Welcome to Demo:listen, your weekly peek into the future of underground extreme metal. Whether it’s death, black, doom, sludge, grind, thrash, -core, heavy, speed, punk-, stoner, etc., we’re here to bring you the latest demos from the newest bands. This week’s Demo:listen belongs to Hungarian death worshipers Os.
After lurking in the shadows of the Budapest underground, with whispers of their advent dating back as early as 2008, Os seem to arise from some hellish realm beyond this linear plane, invoking seven tracks of ritualistic and palpably demon-haunted death-doom. Demo MMXVII dropped only two weeks ago, but for all its raw energy and caustic heaviness, Os’ debut sounds somewhere between a tape released in 1988 and a tape that exists beyond time, beyond human culture.
Although the members of the Budapest-based death-doom-wielders wish to remain anonymous, our contact within Os tells us that “for the sake of this interview, I’m simply G. and I’m the guitarist of the band.”
“There are four members in Os,” G. explains. “It’s a simple lineup (vocals, guitar, bass and drums), but . . . we wish to remain anonymous because we’re just humble and nameless worshipers of death . . . Back in 2008/9 we were thinking [about playing] raw black metal, but in 2014, when we reanimated the idea (the vocalist and me), we immediately knew that we need something more murky and moldy.”
Regarding their laconic and awesomely monosyllabic moniker, G says, “The name was our vocalist’s idea, this dates back to like 2008-2009. We wanted to play some raw and primitive music hence the short and primitive name. But it contains our dedication to death because Os is Latin for bone.”
Speaking of primitive, listen to how “Adorabo Putrefactionem Meum,” the second track from Demo MMXVII, seems to crawl forth from some dank and mysterious hovel, lugging a massive and raw guitar tone, ready to brain whatever’s dumb enough to cross its path.
Says G., “I have to admit that this demo is a pathfinding material for us ergo it was heavily inspired by some favorites like 13th Moon or Necros Christos . . . First, we recorded the music in one piece, fully analog, and after that we recorded the vocals and did a tiny mastering with the help of WLR from Witchcraft. Before this we recorded everything in one piece, but the vocals were too low, so we had to do it again. Songwriting took nearly a year and the half. By the time of our first gig in August 2016, we had the complete demo material.”
Out of the three tracks currently available online for streaming, the strongest has to be “Lux Nigra Mortis.” That ritualistic ending is teeming with malign energies.
“These energies are always with us, in us, they guide our hands, our bodies, so the presence is indisputable,” G. explains. “Especially during the recording of the vocals. It was so intense and terrifying, we could hear it outside of the studio.”
As for the song “Lux Nigra Mortis,” specifically that wicked ending, G. says, “It’s about ritualistic cannibalism, consuming the last breath, last drop of blood and the last piece of rotting meat from a corpse with malicious intent to get our body and soul filled with death’s shining black light. The ending symbolizes the success of the ritual.”
According to G. Os are already at work on their debut full length, so keep your ear to the earth for that one. In the meantime, if you’re lucky enough to live in that part of the world, you can catch Os on Halloween night in Budapest with Gravecrusher, Possession, Nyogthaeblisz, and Black Witchery.
Regarding the other four songs on Demo MMXVII that aren’t available online to stream, G. reassures us that it’s all “relentless death worship,” and no filler. In other words: You need this demo. Somehow copies are still available from Funeral Chants Productions, with some also en route to Caligari Records.
