Demo 2004

This demo by Norwegian Doom metal band or project Skumring (which translates to "dusk") was later released on CD by Aftermath Music, with updated sound and the other things they do when they put demos to disc. Anyway, what I've here is the demo version. There are three songs for a playtime of over 44 minutes, so it's not going to be a treat for people into radio-friendly, danceable hits. All the lyrics are in Norwegian, sung by the female vocalist Cecilie. This obviously leads one into thinking of early The 3rd And The Mortal, especially with the similarity of the vocals, but Skumring are heavier and gloomier, almost funereal with their doom. They remind me of their countrymates Funeral, with a less rough sound and no growls, as well as Finnish Shape Of Despair.

The opener "Søvn" starts with mellow acoustic guitars, joined by the ethereal singing of the songstress Cecilie. Things get heavy just before two minutes when heavy electric guitars and foreboding, slow percussion comes in. The speed remains gravelly slow and overall mood is very melancholic. There are some acoustic guitars later in the song again, breaking the pace nicely.

"De Glemte Tider" is the longest of the songs, lasting almost 19 minutes and it starts very slowly, the second guitar sounds faraway, somehow slightly reminding me of Burzum's "Gebrechlichkeit" and the drumming is like a march down the deathrow. At six minutes build up there is a change of mood as guitars start a heavy, faster riff which accompanied by the rest of the instrumentation launches into death metal speeds, however still lead by the beautiful voice. After this interlude the somber mood returns and things stay slow. This song is the highlight of the demo with its elaborate (for the genre) structure.

The final song "Forførelse I Natten" goes into an acoustic part accompanied by gentle singing after a usual doomy start. The serenity is abruptly broken by menacing guitars and proceeds to a heavy, steady march led by slightly livelier vocals. This part inevitably leads into more acoustic guitars, retaining the heavy electric ones on the background, moving to just the guitars and voice and back to heaviness again, to finally end with the acoustic guitar.

I enjoyed this demo a lot, it might not be extremely innovative but neither is it exceedingly monotonous or boring. I was slightly suspicious whether the use of only clean, ethereal female vocal could work for the whole length of the release. It could and I'm happy with her performance. Since this was released only on 100 copies and has been released with upgraded sound I'll advice you to look for the Aftermath version, even though I'm quite happy with the sound of the demo version myself.