UMUR
"Demo #1" is the first demo recording by Swedish death metal act Moondark. The demo was independently released in September 1993. Moondark formed earlier the same year and this demo was the group´s only release during their original run. They disbanded shortly after the release of the demo. Several members of Moondark went on to form Dellamorte.
The demo features no less than 7 tracks and a total playing time of 35:2 minutes. The music is a murky and heavy type of old school death metal with a loud-in-the-mix unintelligible growling vocalist in front. There´s a goregrind atmosphere to the music as a result of the odd sounding vocals, but the pace is not fast. This is predominantly a slow- to mid-paced and quite heavy death metal release. There´s little variation between the tracks and the demo soon becomes a bit of a one-dimensional listen.
When that is said there is still something charming about the primitive rawness and slimy growling vocals which is somehow appealing. It´s not masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but it´s a decent quality old school death metal release. A 2 - 2.5 star (45%) rating is warranted.
