Plague of Spirits

Everyone talks about Capharnaum's 2004 effort "Fractured", but not many mention their 1997 debut, and even less know about this demo from 1998. Interestingly enough, this demo contains some tracks from "Fractured", even though it was released 6 years earlier. The Suecof brothers and company certainly knew what they were doing, and had already nailed the technical proficiency years before they put out "Fractured".

First, the production on this demo sounds like it's from about 1993. Everything is audible, but it has that early 90's death metal production to it: somewhat clicky (but not nastily triggered) drums, dirty yet crunchy guitars, and audible bass (which is a nice surprise). Definitely appropriate for a demo, and even passible enough for a full length.

Anyway, the song writing on this is quite brilliant, and is quite interesting when juxtaposed to "Reality Only Fantasized". Both contain rhythmic riffings against counterpoint melodic riffs, but the difference is the simplicity of "Reality..." versus the technicality on this demo. Riffs contain much fret board work, creating inertia around itself, further propelling the extremity of the songs. This is much on par with hyper technical band Martyr.

As mentioned, two of the tracks on here ended up appearing on "Fractured", and with good reason. One of those being "Icon Of Malice" which is one of the best Capharnaum songs ever. "Refusal" also appears, except as an instrumental. The only differences you'll notice in these demo versions are the solos. While still being effective and well executed, with the absence of Dan Mongrain, and perhaps years of experience for Jason Suecof, they do not touch "Fractured" in that sense.

However, I find myself in preference to this demo to Fractured for one reason: vocals. None of Matt Heafy's annoying yells plague this release. All the vocals are done by Jason Suecof, in his traditional death metal voice. It is much more enjoyable to hear competent death metal vocals with death metal, rather than average yells in it.

All in all, this is a superb demo, and is recommended to Capharnaum fans who love "Fractured", and want to hear that same approach in song writing.