Alcoholic Darkness 2007

I can't help but feel that Anticosm are three, maybe four, different bands all battling for creative supremacy. Do Anticosm want to be a death metal band or a black metal band? Maybe a thrash band with some NWOBHM tendencies? The reality is this: they are metal band with the look and aesthetic of a Norwegian black metal band and have chosen this look before discovering whether this is the type of music they want to play. I can say this with having seen them live. They wear corpse paint, bellow to the audience in a scratchy, hoarse throated way between songs, and generally exude the stereotypical black metal qualifiers. Off stage though? I would wager that vocalist Graveless Carcass has a room full of his favorite Yankee Candles: Midsummer's Night, Sparkling Snow, and Root Beer Float all placed in the center of his plastic, Spencer's Ouija board. To be honest, Anticosm's stage show is decent, if I remember correctly. They certainly look like a veteran black metal band.

Musically speaking however, they come across as far from veteran. The general flow and musicianship on Alcoholic Darkness is proof of this and actually makes Alcoholic Darkness an appropriately titled demo for the band only because the music sounds like it was played after a few too many pints. The awkward transitions in opening track Skinless fit like a square block in a circular hole. The ability of Magnus and DemoGorgon is that of a stubborn elderly woman who thinks she still has the agility of her youth. In Magnus and DemoGorgon's case, they think they have the agility to pull off guitar acrobatics but they lose their balance sometimes and maybe fall over into their flower garden like the lady across the street. Magnus occasionally does rip into a worthy section but at other times I have to hang my head and wonder (You're Dead being a good example). Basically, they come across as the leaders of the high school garage band that everyone knows about. Bass and drums are generally in the same league as the guitars and plod along, flanking the main force but succumbing to light enemy fire.

The Demo does have moments of interesting ideas, presenting the ticking minds of creative individuals still learning their craft. The vocal duel at the end of Skinless is a great example of the band's general attempt to incorporate new ideas into what would otherwise be a stagnant formula. The band also excels at varying between riffs and simpler, melody driven sections. They fall short in the choice of melodies though, as the chord progressions occasionally veer away from the vibe of the song. The use of subtle symphonics in Sneg Sibirskiy is also done well. This is by far the best track on the demo with opener Skinless falling a few yards behind. The inclusion of acoustic guitars shows signs of compositional awareness however in the case of this demo, bad tone is their companion.

As a general rule, I simply don't find much about this demo that energizing, especially for the style these guys play. The songs aren't very memorable to my ears and I don't find myself becoming interested in the songs. I want nothing more for there to be one song which I would maybe play again but there just isn't. The best forty seconds of the demo is the first forty seconds of demo and then it seems to fall apart sloppily. The whole thing sounds amateur and unimportant. I like demos that really sound like they are more than mere demos; that sound like I am privy to some hidden ritual or obscure lost knowledge. This doesn't sound like that. It sounds like a few friends with cheap recording equipment who don't really know how to capture themselves properly. The production is also thin, especially in the lead guitar tone, and suffers from "demo plague" - a general feeling that the demo was recorded while the members were ill during recording. The sub-par musicianship doesn't help much either.

Sorry Anticosm, but you're going to have to do better than this.

This demo has probably the most incongruous aesthetic/content combination I've ever seen. The title of it really has no resemblance to what appears on the disc; instead of the drunken, idiot black/thrash that you would expect, you actually end up with surprisingly multifaceted, and, even more strangely, melodic black/death metal with extremely capable technical performances. There's a huge number of ideas that this band is kicking around in every song, and while they don't always mesh together perfectly, every element on its own is very well written and performed.

There seems to be a sort of inverse relationship to the songs here where the least 'ambitious' (at least as far as additional elements above and beyond the black/death mold go) are the best executed, and as more and more atypical elements get piled on, they get less satisfying in a purely metallic sense. That said, I still like to hear the sound of the band experimenting, and the experimentation that Anticosm does is much better than the experimentation that other demo-level bands generally do. However, I still like the simplest music on this demo the most, which is probably why I find the opening track, 'Skinless', to be the best. Aside from a rather strangely placed section of acoustic guitar, it's the most straightforward death/black/thrash metal track on this CDr, which doesn't really spend any time waffling around with progressive elements where it can just punch you in the head repeatedly with blast beats and solid riffs.

'You're Dead' proceeds much in the same manner (though with yet another strange acoustic break), but 'Black Hearts' is where it gets weirder, with even more acoustic sections, a big keyboard presence, and a general sound of melodic black/death metal like some of the newer American melodeath (not Gothenburg-influenced) bands like Apothys. It's good, and it'll please a lot of people, but the placement is just so strange; after a couple blistering tracks we're suddenly faced with this highly melodic, clean piece which lacks much of the brutality of the preceding songs. 'The Reaper Comes' is more straightforward but still maintains the sense of melody of the previous track, which is better, but still not ideal. The next couple tracks go in the same vein: straightforward but still more melodic than the first couple.

I'm not sure if I'm somehow spoiled by expecting Sarcofago-worshiping retardation, but I honestly just think that Anticosm is better at grinding out simple, brutal songs than they are experimenting with Mystifier-type keyboards and acoustic passages. It's not that unconventional stuff isn't cool, and Anticosm even proves that sometimes they can really pull that off well, like the vocal-only ending of 'Skinless'. I just think that some of those weirder elements are better when they fit the more 'brutal' paradigm of the first couple tracks. Acoustic breaks, keyboards; they just don't seem to fit. Or, at least, they don't seem to fit to someone like me; it could be very different for anyone else.

Production on this demo is quite good, actually approaching mid-level studio quality, with each instrument faithfully represented in the soundstream. Everything is played excellently, and the vocal performances are genuinely of note as being very strong, alternating between black metal rasp and lower growl like many others, but actually being employed effectively. The demo as a whole is highly professional and sounds like it could be a full-fledged EP released by a decent-sized label. It makes me curious as to why Anticosm hasn't been picked up yet; they have all the makings of a very popular, enduring band, even if some of their ideas are a bit messy now.

While it sounds like I'm picking on this demo a lot, I'm really not. I like pretty much all of what Anticosm is doing; it's just the way that it's assembled that's sometimes troubling. As it stands, this is really a good demo from a band that truly is worth every metalhead's time just to see that the underground metal scene really IS still putting out strong artists in this day and age. So, even though I have my personal reservations, I really recommend 'Alcoholic Darkness 2007' to all those reading this. Even if you don't like everything that Anticosm is doing, you'll most certainly find the majority of it to your taste.

There is at least some light in the darkness. Not every band on MySpace appeals to the denunciation of being a bed-room-project or rehearsal room band. Out of the swamp of mediocrity a band raises now and then; like this one for instance. Anticosm has been around of some time – the band was founded in 2003 – and that the band has rehearsed their material before recording it can be recognized very clearly. Would I compare the demo to some of other young bands I have written about this year, it can be noted that the total amount of flaws present of the demo is at a pretty low level. Furthermore, it is always good to avoid the limitation of band-members to the lowest number possible, because the amount of ideas to rely on in the process of song-writing will pay out later in the quality of songs.

The first and easiest recognizable aspect of Anticosm’s music is the way stylistic elements have been used to keep the songs going and make them more interesting. Pure Black Metal is not what the listener can expect on this record, but music peppered with elements from other genres like Power Metal or Thrash with Black Metal as a prevalent background idea; the drum motive with its short appearances on the ‘The Reaper Comes’ is pretty unique and gives the song some catchiness; the keyboard element on ‘Black Hearts’ is really neat and has the same effect. The band does not entirely rely on the riff-structure to keep the songs going but uses instead small elements to enrich the songs and it is their part will be remembered by the listener. Yet the music on the demo is in terms of a consisting compositional approach still to incoherent to classify the previous mentioned aspect as sine qua non for releases to come. Anticosm sheds some light on what facets of Black Metal which make up their oeuvre at the current time and the potential that is present in the band. What they will make out of it will tell the forthcoming releases.

Not entirely fast played, but with some of peaks in the upper tempo region offer the instruments. Dominating though is mid-tempo in various facets on the whole demo. The combination of tempi is not a constant factor as each song has its own vibe and atmosphere. Also is the production no hindering element, as it adds a good deal of power to the music and the even though the mix could be improved, overall a pretty good job had been done. Furthermore is the music quite entertaining and good written. Quite surprisingly for a ‘young’ band is the constancy achieved in terms of song-writing, whereby odd or plain interludes have been avoided; the tension is kept in an adequate level.

What I would criticize or better said what could help the band is to decide where they want to go on future releases. A lot of ideas have been used by creating this nice piece of Black Metal, but I would not go so far to say something like a trademark or something that would remind me on them already exists. Perhaps the full amount of available ideas should be worked on a little bit on further releases and narrowed down to a recognizable and distinguishable identity. The first part of the record differs from what the listener is confronted with later.

As noted before is the mix not optimal, but still quite good. The problem is not that one element has been put too much in the foreground, but that something like a consistent framework does not exist. Sometimes I gained the feeling that beside the nice performance the instruments are challenging each other for attention; which leads, in regard to now and then occurring progressive riffs, to the outcome that it is hard to concentrate on a certain aspect of the sound. Yet this is rather an aspect I am annoyed by, others might think different on it. To me there is sometimes too much at a certain time and some kind of chaotic impression is gained through it. On a smaller note would be that the music starts quite gapless without offering some kind of small intro or the like; again a more personal preference.

The last track is different from the other tracks of the album: the lyrics are in Russian and the amount in which keyboards have been used is also without precedent. This has an effect on the atmosphere of course and not a positive one. As the vocals work quite well in the composition, the impact of the keyboards is rather negative. It reminds me on the works of Troll (Norway) and early Covenant, but without reaching the quality of their songs; especially due to the sound of the keyboards. Yet this is nearly the only aspect beside some arrangements in the song that awake such memories, while the guitar-riffs are too complex to stand a comparison with these two Norwegian bands.

Is this band for Black Metal purists? Hardly. Anticosm are celebrating the ideas they have in mind on this album and are able to show that they are not only able to write good songs, but also that their style is not limited to a narrow facet of the genre. The way in which elements are varied is very good and those small facets make the music interesting; I somehow like the transition between the first and the second track. Especially the band does not limit their composition on too much repetition and minimalism like a lot of other (young) bands do, but tried rather to compose more complex songs; and the outcome of this is not bad. A good demo for sure. Recommended to fans of more modern Black Metal.