Walpurgisnacht

This is the sixth demo from Front Beast, a one-man German band playing
black/heavy metal.

Walpurgisnacht has good sound for a black metal demo. Everything is
easy to hear, with just a touch of rawness. The drum sound is
particularly spacious. The vocals are Burzumish screams, with an echo
effect layered on top.

Front Beast mix second-wave black metal with more traditional heavy
metal. The guitar work sometimes reminds me of Mercyful Fate or Sabbat
(JPN). This demo finds them in a more atmospheric mood than on some of
their others, though.

"Walpurgisnacht" is a fine example of the sort of atmosphere this band
can conjure. The songwriting here is epic and loose, with long,
doomy introspective sections. The vocals hold sway for the first half of
the song, drenching everything in reverb. The coughing/screaming section
is especially cool. The second half is instrumental, and wanders here
and there before the ending brings everything together again.

"Into the Crypts" is a shorter song with a rousing riff-and-drum
combo. I like the primitive guitar sound, which is closer to Venom
or old Bathory than to Darkthrone or Burzum.

Speaking of the latter, the third song is a cover of "Ea, Lord Of The
Deep". It's convincing enough, and I like the dry drum sound, but
somehow this cover fails to move me much.

Ah, here's the heavy metal! "Laws of the Cemetary" has a much more
active lead guitar. It's this sort of lead work that attracts me to
this band -- nobody else's solos sound quite like this. They sound sort
of mournful, with a unique sense of timing that's very endearing. This track
reminds me of my favorite Front Beast song: "Armageddon Has Just Begun",
from the Procreation In Fire demo. I especially like the humming in the
background. Excellent stuff!

This is a great demo, more than worth the price just for the first and last
songs, but it's not Front Beast's best. If you're looking to hear this
band, check out Black Pest Metal or the split tape with Hati first. If
you already have those, you should certainly get this... hell, get
everything from this band! Highly recommended.

Standout tracks: "Walpurgisnacht", "Laws of the Cemetary"

Review by Vorfeed: http:/www.vorfeed.net