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CROW JAIL ALLEY
by Thanos Aggelakis |
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PE SKEWER
by Thanos Aggelakis |
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thE.thinkinG.principlE
Band Contact: Website: www.thinkingmusic.co.uk E-mail: thinkmusic@hotmail.co.uk by Thanos Aggelakis |
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JAKE LEG
Band Contact: Website: myspace.com/thejakeleg E-mail: jakelegcontact@yahoo.gr by Thanos Aggelakis |
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LOADSTAR
Band Contact: Website: www.loadstar.it E-mail: info@loadstar.it by Thanos Aggelakis |
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POINT OF VIEW
by Thanos Aggelakis |
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LAST SOULS
by Thanos Aggelakis |
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HAN JIN OAKLAND
Band Contact: Website: www.hanjinoakland.com E-mail: hanjinoakland@aol.com by Thanos Aggelakis |
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CATHOUSE
Band Contact: Website:
www.cathouseband.com E-mail: info@cathouseband.com by Thanos Aggelakis |
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OVERGARVEN
Band Contact: Website: www.overgarven.com E-mail: overgarven@mail.gr by George Kouvelis |
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GYPSY
Band Contact: Website: www.gypsy-rock.com E-mail: stuart@gypsy-rock.com by Thanos Aggelakis |
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UNCLE ADAM
Band Contact: Website: www.uncleadam.co.uk E-mail: uncleadam_music@yahoo.co.uk by George Kouvelis |
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BEFORE SILENCE
Band Contact: by Thanos Aggelakis |
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THIS ILLUSION
by George Kouvelis |
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AESTHESIA
by Thanos Aggelakis |
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OMINOUS SKY
by George Kouvelis |
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GAMBLIN’ CREW
by Thanos Aggelakis |
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CITY WEEZLE
by George Kouvelis |
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THE NASTYS
by Thanos Aggelakis |
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MARS II MERCURY
by George Kouvelis |
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ACID BABY
Band
Contact: E-mail: AcidBabyMusic@yahoo.com by George Kouvelis |
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THE PEOPLE
Band
Contact: Website:
www.thepeople.se by Alex Savatianos |
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DISTORTION OF PERCEPTION
Band Contact: E-mail: distortionofperception@hotmail.com Website:
music.download.com/distortionofperception by Thanos Aggelakis |
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VOID GENERATOR
Band
Contact: Website:
www.voidgenerator.com by Alex Savatianos |
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ANGTORIA
“ANGTORIA”
Band Contact: E-mail: info@angtoria.com Website:
www.angtoria.com by George Kouvelis |
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G.L.A.S.
Band Contact: E-mail: info@glasweb.it Website:
www.glasweb.it by Thanos Aggelakis |
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ARROWS LOUNGE
Band Contact: E-mail: enquiries@arrowslounge.com Website: www.arrowslounge.com by Thanos Aggelakis |
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CLOUX
Band Contact: E-mail: clouxcloux@wanadoo.fr Website: www.cloux.new.fr
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SOMA SOUL TRANSFUSION
Band Contact: Website: www.soultransfusion.com
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GOTHAM O.D.
Band
Contact: by Thanos Aggelakis |
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DELIRIUM X TREMENS
by George Kouvelis |
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BLACK BULLET “BURNIN’ DESIRE TO PLAY WITH FIRE” (Demo CD)
by Thanos Aggelakis |
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MERIS
by Thanos Aggelakis |
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ILLUSION OF CLARITY
Band Contact:
by George Kouvelis |
Crow
Jail Alley are hailing from 
Pe
Skewer is a one man’s band that comes from 
This
British band was formed in 2005 by four musicians with the intention of
crating experimental metal music. By the first listen of this promo it’s
more than clear that the music is here is technical, heavy and has many
elements from many metal music kinds like prog metal, heavy/power,
technical/thrash etc. The musical result is very interesting and it’s a
plus that although the songs are technical are not too long so in the end
they do not become boring. The production is very good and heavy, maybe is
the best production that I heard from a self produced band in a long time.
I like this band, with the “strange name”, ‘cause its music exhales
a music paranoia that reminded me of some prog metal bands of the early
90s. Keep in mind that those British guys has also mixed all those
traditional metal elements with some (few) nu metal elements and the album
sounds very fresh by any means. I think that it’s only a matter of time
to get picked up by a record company... and I’m damn sure that their
debut album will surprise us all nicely...
Jake
Leg is a Greek band that comes from Thessalonica. The band was formed in
2005 and according to the press release, it is influenced by Metallica,
Motorhead, Audioslave, Velvet Revolver and Rolling Stones. I have to agree
that the band is mixing on its music many styles of the rock n’ roll
music genre but I would call the final result as hard rock n’ roll with
some new rock influences. The recordings of the six songs of this demo,
was done on the band’s studio and the production was also done by the
band itself along with the help of George Kambas. The truth is that the
final mix is not as clear as it should be and the good ides that some
songs have are “buried” under the not so clear and professional sound.
But I do not see anything bad on that as long as this is the first
recording of the band and it surely has a lot of time ahead of it to
experiment with its sound in the future… the good thing with this album
is that those guys have the power, the guts and the “craziness” to
play they music they like… the first step is already a fact… I’m
sure that more steps will follow in the future to come.
Loadstar
is an Italian band that was formed in 1985(!). As you can understand the
guys are not little kids that just fooling around and they have been in
the metal scene far too long. In 1987 the band recorded a demo-tape (back
then only demo-tapes were released) which was titled “Ashes or Glory”.
The band finally spilt-up in 1988. Then the band members went on separate
ways. Now after 17 years the guitarist, the drummer and the bassist of the
band (they were the original members) decided to re-unite. Loadstar as
it’s easy to judge by the time period that they were formed, they are
influenced by Judas Priest, Metallica, Accept, Iron Maiden and Saxon. They
still have that 80s sound on their songs and really “travelled” me
years back… I though that I was listening to a demo-tape of the late
80s! I was not satisfied by the production and generally the sound of this
promo-CD (for an 80s release it’s good) but the guys are truly into 80s
heavy metal music. They just play the music that they like and the music
that were listening to when they were kids… nothing bad on that. If you
like to get an idea how bands were playing in the 80s (especially in their
first recordings) then visit the official site of the band.
Point Of View is a newcomer band that is coming from 
“Light”
is the third mCD that these Italians have released till now… I haven’t
heard the previous works of the ban, so I shall say a few things about
this album only… do not know how much they have involved through the
years. They call their music “extreme progressive metal” but I would
say that they play a mixture of black (mostly Norwegian) and death metal
with some atmospheric and traditional heavy metal influences. They use a
lot of synth sounds and that makes their music more atmospheric at moments
but their black metal vocals along with the fast drumming shows that they
still trying to combine those atmospheric elements with the Norwegian
black metal ones. I’m sure that some of their fans would find more
interesting their atmospheric moments rather than their “extreme”
black metal ones. The good thing is that the band has the will and the
knowledge to go on as long as the guys put down all their influences and
mix them good together. If I was to give them two advices… I would tell
them first of all to write at least one song in a good studio in order to
have the appropriate production/sound (yes the home-studio may be a cheap
way to record your music but you can’t achieve good results in such way)
and to start using more “clean” vocals along with more atmospheric
parts in their music.
I
was pretty sure that this band was coming from 
Cathouse
is a band that comes from 
Overgarven
is a new-coming band since it was formed in 2001 in 
Gypsy
is a 
Uncle
Adam is a new-formed band from 
Before
Silence is a band that comes from 
This
Illusion was formed in 2003 in 
Our
French friends Aesthesia have also “joined” the universal hard rock
revolution! I didn’t know that French groups were interested in American
hard rock music but Aesthesia proved that they really live and breathe for
this kind of music. The band was formed in 2003 and after almost two years
it released its first 5-track demo. The music of the band as I said before
has many American 80s hard rock elements and it’s mostly influenced by
Gun N’ Roses. This demo is nice and has an OK production but the band
should work harder and try to get rid of those similarities with some
other big bands of this genre if it wants to step into music industry.
Ominous
Sky is a new doom metal band coming from 
Gamblin’
Crew is a newcomer band from 
Do you remember the demo of the Cloux band (“Full Fool”)? Well, this is the other band of the french guitarist Sylvain Ducloux “Cloux”, who also plays in one more band called The Forgas Phenomena. City Weezle, which was formed in Paris in 2004, consists of four musicians and plays a mixture of rock, metal, fusion, funk and maybe punk music. The vocalist (Simon Fleury) is the same one with the other band of Sylvain, Cloux, who also plays the acoustic guitars in the “Storm” track. His vocals have a bigger variety in this demo, because he doesn’t only sing like coming from a hardcore band (like the way he sings in
Cloux...), but instead he seems to be influenced from Chris Cornell and Mike Patton on some parts! The guitars sound different from Cloux and I believe that on the aforementioned band, Sylvain plays more technical. Here he sounds like playing punk, metal, fusion music! The rhythm section (Eric Carrere on drums and Maxim Gilbon on bass) reminded me of the hard and heavy or even the doom bands of the
70’s... Finally, the production (Julien Rousseau, Sylvain and Simon) could have been better, but it is ok for a demo CD. The artwork is very good and includes all lyrics, which are very
descriptive...
The
Nastys is a fresh, new American rock n’ roll band that was originally
formed in 2001 by Danny Smash, Joey Menace and Mick Nasty, as a reaction
to the unimaginative and monotonous Grand Rapids, Michigan music scene
that had been very stagnate since the mid-90’s, as the band claims. If
this is true then they would really turn upside down and awaken the whole
city and scene of Michigan
Mars II Mercury is a new-coming band from England and this is their first demo. As I found out in the band’s website, the guys are in the pre-production, writing and rehearsing process and have decided to release a series of demos starting with this one, which includes only one track titled “Loaded”. The band seems to be fond of Judas Priest, because their music style is very much influenced from Priest. Most of all the guitars and the vocal melodies are approaching very much of Judas
Priest... Since that this demo includes only one track that lasts 2:20 minutes, I cannot criticize the band in general, but I can only say that the band should keep trying. Finally, in their website you can read that the band is in the search of a new drummer, so everyone interested should contact them through the band’s e-mail, which you can see
below...
Two
years have passed since the first demo CD of Acid Baby (“Greatest Shit”)
and now the band has recorded its second one. The line-up is the same one
with the previous demo, apart from the new-coming drummer (Angelo
Balioussi). The band still plays heavy rock music although that there are
more experimental parts now, as far as I believe... The band has been
improved in every part, because the tracks are better, the vocalist has
done excellent progress and the sound is perfect! The demo contains four
new songs, which last about 18 minutes. “Seddin’ The Skin” that
opens the demo is a good and catchy track that has influences from all the
periods of the rock music. The second (“Keerie L. Lation”) has some
excellent keyboards and some experimental vocals for the band’s sound...
The third one (“Spacedance”) is maybe the best track they have ever
composed and has influences from Pink Floyd and some loops which reminded
me some electronic/pop bands (!)... The last track (“Cross”) is very
mature with heavy guitars and good melodies and it is one of the best
songs of the demo. This time the CD was recorded at the personal studio of
the keyboardist (Stefanos Danielides) who has also done the production.
The production is excellent and I believe that the band must have spent
many hours in order to achieve this sound! The band is in a very good way
and their purpose is to make the band known in the underground scene and
sign a contract with a label. You can contact the band in order to get
this CD.
Distortion
Of Perception is a Greek band that was formed almost two years ago by some
students in Ksanthi. Although the members of the band are young enough
they decided to move on a “strange and hard” music path. The music of
this first demo of the band can be described as technical death/thrash
metal with some melodic elements. The band has been influenced by
Nevermore, Death, Pantera, Control Denied and Arch enemy. The band has
some very interesting ideas in its songs and it’s very encouraging the
fact that some young guys can play so good and mature music. The
production of the demo is ok for a demo recording... but they need more
work on that part. But this is only their first recording and they have a
lot to learn in the future. I believe that any record label that deals
with this kind of music should pay attention to these guys ‘cause they
are good. I can only wish them luck for the future! This demo costs 3 €
and can be bought by contacting the band at the e-mail address below.
The
case with this demo is weird. The band jumps from chaotic stoner/space
rock to plain hard rock in the vain of Deep Purple, then to psychedelia,
to Radiohead, to fusion wannabe, to Neil Young and believe me these
elements do not bind at all at any time. It’s a pity because songs like
“Electric Treatment” and “Blues Sky” have something to say and
could have been good songs if evolved in a different way. The 14-minute
track at the end is very boring but if it was shorter it would have been
good. The band has potential once it clears what it wants to play, focus
on it and play it in an orthodox way. Taken that it is only a demo though,
I can tell you that the band has much much to give in the future.
Angtoria
is a new band that consists of Sarah Jezebel Deva (who has done some
vocals and has toured with Cradle Of Filth, Therion, Covenant, Mortiis etc.),
Chris Rehn (Abyssos) on guitars and his brother Tommy Rehn (Moahni Moahna)
on the arrangements and orchestrations. The band’s music is symphonic/atmospheric
metal and the guys of the band seem to believe in what they are doing.
Sarah’s vocals fit very well this kind of music and I liked very much
her performance. The main composer of the band, Chris, has done very good
work and he seems to have many interesting ideas that he would like to
share them with his audience... This demo includes 5 tracks and the second
one (“Confide In Me”) is a cover to Kylie Minogue’s track (!!!) The
demo has a very good sound and it was recorded at Tommy’s personal
studio (Virtual Symphony Studios), who has also done the production
together with Chris. The best track here, or better the most mature, is
“Deity Of Disgust”, which has been composed by the two brothers.
Martin Hδggstrφm (Zool) made the male vocals on this track and
the symphonic keyboards are amazing... I believe that if the band
continues and improves the particular style of music they will offer us
something very good! I wish them good luck and I know that I will hear
from them pretty soon, because they are recording their first full-length
album right now...
G.L.A.S.
is an Italian band, which was officially formed in 1987, and it got back
on action after 14 years! That’s a long time period of staying outside
the music scene. Since, I haven’t listened to the late 80’s works of
the band I will only speak about their new release “18”. By the way,
the demo’s title symbolizes the years that the band exists. Anyway, the
music style of the band can be characterized as melodic rock with some AOR
elements but the rather weak production does not help the final result
very much. There are some good ideas in some songs and with a heavier and
stronger production the final result would have been much better. But
that’s not a really big problem for the band since “18” it’s the
new work of the band after 14 years and things will surely be improved in
the future. All the six songs here are moving on simple melodic rock forms
and synth along with vocals seem to have the basic role in the band’s
music. Overall this demo is good, but I will have to wait to listen to the
band’s full-length release in order to draw some better conclusions
about the band. I also believe that the next release of the band will be
much better than this demo ‘cause, as I told before, they have some very
good ideas in their songs.
Arrows Lounge is a newcomer band from England, which was formed in late
2003. The guys play rock music with many hard rock 80’s elements and the
whole look of the band shows that they truly love 80’s hard rock music
in general. “Sonic Thrust” is the first work of the band, a five song
E.P., which was recorded live. The sound is quite good and although many
bands are avoiding live recordings, it seems that this kind of recording
worked fine with Arrows Lounge. Of course the production can be better and
I’m sure that it will be, judging by the fact that this is only the
first recording of the band. The songs are good, dynamic with nice rhythms
but if I was to give a kind of “advice” to the band I would tell them
to focus more one the choruses in general... in order to make them grab
your attention from the very first listening. Another plus for the band is
the it likes to play live whenever it has the chance and right now the
guys are working on new songs in order to release their debut album soon.
I wish them good luck and I’m sure that one way or another they are
going to release their first full-length album, ‘cause they seem to be
hard working and believing in themselves.
Cloux
is a French guitarist who is now 28 years old and decided after many years
of practicing to release this mini CD (it lasts almost 21 minutes). This
is his first work and it is self-released, since he hasn’t signed to a
label. Cloux has learned the guitar methods of Satriani, Malmsteen etc,
but he does not seem to just copying them as many guitarists do and
believe they are guitar heroes... His music sounds like math-metal,
progressive, fusion or even jazz metal! His way of playing reminded me
even the guitar style of Petrucci... The whole album is full of technical
guitars, breaks, many tempo changes and nice melodies. Everything in this
CD has almost been done by Cloux, since he has composed the music, played
all the guitars, has programmed the drums and has played the bass in one
track (“Treacle”). On the other tracks Kengo and Xavier Zolli have
played the bass and some lyrics that are included in the first and the
third track were written by Simon Fleury, who sings like a hardcore
vocalist. Those who like experimental and technical music will surely love
this CD! The production is very good although the drums are programmed and
the CD is self-produced! Generally, Cloux is a very good guitarist and
composer who is not just another clone of known guitar heroes. As I was
informed from his site, he has recently signed for the French label
Bloodyline and he is ready for the next step. I wish him good luck and I
hope to listen to his first full-length release pretty soon!
This
is not a newly formed band. The group has been formed back in 1998, but it
experienced much coming and going, without managing to hold up a steady
line up. The two masterminds of the group Mattias Axelsson and Fabian
Ericson (after releasing the EP “Songs Of Passion” in 2003) finally
made it to form a five-member band, offering us now this four-track demo...
which actually has a duration of more than 30 minutes. That’s because
the songs here are long, following the tradition of prog metal. This is
actually the tab we could put onto this group: Sentimental, “dark”
progressive metal that flirts with Sieges Even, Fates Warning, Psychotic
Waltz. The result is quite satisfactory, taking into consideration
that’s only a demo. Good vocals, technical guitar riffs, a very good
drummer and brilliant ideas. If the compositions become more focused and
spot the target at once, the group has much potential for the future.
Gotham
O.D. is coming from Finland and it’s playing a kind of gothic rock with
some metal influences. It’s seems that the weather in Finland “forces”
some bands to create gloomy atmospheres in their songs and to have an
esoteric feeling in their music. Besides, Gotham O.D. seems to be
influenced from bands like HIM and Entwine... after all, this E.P. was
produced by Entwine’s vocalist Mika Tauriainen along with Sethian’s
guitarist Juuso Jalasmaki, mixed by Entwine’s drummer Aksu Hanttu and
finally recorded/co-produced by Pasi Manninen, the sound engineer of
Entwine. So, as you can understand the production, which is good enough,
will bring on your mind Entwine and that’s no secret. On the other hand
the band has a very good taste of melody and the three songs of this E.P.
satisfied me. The band right now is looking for a record deal in order to
release its debut album and to share its music with lots of people. All
those record labels that deal with the specific gothic rock sound have
found a new good band to rely on.
Delirium X Tremens was formed in 1998 in Italy and “Cyberhuman” is the
band’s first demo. The band had many line-up changes in the previous
years, but now it has found its way. This demo contains five tracks of
death metal, which has many melodic parts (influenced from the Swedish
death metal), but I also found some thrash metal influences. The guitars
(Med and Lorenzo) are typical death metal. Here you can also find some
nice death/heavy metal riffs and melodic solos. The rhythm section (Pondro
on bass and Thomas on drums) is tough, solid and seems to be fond of the
mid-tempo speeds. The vocalist (Ciardo) has done a very nice and... brutal
job. The production is very good and you can clearly listen to each
instrument, while there is a feeling of death, like the feeling that the
oldschool death metal bands used to transmit through their songs...
Finally, I must mention that the third track that divides the album in two
pieces, is a melodic track played only by an acoustic guitar! The best
tracks are: “1000 Wolves” (in the middle of the track the early era of
Slayer came into my mind...) and “... Inside Me”.
Black
Bullet is the brainchild of Ajdin Jasarevic who was born in Bosnia &
Herzegovina and moved to the Netherlands in 1995. This Demo-CD contains
six songs (one intro and one outro) and the lyrics and the music were all
written by Ajdin who is also except from the guitars is playing the drums.
Black Bullet is playing a kind of fun hard rock/heavy metal music having
influences from the hair metal movement back in the late 80’s. The
production is not quite good as it reminded me of the production that most
Greek heavy metal bands had in the 80’s and the 90’s. They have some
good ideas in their songs but they need to work more on the production
‘cause a good production can make a song sound better and a bad
production can make a good song, sound bad. Right now the guys are working
on their debut album and they have also re-recorded “Tequila” and
“Hot As Fire” from this Demo CD in order to include them in their
debut album.
Meris
is coming from California and lately released its 3-track promo CD. The
guys play really heavy and it’s hard to categorize them. I mean they
have influences from heavy/thrash bands like Metallica, Xentrix and
Testament but on the other hand their sound is modern and they also, while
listening to the promo CD, brought on my mind Blackmaker, but with a
heavier sound. The production is very good and heavy and their promotional
package is very professional and another plus on this promo CD. The vocals
are “hard” and melodic (ala Hetfield) and fit well on the band’s
heavy music style. You will surely have a better idea of their music when
you listen to this 3-track promo CD but all that I can say is that Meris
is a hard working band and the guys love to play this kind of music. I do
not know if they are looking for a record label (they probably will) but
this stuff is better than some CDs that I receive from bands that have a
deal with a big or small label. Hope to hear from this band again in the
future.
Illusion
Of Clarity is a band coming from Sweden and this is their second demo. The
band was formed from the remains of another band called Hellstream. Their
music has mainly progressive metal influences, but it has also some power,
heavy and neo-classical influences. The guitars (Hallberg Anders and
Skarby Christian) are very heavy and are combined very well with the
technical parts, which are very good. The vocalist [Forsberg Patrik and
Holmgren Emil (vocals on the last track only)] has a good voice, but I
think he can do better with the high notes... The rhythm section (Holmgren
Emil on bass and Sφderlund Henrik on drums) is technical and heavy and
will remind you of other progressive metal bands. The final result is very
good, because everything is combined wonderfully. Melodies, technical
parts, progressiveness, power and some aggressive influences are all here!
The production is very good and heavy and improves the bands music. The
demo lasts about 30 minutes and contains four tracks, which you can
download from their website or you can order the demo by contacting with
the band...