Demo Dungeon

Demo Dungeon

Demo Dungeon: Twisted Tower Dire – Hail Northern Virginia! / Triumphing True Metal

Twisted Tower Dire are a band with a very special place in the annals of US power metal. They formed in 1995 and released a majority of their material in the early 2000s. This was a time in which the majority of bands were shying away from more traditional styles of heavy metal, but Twisted Tower Dire were one of the few exceptions. They’re a band known for their fast paced, dual guitars and heavy use of singalong choruses. Before they really established this iconic style of catchy, but riff-centric power metal, they released a couple of unique demos that are unlike the rest of their discography.

By Marco, ago
Demo Dungeon

Demo Dungeon: Oracle / Prodigy – As Darkness Reigns Review

Prodigy/Oracle were a progressive power metal band from Florida – given a description like that, Crimson Glory and Savatage immediately come to mind and indeed Prodigy fit in nicely with those two. Unfortunately for the band, they were a day late and a dollar short and by the time they released their only offering, As Darkness Reigns, interest in the style had long since waned and they were relegated to relative obscurity. Luckily for die-hard fans, the internet gives us a fantastic avenue to appreciate and share bands that didn’t quite make it in their own time.

By Marco, ago
Demo Dungeon

Demo Dungeon: Whetstone – Ancient Metal Review

Just one look at the cover of the demo tape tells us everything we need to know. Scanning the artwork, you see an all black and blood-red aesthetic featuring a medieval warrior sitting upon a throne. Your eyes are drawn to the words “WHETSTONE” and “ANCIENT METAL”. Now I see something like this and it immediately gives me a certain expectation of the band’s sound and luckily, Ancient Metal sounds exactly like it looks.

By Marco, ago
Demo Dungeon

Demo Dungeon Special: Latin American Demos

As media, communications, and technology became more accessible, the Latin American region saw an ever-increasing rise in metal bands. For this Demo Dungeon special, we look at some demo-only bands from various countries. As these are demo recordings, sound production tends to be of low quality, but just like with the pioneering bands of the early and mid 80s, the rawness of these recordings are part of the charm. These bands, like their predecessors before them, had to fight tooth-and-nail to play a demonized style of music in dangerous and neglected parts of the world.

By xecotcovach, ago
Demo Dungeon

Demo Dungeon: Candle Opera – Dream Theatre Review

Not long ago I was having dinner with a very good friend of mine discussing about all those demos that we wished to be reissued but we both knew that was only wishful thinking. And then he mentioned Candle Opera, an extremely obscure heavy/ power band from Canada that somehow he managed to get one track from their long lost 1992 demo to upload in his Youtube Channel. Little we both knew then that at the same time Cult Metal Classics was working on a release of their long lost demo titled Dream Theatre.

By Panos Anagnostopoulos, ago
Demo Dungeon

Demo Dungeon: MaelstroM – This Battle to Make History, Yet History Never Comes Review

Some bands, such as Oblivion or Enchanter, make me scratch my head at the fact that they’re completely unknown, as they rule extremely hard and are similar to some more well-known bands (Sanctuary and Fates Warning, respectively). Clearly some metalheads just aren’t willing to go the extra mile and find the hidden gems – because plenty of people would go apeshit over those two acts, I’m pretty confident. A band like MaelstroM though – their obscurity is no surprise whatsoever – in fact I’d be surprised if they were well-known. Not because they suck, but because they’re so absurdly esoteric; neoclassical power/speed/thrash with extremely progressive song structures, random acoustic segments, and proto-death metallish yells alternated with really, really fucking strange and off-putting cleans. Add in songs that average around 7 minutes in length, and you have an inaccessible demo by some no-name power/thrash band.

By Jophelerx, ago
Demo Dungeon

Demo Dungeon: Domine – Bearer of the Sword Demo Review

Domine has received a fair amount of attention for their 1997 debut Champion Eternal and their subsequent albums, many of which also cover the subject of Elric of Melnibone. Elric is the subject of Michael Moorcock’s epic fantasy saga which began in the 1960s and became an exceptionally popular subject for 80s metal, likely due to the character’s pale skin, self reflectiveness, and, nihilism- qualities to which many metal fans could relate. Moorcock’s own love of rock music, which went as far as to actively work with bands like Deep Purple and Hawkwind, probably made his works even more accessible to those desiring to make metal music. While Domine was far from the first metal band to utilize his works as a source of inspiration, it was one of the first not from the UK or the US, and thus something of a novelty, to an extent at least.

By Jophelerx, ago
Demo Dungeon

Demo Dungeon: Millarca – Drunstall Review

Japan’s fascination and adoration with Traditional Heavy Metal is well documented and a boon that has provided us with a veritable buffet of incredibly passionate and well executed metal. Comparatively (and to my disappointment) the country’s abilities or interest never really made their way to doom metal. The Metal archives lists only 86 doom metal bands in Japan of which traditional and epic doom metal makes up only a small percentage. Outside of notable bands like Bellzlleb and Church of Misery, very few ever gained any real attention. Despite the massive influence that Black Sabbath has had over heavy metal, it seems that doom metal just completely failed to draw the attention that heavy, thrash or black metal did in Japan.

By Kaelrok, ago
Demo Dungeon

Demo Dungeon: Enchanter – Defenders of the Realm Review

Since the conception of metal, myriads of bands have dwindled in obscurity, taking it upon themselves to release only a few songs over one or two demos or singles before vanishing from the face of the earth, never to return again. We generally tend to polarize these bands based on the fact that they have so little material that it’s not likely to be diverse enough to facilitate a mixed opinion; thus the band is either thrown out the window as complete garbage, or elevated to a legendary status of a band untarnished by mediocrity, and, if they somehow reformed today, could certainly do no wrong. Enchanter falls into the latter category, releasing only eight songs over the span of two demos and a single in the late 1980s, but in this case, every song was absolutely killer, making for a spectacular compilation album and thrusting the band, at least in my mind, onto a pedestal of the grandest heights.

By Jophelerx, ago