UMUR
"Cranial Demonstration" is a rehearsal demo release by Danish death/doom metal act Dead Void. The demo was recorded during a rehearsal on the 8th of August 2021. Dead Void formed around 2017, and recorded a rehearsal demo in March 2017 titled "Rehearsal Demo 20/03/17". "The Looming Spectre" studio demo (although most of it was recorded live in the studio) was recorded in October 2017, and released in January 2018. It was a demo showing great creative songwriting, impeccable organic musicianship, and a very harsh, ominous, and heavy sounding production job. Jump a few years into the future and Dead Void has recorded another rehearsal demo.
Stylistically Dead Void continue to play a raw, loud, and very dark death/doom metal style, with the occasional more mid-tempo (and sometimes faster) old school death metal part thrown in for variation. These guys can play, which is obvious when listening to this rehearsal demo, which is naturally 100% recorded live. For a rehearsal demo it´s relatively well sounding, but you have to be in the mood for a pretty murky, chaotic, and mean sounding release. You´re not always able to tell what´s going on (especially during the faster parts), but that only adds to the abysmal atmosphere of the release. Featuring three tracks (all relatively long) and a total playing time of 22:30 minutes "Cranial Demonstration" doesn´t overstay its welcome, which it easily could have done given the extremity and noisy nature of the recording, but this one actually ends up being a pretty good quality death/doom metal demo. A 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating is warranted.