review: Perpetual Demise

Perpetual Demise (Holland)

Arctic

Vic Records

release: 25 November 2016

This is a reissue of the 1996 album by the Dutch melodic extreme metal band, now defunct. I have never heard of this band before and had no idea what to expect. Somehow, from the first listen I thought that there was something interesting going on. The guitar tone? Maybe the vocals? Could it be the feel of melancholy? Was it the melodies? Whatever it was, I decided to listen for real. I have been pleasantly surprised with how good the quality of the music is. The album has a nice, catchy guitar tone and a rather overall clear production, and you can hear the bass guitar in the songs. Basically, on this score, the album is very friendly to the ear. It's not too noisy or busy, and the vocals are not all over the place, not trying to be the only thing that you can hear.

Perpetual Demise gets by on the strength of the songs. They have that special it that people looking for songs will like. Whether it is the melodic guitar passages, the choruses, and the ability to keep the songs focused, the songs stay around after they stop. Perpetual Demise sounds like a young band making young music, a young mix of extreme metal and melody/prog. Back at that time a band like Perpetual Demise was taking all the metal music forms that came before it and was incorporating bits and pieces of everything and getting creative. It sounded somewhat familiar and a bit new, too. Listening to this music today, I am very impressed with how well it stands up and how fresh it sounds. This album is an oldie now, but it is also a goodie. Get in touch with Vic Records below and ask them to let you hear the music. I’m having problems finding a link at Vic Records.

[review by MMB]

OFFICIAL: Dutch death metal band Perpetual Demise was founded back in 1989. In the early nineties the band recorded three demo's which received very positive reviews from national and international press. Thanks to these demo's the band got the opportunity to perform with well-known bands like Gorefest and The Gathering . One of the highlights in the career of Perpetual Demise was their performance on the campsite of the famous Dutch open air festival ‘Pinkpop’ in May 1994.

Their debut CD named "Arctic" was released by cult Dutch label DSFA Records (Gorefest, Orphanage, Within Temptation) in 1996. The album was produced by Roel Toering who is famous for his work with Dutch bands like Vandenberg, The Trockener Kecks and Vitesse. This re-release contains 17 track in total (including 6 bonus tracks from their demos) and is completely remastered. Coverart by Roberto Toderico (Sinister, Soulburn, Asphyx) and new booklet design with liner notes and many rare old pictures.

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