UMUR "Death Metal" is a 4way-split release featuring German artists Running Wild, Helloween, Dark Avenger, and Swiss group Hellhammer. The split was released in October 1984 through Noise Records. None of the band´s have had their breakthrough at this point, and all material on the split are demo recordings. Each artist are featured with two tracks.

"Death Metal" opens with the two tracks by Running Wild, which are culled from their 1984 "Demo 4". They are fairly well played but not particularly interesting heavy metal/speed metal tracks. Hellhammer is up next, and their two tracks are culled from the March 1984 recording sessions which ended up becoming the "Apocalyptic Raids" EP. The two tracks featured on this split, are however leftover tracks from the recording sessions, which originally didn´t make it unto "Apocalyptic Raids". Stylistically Hellhammer played a primitive and raw blackened speed metal style, which subsequently influenced a lot of extreme metal artists. They are arguably the most raw and extreme band on the split.

The Dark Avenger tracks are epic heavy/speed metal tracks, which are well performed, well written, and relatively well produced. As far as I know the two tracks are exclusive to this release. Dark Avenger only released a 1985 demo in addition to the material featured here and then folded. The two Helloween tracks are culled from their June 1984 "Death Metal Demo". Helloween play a more powerful, sharp, and hard edged version of the speed metal style Dark Avenger introduced on the tracks before these ones. The Helloween tracks are also well produced.

Although Hellhammer stick out a bit with their more savage sounding music style "Death Metal" is a pretty good quality split release, featuring some decent quality demo material (in some cases pretty good quality) and some of these bands would of course go on to future greatness. It´s only Dark Avenger who has more or less disappeared from metal history other than their contributions to this split. A 3 star (60%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Apocalyptic Raids 1990 A.D." is a compilation release by Swiss speed/thrash/black metal act Hellhammer. The album was released through Noise Records in April 1990. It compiles the four tracks from the March 1984 "Apocalyptic Raids" EP and the two tracks from the October 1984 "Death Metal" split release (Noise Records) with Helloween, Dark Avenger, and Running Wild. All six tracks were recorded during the same Caet Studio, Berlin, 2.-7. March 1984 recording sessions, but this is the first time they appear on the same release.

Four out of the six tracks had already appeared on the December 1983 "Satanic Rites" demo, so the March 1984 recording sessions only yielded two new origianal compositions in "Massacra" and "Horus/Aggressor". Both are in the same blackened speed metal style as the remaining tracks. While the material on "Apocalyptic Raids 1990 A.D." is definitely seminal extreme metal, Hellhammer had already peaked on "Satanic Rites", and the versions of the tracks featured on this compilation release (plus the two new tracks) can´t quite reach the extremity or intensity of the demo versions, making "Apocalyptic Raids 1990 A.D." a less interesting release than "Satanic Rites". It´s still an intriguing historical extreme metal document and worth the occasional listen, but I´d always recommend listening to "Satanic Rites" before listening to this one. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Apocalyptic Raids" is an EP release by Swiss speed/thrash/black metal act Hellhammer. The EP was released through Noise Records in March 1984. Just a few months later Hellhammer folded and shortly after Tom G. Warrior and Martin E. Ain formed Celtic Frost. Six tracks were recorded during the Caet Studios, Berlin, 2.-7. March 1984 recording sessions. Four of them appeared on the original EP release, while the two remaining tracks were included on the October 1984 "Death Metal" split release (Noise Records) with Helloween, Dark Avenger, and Running Wild. In 1990 Noise Records reissued all six tracks on the "Apocalyptic Raids 1990 A.D." compilation release.

"Apocalyptic Raids" only featured two new tracks as both "Third of the Storms (Evoked Damnation)" and "Triumph of Death" were also featured on the December 1983 "Satanic Rites" demo (both "Messiah" and "Revelations of Doom", which were also recorded during the sessions, were also featured on "Satanic Rites"). These versions are re-recordings though, and especially "Triumph of Death" appears here in a pretty different and longer version to the demo version of the track. The two new tracks are "Massacra" and "Horus/Aggressor". Stylistically this is blackened speed metal and in the case of "Triumph of Death" a pretty heavy and almost doomy version of the style.

The sound production is raw and unpolished but still detailed enough to hear all instruments and vocals clearly in the mix. "Apocalyptic Raids" is arguably an influential release and an early example of extreme metal, but compared to material and sound featured on "Satanic Rites" it´s a step down in extremity and intensity. The slightly better quality sound production is actually not a plus in this case, and I much prefer the more raw and caustic sounding demo. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Demon Entrails" is a compilation album by Swiss speed metal/thrash metal/black metal act Hellhammer. The compilation was released through Century Media Records in February 2008. It compiles the material from the June/July 1983 recording sessions, which would be released on the two demos "Death Fiend" (June 1983) and "Triumph of Death" (July 1983), and the material from the December 1983 demo "Satanic Rites". 29 tracks and around 100 minutes of music.

Hellhammer formed in 1982 (shortly as Hammerhead before changing their name to Hellhammer), released three demos, the "Apocalyptic Raids (1984)" EP and were featured on the 4-way split album "Death Metal (1984)" (with Helloween, Dark Avenger, and Running Wild), before disbanding on the 31st of May 1984, the next day morphing into Celtic Frost. They are often cited as a major influence on the infant speed, thrash, death, and black metal scenes.

Disc 1 features the material from the "Satanic Rites" demo, was is 12 tracks distributed over what could have been a full-length total playing time of 45:55 minutes. "Satanic Rites" is the Hellhammer release which earnt them the seminal extreme metal act pin, and rightly so. Stylistically the material is a blackened speed metal style which is greatly influenced by Motörhead and Venom, but also to a certain extent hardcore/punk. It´s an incredibly intense release, featuring raw and snarling vocals, pounding drums, and distorted guitars and bass playing simple but effective aggressive riffs. Four of the tracks from "Satanic Rites" also appear in early versions on Disc 2 ("Maniac", "Triumph of Death", "Reaper", and "Crucifixion").

Disc 2 features the 17 tracks recorded during the June 1983 sessions (recorded at Grave Hill Bunker, June 10th and 11th 1983). The 17 tracks were originally released on two separate demo releases "Death Fiend" (June 1983) and "Triumph of Death" (July 1983), but five of the tracks appear on both demos. Honestly the material recorded at these sessions is a lo-fi produced mess of hardcore punk influenced primite speed metal. Just as the material on the "Satanic Rites" demo, the material on "Death Fiend" and "Triumph of Death" is greatly influenced by Motörhead and Venom, but here the scale tips a bit too much to the hardcore punk side of the scale, and as the band are also pretty amaturish on their instruments at this point, and they haven´t really tweaked their material to become especially intriguing yet, the quality of these demos is not very high.

So "Demon Entrails" is a bit hard to rate, as it features the material from the "Satanic Rites" demo which is pretty brilliant, while the material from the early demos isn´t really worth much time or focus. Because of the significance and seminal nature of the "Satanic Rites" demo I´ll give this one a 3 star (60%) rating but it would have been higher had the release not been dragged down by the crude primitive lo-fi recordings of "Death Fiend" and "Triumph of Death".

UMUR "Satanic Rites" is the third demo by Swiss speed metal/thrash metal/black metal act Hellhammer. The demo was independently released in December 1983 through Prowling Death Records (the band´s own label) and was limited to 200 cassette tape copies. The material from the demo has since been reissued on the 2008 "Demon Entrails" compilation (Century Media Records).

Hellhammer recorded a massive amount of material (17 tracks in all) during their Grave Hill Bunker, June 10th and 11th, 1983 sessions, which was released on the June 1983 "Death Fiend" demo and the July 1983 "Triumph of Death" demo. The material showed a young and pretty amaturish band copying Motörhead and Venom mixing the blackened speed metal of the latter with hardcore punk elements. Both demos are crude, raw, and lo-fi recordings, which don´t show much promise, but only half a year down the line "Satanic Rites" shows a band who have developed greatly. It´s interesting to hear the four tracks which appeared in their original versions on the June/July 1983 demos ("Maniac", "Triumph of Death", "Reaper", and "Crucifixion"), which have been re-recorded for this demo, and sound quite a bit more intense, brutal, and aggressive in these new recorded versions.

While there´s still a hardcore/punk influence heard, the caustic aggression, intensity, and high energy performances now predominantly make this a blackened speed metal release. The vocals are raw and snarling, the drums are pounding out primitive animal aggression, and the guitars and the distorted bass play simple but effective aggressive riffs. I´d still mention Motörhead and Venom as primary influences, but Hellhammer are starting to form a more unique sound here.

One other feature which has been greatly improved upon since the first couple of demos is the sound production. "Satanic Rites" features a raw, but still clear and detailed sound production, where all instruments and vocals are clearly heard in the mix. The combined guitar and bass sound is just incredibly intense...almost seering in tone. I´m not sure if it was the intention that "Satanic Rites" should have been released as a full-length studio album, but somehow that project never came to fruitation (I´m speculating), but the fact is that the demo features 12 tracks and a total playing time of 46:11 minutes, which makes it an album length demo.

So upon conclusion "Satanic Rites" is a high quality demo release by Hellhammer. Considering that this is a late 1983 extreme metal demo it´s incredibly well sounding, the songwriting is memorable, and the musical performances are strong. Listening to the previous demo material by Hellhammer, I didn´t understand what all the fuzz was all about regarding Hellhammer, but listening to "Satanic Rites" the pieces certainly fall into place regarding how influential Hellhammer were on both the burgeoning speed/thrash/death, and black metal scenes. This demo is arguably a seminal extreme metal release. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.