Time Signature Transcending all space and time...

Genre: progressive metal

Much had happened in the Eidetic camp since the release of “Mirror Passway”. Importantly, the primary songwriter guitarist Dan Andersen had left the band as had the other guitarist Evan Tejre. In turn Jacob Hansen of Invocator and Anubis Gate fame had joined the band, and bassist Jonas Rendbo had taken over vocal duties while Jakob Gravlund from Force Majeure had joined as the new bassist. Fellow ex-Force Majeure member Michael Rasmussen had joined as the second guitarist.

The result of this line-up change is an Eidetic that sounds very different from the band that recorded “Non Conspicious Warning” and “Mirror Passway”. Jonas Rendbo is a more traditional rock singer than the vocalists who performed on the previous demos, but he is also a technically much better singer. With the departure of Dan Andersen the thrash metal elements also went out the door, meaning that the Voivod and Realm references from the two other demos are absent from this one. Thus the progressive thrash metal sound is replaced with a much more melodic and hard rock oriented type of progressive metal – because the progressive element is definitely not gone.

The first track 'Prove Me Wrong' opens in a mellow fashion with clean guitars and melancholic vocal lines, and it sounds like a source of inspiration might have been Fates Warning's “Parallels”. After a cycle of mellow verses and distorted choruses (and don't worry, this is not a lame power ballad), the listener is treated to a series of odd-metered sections and a heavy bridge accompanied by a melodic guitar solo. To begin with, 'Transcend All Space and Time' sound slike something from “90125” by Yes, but, as the intensity increases, the song takes on the character of a alternative metal-inspired progressive hard rocker with some nods towards Dream Theater and some Queensrÿche-inspired passages. Perhaps it is Jacob Hansen's love of “Empire” that shines through here; if so, then I can't say I blame them, as I love that album, too. 'Time Covers Cries' stays within the realm of melodic metal and hard rock and also seems slightly inspired by Queensrÿche. Blending rhythmically challenging drum patterns with melodic riffs and vocal lines, this song successfully combines catchiness with sophistication.

The production on this demo is infinitely better than on the previous ones, with the instruments being much more evenly distributed in the mix, and the guitars sounds much fatter and less volatile. This owes to the development of technology in the couple of years that passed since the release of “Mirror Passway” and probably also Jacob Hansen's presence. In terms of musicianship, this is the tightest performance by Eidetic in a studio recording, with not beat being missed here. While the music is very different and perhaps more accessible, this version of Eidetic still show that they are excellent songwriters who, like Queensrÿche and Fates Warning, master the art of creating catchy yet progressive music.

The thrash elements are completely gone, as are the dissonant chords and quirky guitar figures of “Non Conspicuous Warning” and “Mirror Passway”. This is a very different Eidetic, but that does not mean that this demo is not good. It is in fact very good, I think, and the three songs are really enjoyable, successfully combining progressive metal and catchy hard rock into high quality and, despite my references to Queensrÿche and Fates Warning, original music. It is really a shame that this band never made it big. Perhaps it is time for a reunion now that the musical landscape is so very different from what it was like in the mid 90s. Fans of progressive metal should definitely track down a copy of this tape. Alternatively, you can check out the Danish Demo Dungeon website for legal download of the three songs.

Time Signature Metal passway...

Genre: progressive thrash metal

In the early 1990s, the majority of the Danish metal bands in the underground scene had started gravitating towards death metal. There was nothing weird about this, as this turn simply reflected a global turn towards death metal generally. As a consequence, many of the demos that this underground scene produced were within the boundaries of death-thrash and death metal – and many of this were actually brilliant. However, there were a number of bands who went in a different direction. One of these was Eidetic whose 1992 effort “Mirror Passway” is probably my favorite demo release from that era.

While most other bands in the Danish underground metal scene took their music in a death metal direction, Eidetic – probably taking cues from Voivod, Realm and Fates Warning's “No Exit” - took their already quirky thrash metal in a much more progressive direction. Thus, “Mirror Passway” treats the listener to a handful of aggressive but quirky and sophisticated tracks, which despite pointers to Voivod and other progressive thrash acts are quite original at the end of the day.

The demo opens with an intro, with the nifty title of “Intro”, which sounds more like something out of an Amiga computer game than anything else. The first track proper, 'Darkening of My Realm' as a certain power-thrash feel to it as it takes the listener through a variations of the same cycle of riffs which break down into what sounds like a completely different song altogether, combining acoustic passages with heavy, but aggressive, ones. 'Mirror Passway (Part I)' is set off by a heavy intro characterized by dissonant guitar harmonies and followed by plenty of oddball guitar riffs and breakdowns and build-ups. The quirkiness continues in 'Mirror Passway (Part II)' which throws both thrashy aggression and pseudo-jazzy weirdness at the listener before the verse kicks in, offering both a nice vocal melody and a nice guitar riff. True to their musical aesthetics, Eiditic choose to insert an instrumental section with a wee bass solo and acoustic guitars between the song's two verses instead of a chorus. The first part of 'Pale Blue Eye' evolves around a series of dissonant riffs à la Voivod. The second part of the song is slower and features some atmospheric passages as well as a series of heavy parts (the use of semi-growled vocals in some of these parts go well together with the gruesome lyrical theme of murder, dismemberment, insanity and guilt. Starting out with a doom metal-inspired passage, which somehow reminds me of Count Raven's first album, 'The Hermit' suddenly changes character after a handful of minutes, taking on the characteristics of a power-thrash song.

As I said, this is probably my favorite demo from that era. I do not quite know why myself. Maybe the reason is simply that it was so different from the majority of demos released at the time. While many of Eidetic's peers explored the more brutal aspects of metal in the form of death metal and death-thrash, this demo was progressive and reflected a focus on sophistication and strangeness. The tracks on the album are still dark and aggressive but, like Voivod, Realm, and Watchtower, Eidetic are not afraid to challenge the listener with their use of dissonance and unconventional song structure.

Taking into account that this is a demo tape from the early 90s, the production is pretty good. It is a bit volatile and tinny in places, but I like that. It takes me back to that era, which I am very happy to have experienced first hand. The level of musicianship is much higher than on the previous demo, but there are, of course, places where the performance is not fully tight. I say 'of course' because conditions for underground bands were very different back then from what they are now, and demos were typically recorded within very tight time limits and on very tight budgets. Still, I would say that 'Mirror Passway' shows that these guys had the talent for combining the sophisticated and the aggressive.

If you are into bands like Voivod, Realm, and Watchtower as well as “No Exit”-era Fates Warning and the more complex King Diamons songs from the mid 80s, and if you are into 90s demos, then I would recommend this demo. If you do not have the collector's patience to wait for an actual original tape to surface somewhere, check out the Danish Demo Dungeon website for legal download of the demo.

Time Signature Beginning of spring...

Genre: (progressive) thrash metal

I am fortunate enough to have experienced first hand the demo tape phenomenon of the 80s and early 90s – in particular as part of the local underground metal scene of my home country Denmark. I was exposed to this experience in the 1990s which saw a general change in the Danish underground metal scene towards death metal. However, I tended to gravitate towards demo releases within other genres at the time, and one of my favorite underground acts on the local scene at the time was the band Eidetic who released three demos in their time.

On their first demo “Non Conspicuous Warning”, which features four tracks, Eidetic primarily explore the universe of progressively inclined thrash metal, seemingly inspired by the likes of Voivod, Realm, and Watch Tower without ever reaching the same level of progressiveness of these bands. But the four tracks on this demo are definitely sophisticated and experimental.

The first track, 'Obstinated Addiction', starts out with an atmospheric opening featuring spoken vocals, slightly dissonant guitars, a fluid bass pattern and jungle beat-styled drums, but then kicks into a set of very similar thrash riffs and uptempo drums which are followed by a breakdown and a slightly different version of the heavier theme of the intro with a chaotic-sounding guitar solo on top. This is followed by a brief series of thrash figures and a sequence of dissonant twin guitar harmonies. The second track 'Fountain Of Lies' is a heavier affair which features some slightly oddball guitar figures (including a strange jazz-fusion-meets-Middle-Eastern-music guitar solo) and several changes in tempo as well as a couple of out-of-the-blue breaks. 'Does It Get You' starts out with a series of neoclassic guitar figures which morph into having a more quirky character until we suddenly find ourselves in the midst of a fast and ferocious thrash passage. The track is held at a fairly high level of aggression for a couple of minutes till a heavier instrumental passage takes over. The last track 'Beginning of Spring' is initiated by a clean guitar intro, which is followed by an aggressive passage driven by an energetic riff which interchanges with an uptempo but quirky thrash-paced

In terms of musicianship, the performance is not always tight and on the spot, but it rarely was on demo releases back then, because bands typically had to book a studio for a limited time. In part because underground bands typically did not have the bugdet to use a studio for an extended period of time, and back then very few people had the equipment to record their demos at home (it was not like today when we can actually record an entire album at home in our living rooms, using a computer). So demo bands typically did not have time for more than a couple of takes. This is reflected in this demo as well, but it just adds a sort of charm I think, and the demo does showcase Eidetic's skills as songwriters, which would come to maturity on the following demo.

Productionwise we must remember that we are dealing with a demo tape here, so we cannot expect it to sound as pristine as demo releases do now. The guitar has a volatile sound quality to it and perhaps the drums are too fat-sounding for today's standard. Still, for a demo tape, I think the production is actually quite good, and I like how audible Jonas Rendbo's bass is.

If you are into 90s demo releases and like bands like Voivod and Realm, you should definitely try to track down a copy of this obscure demo. Collectors will probably try to obtain a physical original tape, but if you do not have the patience for this, you may want to check out the Danish Demo Dungeon website for legal download of the demo.