Demo '93

All three of the songs on this demo feature on the Lunar Strain album, but I actually feel that these versions are actually better than their Lunar Strain counterparts. There's a very special atmosphere, especially around the opener In Flames and a lot of nice added things especially with acoustics. The acoustic intro to Clad In Shadows here is absolutely beautiful.

The guitar work of Jesper and Anders Iwers is top notch, with a couple of nice solos, and the vocals of Mikael Stanne (well, I'm not 100% sure but it definitely sounds like him) are very aggressive, better than the Lunar Strain performances. Despite the poor sound quality overall, the instruments can all actually be heard fairly well (though the cymbals are so undefined that I almost thought UneXpect were playing them) and so I can say that all of the members perform well, though there are a couple of timing issues on Upon An Oaken Throne and Clad In Shadows.

Even though it will be near-impossible to get your hands on an original copy of this cassette (especially consider it has Jesper's phone number on it!), the tracks can be found the remastered edition of Lunar Strain, so they should be easy to get. Don't miss this one, it's an absolute gem.