UMUR
"Deeds of Darkness" is the third demo recording by Danish thrash metal act Artillery. The demo was independently released on cassette tape in October 1984. It´s the successor to the August 1984 "Shellshock" demo, and just as the case was with the preceding demo, "Deeds of Darkness" was recorded and mixed at Ole Erlings Lydstudio and produced by Artillery.
Stylistically Artillery is slowly moving away from their speed metal and traditional heavy metal influences (except for the vocals which very much belong in those genres) and add more raw thrash metal riffs and rhythms to their music, although "Deeds of Darkness" isn´t a straight thrash metal demo in any way.
It´s not the most well produced demo, and the bass and the vocals dominate the soundcape, while especially the rhythm guitars are buried and sound a little powerless. The drums aren´t as prominent as they were on the first two demos either, and it´s a real shame because Artillery´s greatest assets at this point were definitely their sharp and well played riffs and the powerful organic drumming by Carsten Nielsen.
So while "Deeds of Darkness" show progression in sound and style for Artillery, it´s not the best quality demo they´ve recorded, and a 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating is warranted.
