Welcome to another installment of DEMO:LISTEN, your weekly peek into the future of underground metal. Whether it’s death, grind, black, doom, sludge, heavy, progressive, stoner, retro, post-, etc. we’re here to bring you the latest demos from the newest bands. On this week’s DEMO:LISTEN we savor a Massive Retaliation from Jersey only to get Ceremented in Phoenix.
CEREMENTED
From its haboob howl beginning to its skull-scraping-out ending, Ceremented’s Unbound Horror is exactly what the demo of a three piece death-doom band (a drummer, a vocalist and a bassist) from the arid wastes of Phoenix ought to sound like. The drummer plays like he got kicked out of a beatdown sxe hardcore band for too many bong hits and blast beats, and it would seem that the bassist has only ever listened to Lord of Putrefaction and Symphony of Grief. Together these Phoenicians kick up more dust and harsh vibes than most bands twice their size in band memberage can manage. Trust me, these four tracks of corroded and leaden death-doom played with a grindcore mentality will smack that cynical sneer right off your face. If you like what Primitive Man and Spectral Voice are up to, you’ll find Ceremented moldering in the penumbra between the two.
On Tuesday, March 1st, Unbound Horror was officially released in the form of 25 cave-dubbed cassettes. For those of you without a time machine, the demo is also available to download/stream.
MASSIVE RETALIATION
We need to figure out what is was that we did to deserve Massive Retaliation’s Invocation of the Profane and do it more often, because this demo is truly one in a million. Massive Retaliation are two Jersey boys who you might recognize from their other band, Death Fortress. What? You’ve never heard Death Fortress either?! smh, dude. Really, Invocation sounds nothing like Death Fortress, but the relentless onslaught is definitely familiar. The drumming of “T. Warrior” will swarm you like a vampire bat feeding frenzy while J. Aversario’s riffs and basstone hits like wooden crates filled with copies of Bestial Devastation and I.N.R.I. dropped from the sky by metal missionary planes. And whatever the dual attack vocals are up to any given moment is hard to discern but never fails to ravage your sense of security. To put it simply: Invocation of the Profane rips, shreds, kills, destroys, etc. To be avoided if you like your face.
Massive Retaliation was released on tape by the brand new label NVNM–whose doors are temporarily closed, but will re-open soon with a mysterious new release to premiere. Lucky for you, there are actually a few copies of Invocation of the Profane wandering around out there.
Remember to check this spot next and every Friday for more promising new metal bands!