UMUR
"Labyrinths Of Horror" is the second demo recording by Danish death metal act Mordor. The demo was recorded during 1994 but it was never officially released although cassette tape copies exist. The reason for this was that Mordor changed their name to Exmortem in 1994 and they opted to release "Labyrinths Of Horror" as their debut full-length studio album in June 1995 (through Euphonious Records). So "Labyrinths Of Horror" exists out there bearing both the Mordor and the Exmortem monickers, although most people probably own the latter version of the album.
The Morder version is therefore an odd release to review, because it features exactly the same material and even the same tracklist order as the Exmortem version, and labelling this as a demo is a bit misleading and it´s more correct to call the Mordor version a shelved unreleased album.
Down to a three-piece on this release (bassist Mads Weng has left and lead vocalist Søren Lønne has taken over the bass duites in addition to singing), Exmortem are as relentlessly brutal, raw, and intense as they were on the "Souls of Purity" but it´s audible that they have taken the next step in their development and as this was recorded to be released as a studio album, the sound production values are also of a higher quality than on most contemporary demos. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.
