Impending Doom

The more this thing spins, the more promising stuff I’m finding. Yeah, I’ve heard this before, but it was like twenty years ago and the fact that I haven’t dug this demo out in that painful length of time allows it a fresh view to these ears. Granted, it doesn’t matter much now considering Baltimore’s Chemikill are virtually dead and gone, but for sheer listening enjoyment there are a few zillion other releases less eventful than this.

To really no surprise you’ll hear some unmistakably American-influenced latter day thrash: then-modern Testament, some post-debut Sacred Reich, and of course Metallica that coalesce in a smorgasbord of bob-yer-head moments. “No Time Left to Die” has some unusual structuring, ‘pah’ing cymbals, and cool tempo changes that probably makes it the best of the four by a slight margin. Enjoyable “Relentless Horror” and “Brutally Slaughtered” froth with undercurrent double bass that charge many a chorus, meanwhile there’s enough furious forward tackle in the latter tune to spread throughout the whole she-bang. “Contamination” is merely the eighteen second pseudo-eerie/ooh scary intro that really didn’t need a title. John Cummings’ vocals are adequately rough and masculine, neither maniacal nor crispy clean, and characterize the band’s style pretty well, meanwhile amping up interest levels even more are solos that fly around the place with thoughtful abandon.

I really can’t say Chemikill have a big sound, however. I don’t know, blame it on the non-descript Holiday Inn production (no really, it was recorded at Holiday Inn. Whether it’s the hotel or not…).

Honestly, if I didn’t have to jump through hoops to transcribe this cassette to mp3, I’d probably have it on my iPod. The first of three demos.