Genre: Black metal
Origin: USA
Released: 2009
Website: Godless Priests
Label: -
Uploaded: 16.02.10

This is the debut demo of this one-man band, and as far as one-man bands go I haven’t got high expectations for it. Unfortunately most of the time one-man recordings should’ve stayed hidden deep in the closet, never pestering listeners. With that being said some of my fears where confirmed by No prayer in hell, but it has a glimmer of hope as well.
As the opening track Enslaved by the dreams of obscurity commence the crude production becomes evident. The melodic riffing is definitely in the forefront of the battle, and the drums are hidden far in the back (as they should be) and with the vocals rearing its ugly face only on occasion. I can’t for the life of me decide if he’s used a drum machine or if he’s actually drumming for real. I honestly don’t care, ‘cause the drum beats are boring, repetitive and since it’s so far in the background anyway it doesn’t bring anything at all to the table. The only thing that’s there to care about is the riffing, which contains a sense of melody that at times is really good, like for instance in Enslaved by the dreams of obscurity. Unfortunately it’s not even near tight in execution, and it sounds as though he played the song for the first time and didn’t really nail it. So it’s an incredibly sloppy first impression to make. The following track, …And came grim passage, is a little faster, making it mid-tempo, still with a sense of flair when it comes to the riffing, but sadly with the same bland drumming.
As the demo progress I’m struck by the fact that the sound quality deteriorates. This makes it even harder to hear what’s going on, but also makes the music easier to enjoy as it hides the flaws better. Waltz of disease has a great ending with the distortion turned off and eerily haunting whaling vocals. Vocally it’s gnarly high-pitched squeals most of the time, but on occasion going for a more classic black metal approach. It’s difficult to say whether or not it’s good, just ‘cause the production is so horrible. This guy was previously in Nachtmystium, so I’m sure he can do much better. So what I don’t understand is why he felt content enough to release this as a real demo. Maybe I’m not trve, kvlt (or whatever) enough to get it, but I don’t get it. I really hope he springs for a better recording, tighter execution and hires another drummer for the job next time, and I’m sure it’ll be pretty cool.

Tracklist:
01. Enslaved by the dreams of obscurity
02. ...And came grim passage
03. Waltz of disease
04. Self destruction unto empyreal nihil
05. Render unto Caesar...