SORCERY — Unholy Creations (review)

Boxset / Compilation · 2011 · Death Metal

2/5 · 2013-11-17
Time Signature

Infernal return...

Genre: death metal

Among the more obscure pioneers of the Swedish death metal scene are Sorcery. They may not be as well known as Dismember, Grave, or Nihilist/Entombed, but they were also there at the beginning and made important constributions to the Swedish extreme metal scene. This compilation collects the band's early demo output ranging back to 1987. It was recently reissed on Hell's Headbangers Records in a 2-disc format, which is the version reviewed here.

The first ten tracks of CD 1 capture the 1987-demo "The Arrival". The style presented to the listener here is nascent death metal - that is, it is really thrash metal taken as far as thrash metal could be taken back then with harsh vocals on top. There is a certain naivety to the compositions, although they are actually not bad at all. Some are even quite complex, and they draw on pretty strong riffage. Unfortunately the vocals are extremely annoying in every possible sense, and the lyrics are kind of juvenile. While the latter is forgivable, the former is not - especially because the vocals are very dominant in the mix, too. My favorite tracks on the album are definitely the instrumentals, such as 'March of the Mountain King' (evolving around the theme from 'Hall of the Mointain King') and the super epic masterpiece 'Flight of the Sorceress'.

The remaining tracks on CD one capture the 1988-demo "Ancient Creation", and the style is very different here. Involving blastbeats and fast tremolo picking, Sorcery sound more like a crossbree between a raw black metal band and a grindcore band on these tracks. The exaggerated use of reverb on the vocals only add to the black metal feel.

The first five tracks of CD 2 capture the 1989-demo "Unholy Crusade", and again we see a change in direction, this time toward simple death thrash. The next three tracks represent "aculated Life" from 1992 and yet another change in musical direction, as these tracks are much more in the vein of the harsh and dirty d-beat-infused Stockholm death metal sound. The remainder of CD 2 consists of various material.

Needless to say, we are dealing with lo-fi productions here, which may be plainly unlistenable to some. But back in the 80s and 90s, they simply did not have the technology today, and most demo material was recorded using 8 track tape recorders (or 16 track if you were really lucky). Thus, on a lot of the tracks on this release, the guitar is reduced to a muddy buzz or a fuzzy hiss, while the drums sound either like pots & pans or cardboxes, and the mix is totally imbalanced. That's just how things were back then. Older fans of metal are probably going to find this production a charming and nostalgic blast from the past, and younger fans are invited to check out this compilation so they can hear which conditions we old farts had to work under back in the day. The production on CD 2 is much better, but still lo-fi, it should be mentioned.

This is primarily directed at fans of the band, and may not be of interest to everybody. Nonetheless, it is very interesting how "Unholy Creations" document the history and stylistic changes of Sorcery. Recommended to fans of the band, and - more generally - people who are interested in the history of Swedish extreme metal.