Kein Blut soll verunreinigt werden

There is exactly one reason why NSBM bands are given a spin on my stereo from time to time: because they happen to have some seriously cool music going on. I don't know if it's a coincidence or something, but usually I do enjoy the work of acts that represent this genre. That said, Capricornus's debut demo, "Kein Blut Soll Verunreinigt Werden", has to be the proverbial exception that every rule needs.
This three song tape doesn't have a fatal flaw, but two! First, the blatant, shameless and overpowering lack of variation and inventive whatsoever. I mean, when all the songs have the same kind of beat, riffage and vocals, and just three songs are enough to put the listener to sleep, there has to be a problem. The second disaster is the production, or better, the lack of. Don't get me wrong, I am used to harsh sounding recordings, and that is why I'd take "Pure Fucking Armageddon" over this any day of the week. There is NOTHING you can discern once the aural devastation begins, or almost.

Let's try to see things a bit more in detail. The first song, "In Stahlgewittern", begins abruptly and leaves the listener wondering why someone recorded the sound of six or seven rusty washing machines in an echoy underground laundry and slapped it on your tape instead of the Capricornus demo. Thesew are the guitars. That weird, muffled beats which occur quite often are not the noise of the washing machines spinning, they are the drums - or better the snare, as it's the only part of the kit you can hear. As said, that will never change for the whole demo. And then you get this weird, echoing moaning rasp, whihc stands for the vocals. This is more or less how the demo sounds - and mind you, I have tried to play it on several different stereos (and it's not a matter of tape, as I recently managed to download mp3s of it and the sound is the same). Furthermore, the mix is totally random, with vocals and other noisy elements coming in and out of the comprehension zone. I seriously can't imagine what happened when this demo was recorded; the "wall of sound" effect needs perfect mix to be kept under control (see "Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk", "Heaven Shall Burn... When We Are Gathered" or "Onyx" for further details).

The first track passes by without a single memorable moment whatsoever. Mercifully, "Blut und Ehre" opens with a distinguishable and somewhat nice guitar riff that, however, reveals how sloppy and out of synch the playing (or drumming) is; from here on, it's the same chaos once more. Things stay the same with "Die wilde Jagd", which somehow manages to stand out because it has an occasional keyboard line (it could fit pretty well if timiong was precise and the sound reasonable), the title of the demo "screamed" suddenly louder than anything else in the mix by the insanely echo-laden vocals and a riff that pops up every now and then that I think I've heard in a Marduk song.

No, it's definitely not worth it. Download it if you want to find out how bad a demo can sound, but seriously, this hasn't almost anything to offer whatsoever.