UMUR
"Demo #1" is as the title suggests the first demo by Finnish death metal act Cerebrum. The demo was independently released on cassette tape in November 1993. Cerebrum originally formed in in the Finnish city of Turku under the Midsummers Night's Dream monicker, but soon changed their name to Cerebrum. They were a relatively shortlived act releasing only this demo and the 1994 "Grief" demo before disbanding. Both demos plus some extra material were featured on the 2017 compilation album "Endless Tears Of The Distant Sea".
The demo features 6 tracks ("Greenslaves" is a short intro) and a total playing time of 18:49 minutes. It´s plenty of time to get to know Cerebrum, and hear that they produce quality old school death metal. Brutality, rawness, tempo changes, a well playing band, and some effective vicious growling are some of the ingredients of the demo. "Oath of Sinful" and "Prophecy from the Skies" are absolutely scorching old school death metal tracks, and while that is also true for the remaining tracks of the demo, Cerebrum sometimes try out a few melodic ideas, which point in the direction they would soon take on the "Grief" demo (listen to the opening of "There Where Sun Was Never Shine" to hear some of that).
"Demo #1" features a well sounding production keeping in mind that this is a demo recording. Powerful, effective, and detailed enough to hear all instruments and vocals in the music. I personally could have done without the melodic moments (although they appear very sparsely), as they bring a little inconsistency to the demo, but other than that "Demo #1" is a high quality old school death metal demo release. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.