Demo 2008

The two guys behind «Old Bones» are not new to the scene. In fact, after they laid «Mordgrim» down to rest, this band came to existence and judging from the music, the choice for a name seems to be quite appropriate, as it covers the whole concept of the art; in the sense that it is intrinsic. Indeed, these four songs or fifteen minutes of black metal smells as fresh as a corpse being moved out of coffin after having lain there for at least hundred years or so ... while happily decomposing. Dirty, venomous and certainly loaded with the air forgotten times is what the archaeologist (or maybe grave robber) is confronted with.

Such is also true when it comes to actually describing the first demo of «Old Bones». There is this vibe of anti-modernism and 'we do what we want to do'; which is really neat and makes it all much more enjoyable. There are no keyboards to be found here either, no sound samples or anything else that might disturb the atmosphere and could work as a counter-point to the dark atmosphere which is created by the guitars and the (slightly?) raw produced drums. Raw and old-school are two aspects generally true for the art of «Old Bones» and the two musicians did a fairly good job in creating it; keeping it true and not making too many compromises.

First of all, the music is not very complex written. The arrangements are neat and quite catchy, have this modern Darkthrone feeling, but keep the whole idea rather in the realm of doom. While listening to the songs, you can easily lay back and relax, sit yourself on a coach take a glass of wine and follow the melodies. In case you search for a demo to make you mosh and jump around, then this one is surely of a wrong kind; yet Necrophelia might give you a kick now and then. In terms of the vocals it should be noted that they have a slight sludge sound, which is strange but works fine with the music.

As already mentioned, there is some slight rawness in the music, yet in terms of the impact rather limited to the drums or better said the snare drums; the bass-drums is quite bloodless and often hardly recognizable. Even though their performance is quite neat and the motives not bad, the overall emphasis lies on the guitars. The percussions add some to the atmosphere, but have not the impact and quality to actual manipulate it in a broader sense. Of the bass-guitar the same can be said, due to the mix which put this instrument far in the background and only on some rare occasions chords can be recognized clearly. Accordingly there is one main point of attraction: the guitars. The music switches between doom and black metal influenced parts or better said, the compositions offer either the former or the latter as a predominant aspect. Each of these is interesting, but perhaps this phrase is the worst that could be used in terms of describing the music. Even though some nice parts appear now and then, the whole concept lacks a little bit of fascination. It flows along gently and possesses accordingly no real outstanding facets; something that would make someone remember anything of the art.

This demo is not bad, but the production and the general absence of bass have an impact on the whole perception that cannot be neglected. Due to this flaw in the concept, the music has a strange touch and leaves the impression of a band whose attempt it has been to sound old-school but actually missed the goal for a good deal. Even though the songs are not bad in particular, there is something missing and the moments in which the band is really able to fascinate are simply too rare. Further does the track «Necrophelia» lack of identity, as it is pretty close to the modern Darkthrone stuff. Finally, it remains unknown where the band really wants to go to. With a mixture of fast or quite slow compositions, the demo sounds rather like experimenting a bit and trying to find out how the masses might react to the music. The gained input is then used for the next album/demo/rehearsal or whatever and the concept adjust in such a way as to present a more coherent and better crafted framework. A neat demo, some nice ideas, but certainly nothing I would listen to on a daily basis.