Demigod - Slumber of Sullen Eyes (1992)^{Release ID: 2412}

Demigod have always been a bit of an underground band, never really taking off the way other Scandinavian death metal bands did back in the early 90s. Heavily influenced by their Swedish neighbours, these Finnish youngsters created one very decent and atmospheric album and then disappeared for many years. But the album they left us with is certainly worth checking out, and it's sound is unique enough to make it stand out from all the other classic releases from this hugely diluted period.

The main difference between Demigod and the likes of Dismember and Entombed, is that Demigod change up their speed much more successfully. They may not ever reach the excitement level of those bands, but when they take things down a notch, it creates a really dense atmosphere and never allows Slumber of Sullen Eyes to become boring. They also utilise these slower, more crushing sections to pull out some cool focused leads, instead of just shredding wildly up and down the fretboard.  

If there is a weakness, I'd have to say that it's the rather pedestrian drumming. Too often Taatila falls back on the old one two style which sounds a bit dated these days. But the thick guitar sound and deep death growls are top notch and overall, this is an entertaining if not incredible album. It certainly deserves a bit more attention than what it has achieved over the years, but hopefully sites like Rate Your Music will bring it to the masses belatedly. It's hard to pick highlights as the album has a consistent quality throughout.

Finns Demigod and their album Slumber of Sullen Eyes must be one of death metal's best-kept secrets, being a band I have never even heard of prior to this. The reason for this may have been that it was released on a little-known and short-lived Spanish label, Drowned Productions, rather than a big-hitter like Earache or Roadrunner, because it certainly isn't down to a lack of quality. Their sound seems to be based upon the Swedish sound of neighbours Entombed, yet I found it more palatable than the Swedes' sound, mainly due to it having a deeper and more bassy timbre to it which sits a bit better with me personally. I still think this type of overdriven sound works best on the slower, more death doomy sections, as it tends to lose definition somewhat as the tempo gets quicker and can just become an aural blur on the absolute fastest sections.

There are some great death metal riffs contained within Slumber of Sullen Eyes and they come thick and fast, not just thrown together, but forged into songs that are dynamic and coherent. As I hinted at earlier there is plenty of variation in pacing with some death doom adjacent sections interspersing the more usual and quicker death metal tempos. The leadwork is decent and effective without exactly setting the world on fire, but that said, it is suits the material perfectly well. Vocalist and guitarist Esa Lindén has a nice line in deathly growls that are deep enough to provide a fairly intimidating roar when required. Rhythm section-wise things are solid enough, although the drums could have done with a bit more oomph as they often sound a bit too dull to properly drive the tracks forward. There are also a couple of occasions where they bring in some reedy-sounding keyboards which is always a nice touch on these early death metal albums and provides a bit of aesthetic variation.

Overall, this is a hidden gem of early underground European death metal and I think these Finns actually sound better than their more celebrated Scandinavian cousins such as Entombed. It's a pity it all kind of went tits up for them after this because they sound like they could have been a big noise in Euro-Death Metal circles.