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Semen of Satan > Demo 1984 > 1984, Cassette, Independent > Reviews
Semen of Satan - Demo 1984

Potential Present, Hidden Under Amateurish Enthusiasm - 60%

IrishDeathgrip, November 8th, 2019

I really would like to give it a higher score, because for a black metal fan who can stomach low-fi demos and will happily trade consistency in performance for pure atmosphere, this is actually really listenable. There are some genuinely surprising aspects to this, and I can definitely understand what they had in mind when putting this together. As far as a demo from 1984 goes, the sound quality should generally not be expected to bedazzle you with sheen and polish. I really would probably go so far as to say that the unintentionally crumminess of the sound at large lent a lot to the atmosphere that is the heart of black metal appeal.

The thing that also puts this in a context to excuse some of it's less saleable aspects is the ever present thrash vibe behind this, as this early on, the thrash underpinnings of black metal were still years from being jettisoned for the more specific vocabulary of later waves. Trash by nature is a chaotic affair, generally walking a tightrope between precision and sloppy, chaotic aggression. This is certainly in no danger of erring on the side of precision. This is chaos incarnate. The tempo is just barely keeping itself together, losing beats almost every measure, the drummer clearly not ever taking a lead on the time keeping, so you have the early band issue of 4 guys following each other, and no one taking responsibility for meter.
As distracting as it sounds, it isn't as bad for the experience as you'd think.

The juvenile construction of the songs, the chaotic rhythms, the fact that the harsh, chainsaw buzz of guitars that are clearly a forerunner of future glory in the name of Satan... This is without a doubt a black metal demo, and the most compelling argument for that distinction might be the vocalist... An eerie, if not entirely refined, bark, somewhere between Dead from Mayhem and Cronos from Venom, that can vascillate in intensity between the full on croak of a second wave Norse devil, and an almost crooning rasp that would sound at home on the heavier end of the nwobhm scale. There is a lot of potential here, although we would never hear him achieve it, it does have conviction and can conjure images of a fog surfing demon trying to drive you mad with declarations of an eternity in hell that awaits you on the other side...

I think this demo deserves to be heard, but I can't argue that it's a work of high black metal genius. It's simply a group that had some very cool ideas during the early wave of a heavily atmospheric genre, who lucked into a fairly intriguing and grim demo, against all odds and despite some very amateur, undisciplined musicianship, and a host of ideas that obviously needed a little time to develop into something more coherent and stabilized. Oh, and they should probably have tuned their fucking guitars at some point.

Satanic Splooge - 34%

UncleMeat, May 14th, 2009

I’m sure everyone has heard a couple demos that are just so terrible that they’re almost good, or at least listenable to the point where the entertainment factor outweighs the shitty one. This, for me at least, is one of those demos. Every instrument is horribly out of tune, the vocalist is awful, and there is no sense of skill present in any department. And you know what? It puts a big smile on my face every time I listen to it.

Considering the fact that this is from 1984 and the band probably had a budget of maybe $10, I’m not going to take any points off for production. And actually, the panning and leveling of the different instruments isn’t too bad, so nothing is really lost in the mix. But depending on who you are, whether or not you actually want to be able to hear everything that’s going on is a different matter.

Sloppy musicianship is pretty much a given when it comes to most early 80’s extreme metal bands. On the classic recordings by bands such as Hellhammer and the early Poison (Ger) demos, the raw, cacophonic sloppiness was actually part of its appeal. But to the extent to which these guys took the sloppiness factor pushes the boundaries of total retardation, which in itself makes it an amusing listen. Seriously, I don’t think a single instrument on here is in tune. It actually almost sounds as if they purposely all just tweaked their tuning pegs in a random, nonsensical manner to make the music as atonal as possible.

Banging away on these out of tune instruments is probably the worst group of musicians I’ve ever heard on a metal recording. None of them have any sense of rhythm whatsoever, and this is especially apparent, and all the more hilarious, during the slow to mid-paced sections. Sometimes the guitarist will just stop playing entirely for a couple seconds, then come back in haphazardly halfway through the riff. And if we’re lucky, he’ll throw in some accidental pick scratches and bursts of feedback at various points too.

Guiding this shit-sprinkling guitar wizardry is a rhythm section that apparently thinks “driving the bus” means shooting out its tires, dousing it in gasoline, and setting it on fire. This drummer doesn’t even sound like he can play the triangle, let alone keep a consistent rhythm for five consecutive seconds. I’d have to say the bass player is probably the least musically handicapped of the three, but that is far from an accomplishment. And as if the atonal mess that these Semen of Satan fellows were splooging onto the tape recorder wasn’t bad enough, Mr. P.A., who is also the mastermind behind the guitar, bellows out strained, dry barks and growls with no sense of coherency whatsoever, kind of like a rapid dog with strep throat

But despite how horrible this is musically, I would still take a demo like this any day over any of that generic myspace bedroom black metal shit, or any of that brutal slam "death metal" garbage that the scene kids and wiggers are so into these days. I find the amusement I get from this far more exhilarating then anything either of those genres are able to do for me, or just a lot of modern sub-genres in general. So I recommend this to those in the mood for a good laugh and are able to appreciate old recordings like this. But if you’re looking for more Voor’s, Parabellum’s and Black Dethe’s, then I suggest you keep digging.