EIDETIC — Non Conspicuous Warning (review)

EIDETIC — Non Conspicuous Warning album cover

Demo · 1990 · Thrash Metal

3.5/5 · 2013-10-15
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.