UMUR
"Slumber of Sullen Eyes" is the debut full-length studio album by Finnish death metal act Demigod. The album was released through Drowned Productions in December 1992. Demigod were formed in 1990 and released quite a bit of demo/promo material and a split with Necropsy before releasing "Slumber of Sullen Eyes". Demigod split-up in 1994. They´ve reformed and split-up again a couple of times since.
"Slumber of Sullen Eyes" is self-produced affair, and it features a raw sounding production which suits the old school death metal material perfectly. While the music is old school Scandinavian style death metal to the core, featuring downtuned brutal guitar riffs, heavy pounding drums, and guttural though relatively intelligible growling vocals, the album is not a one-dimensional affair. There are enough rhythm- and tempo changes, morbid sounding guitar leads/harmonies and the occasional use of atmosphere enhancing keboards to keep things interesting throughout. "Slumber of Sullen Eyes" reeks of all the right authentic old school death metal gloominess. The grit, the darkness, and the brutality. It´s not that Demigod sound like Bolt Thrower or Grave, but it´s that predominantly heavy and mid-paced death metal territory which Demigod also inhabit.
The material is well written and effective death metal, although Demigod aren´t the most unique sounding act from those days. They do what they do with great conviction and passion though and they are great songwriters in the sense that they understand that an effectful death metal tune needs dynamics, climaxes, and a gloomy atmosphere. So Demigod are not only skilled musicians, they are certainly skilled composers too. Upon conclusion "Slumber of Sullen Eyes" is a good quality release and fans of old school Scandinavian death metal are recommended to seek it out. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.