Review by luajaz for Demigod - Slumber of Sullen Eyes (1992)

For fans of mid-tempo Bolt Thrower-esque death metal and tremolo based Swedeath, this is pretty much as good as it gets. An all around flawless pure, plain and direct death metal record, with not a lot of bells and whistles, no technical wankery or anything, but a ton of awesome riffs and great songwriting in an exemplary lesson in the use of dynamics, tempo and textures to build interesting songs in a somewhat constrained format. The production is also great, with bass and guitars sounding awesome - specially the kinda hollow open string tremolo tone - and nice drum sounds. Vocals are fine too, but nothing to write home about. All in all, I think this record can be used as a sort of measuring stick, a golden standard in this efficient and plain death metal style, meaning you can't do a whole lot more without adding some new element to the style or veering in a different direction. Adding to that, it is pretty impressive viewing this in a chronological sense, as I consider death metal to divorce from thrash and become purely it's own thing at around '89 or '90 with the release of Altars, LHP, Deicide, etc, and in just 3 years we pretty much achieved perfection. Also, this is around the same time we got the first developments in melodeath and brutal death with At The Gates and Suffocation, so this release may very much mark the end of the golden age of OSDM in great style. But what do I know.