Total Tear Up

One would think that a band named Eternal Nightmare would pay homage to the sound of the legendary thrash band Vio-Lence who was responsible for such a masterpiece of a record, but this Netherlands band is one of three with such a name, and none of them have a sound that resembles Vio-Lence. These guys, and this demo, are the best of the bunch, though, with a more concise sound that errs closer to death metal than thrash.

This demo tape sounds like it was influenced heavily by Schizophrenia by Sepultura, with its clever guitar riffs and drum fills. The vocals as well are pretty killer, and sound more forceful than most of what's in thrash. "Beyond a Nightmare" is a quality song that opens the tape up, and it has a pretty solid solo on the back end. Of course, the production on this thing is pretty terrible, but it isn't bad to the point of the instruments being indistinguishable from one another, it's only the rhythm guitar that really gets lost.

"Game for a Life" is an interesting track with some demonic-sounding vocals and a nice interlude before the band breaks into a thrashy-melodic section that sounds really nice. This demo has a lot of versatility and the band demonstrates a knack for crafting some pretty diverse thrash/death metal tunes. There are a bunch of cool riffs on this thing, it's a shame the band never made it big enough to even get an EP with some proper mixing. There's a lot of potential on this demo, especially "Seventh Day, Holy Day," which closes the demo out. This band shows a lot of nuance in their sound and songwriting, and their playing sounds pretty on point and precise. This demo is fantastic, on par with Mefisto's The Puzzle as one of the best thrash demos ever recorded. And if you can get your hands on the band's other demo, please share!