UMUR
"Castle of Death" is the first demo recording by Norwegian death/black/thrash/doom metal act Valhall. The demo was independently released in May 1988. Valhall formed in 1987 and featured Gylve Nagell (aka Fenriz from Darkthrone) on drums on their first two demos (and on some tracks on their third demo).
Stylistically the four tracks on the 10:10 minutes long demo are in a pretty aggressive and brutal blackened thrash metal style (early Sodom and Kreator haven´t lived in vain neither have Hellhammer/Celtic Frost or Bathory). Sometimes bordering proto-black and death metal territories. It´s raw, murky, and relentlessly aggressive. The snarling blackened vocals provide the music with loads of caustic aggression.
The sound production is just above a rehearsal space recorded sound quality but not by much. This is pretty noisy and it´s not always easy to hear all details of the music. Upon conclusion Valhall don´t produce anything here you haven´t heard before and better from other early extreme metal bands. If you´re a Darkthrone fans this might be interesting just because Fenriz is involved and there are indeed a few nods toward the most primitive Darkthrone here and there, but that´s about it in terms of "Castle of Death" being a particularly interesting demo release from Valhall. A 2 - 2.5 star (45%) rating is warranted.
