a short instrumental part again. This time it sounds a bit like an intro you might find on the CD of the average Gothic Doom band.
Song seven (the last one on this CD) is in total contrast with the previous song. It’s pretty fast and probably the best song on this album. The drums are a bit louder, which they really deserve, as they are just great. On the other hand, the small impurity I heard in the third song returns. Luckily it’s pretty hard too notice and I wouldn’t have if I weren’t listening so well as I’m doing during a review.

OK, lets give one final summary.
It happens often that I start to get bored by Black Metal after some 20 minutes, but with this CD that isn’t the case. I think this would be because of the slight, but noticeable, differences between the songs in general and because of the two short, instrumental songs.
This CD seems a bit low budget, but you won’t notice this when listening. The mixing is done very nicely and fluently (You really don’t want to know how many one-person projects do this very badly) which is a very good point. In addition, this guy seems to be able to play all instruments very well making it easier to create diversity in the songs and making it a delight to listen to the CD. In different words: ONE HELL OF A GREAT RELEASE ! ! !