UMUR
"Apparition" is the 2nd demo release by Swedish death/black metal act Dawn. The demo was independently released in December 1992. The four tracks from the demo are also featured on "The Eternal Forest - Demo Years 91-93" compilation album. Dawn was formed in 1990 and originally played death metal, but later shifted towards a more melodic oriented black metal style.
The music on "Apparition" is a continuation of the old school Swedish death metal style of "Demo 1" from March 1992, but presented in a more clear and detailed semi-professional sound production. Dawn play a brutal and often blast beat loaded form of old school Swedish death metal, so in that respect they are a bit different from classic Swedish acts like Entombed and Dismember.
"Apparition" features 4 tracks and a full playing time of 20:14, and as a listener you get a much better idea of what Dawn were about at this point in time, than you did on the very short "Demo 1". "Apparition" actually features a re-recorded version of "Thirst of the Dead" from "Demo 1", which is presented here in a rather different sounding version.
So as a demo release "Apparition" successfully presents the listener and labels with the sound of Dawn. The material is a bit one-dimensional though and it´s not the most memorable death metal style that Dawn play either, and add to that the fact that the more clear sounding production actually doesn´t suit the brutal music as well as the murky and lo-fi ditto did on "Demo 1", and "Apparition" ultimately doesn´t come off as the most interesting Swedish death metal demo from that time. Still a 3 star (60%) rating is deserved.