Demonic Nightmare.. bwahaha

First post!

Today I discovered two great albums. Testament and Enslaved were no strangers to me, but it seems I saved the best for last.

Testament – Demonic (1997)

I knew what to expect from Demonic, or at least I thought I did. The attempt to break into commercial success with The Ritual being a semi-failure, the band chose a heavier direction with Low and went even further with Demonic, an album closer to death metal than to the band’s thrash roots.

Chuck Billy’s vocals are almost unrecognizable, and it isn’t until the third track that the first sign of anything resembling singing can be heard. Of course, he could have just used his old singing style, but he pulls the death growling off so good, I can’t help but praise his performance. Eric Peterson’s riffs also went through a transformation, and on the drums we have none other than Gene Hoglan, ’nuff said.

The songs are full-on groovy ass kicking, way better than what I expected – for some reason Recommended listening and headbanging material

Enslaved – Mardraum: Beyond the Within (2000)

Mardraum (which supposedly translates to “Nightmare”) bridges the gap between the bm/viking kvltness of Eld and Blodhemn and the psychy rock’n'roll kvltness of Monumension and the following albums. I’m glad I listened to albums such as Eld and Monumension before this one, otherwise I might have not appreciated it too well on the first listen.

Although it may be a bit much to take in at first, Mardraum is definitely a top 3 Enslaved album for me .