Returning to sweep the dust of past nature with a new storm of celestially-summoned winds Seattle, Washington-based black metal band Demoncy hold the key to unlock the gateway to a kingdom which stands a decade overgrown with thorn, vine and the void of the eternal adversary. ‘Black Star Gnosis‘ is the auld key, ragged and rusted as if pulled from the pockets of an ancient corpse by fresh hands, a black metal muse which we’d ordinarily have to look to the past (or, few present imitations) to source today. The hinges do not creak upon unlock and the air does not clear as the growling gravitas of their return ripples underfoot, this truly subterranean classic revives for the first of two late-year releases unhindered by time and seemingly strengthened by the veritas unveiled by the passage of time.

Demoncy was created circa 1989 by grand archivist and lord of the sylvan shadows Ixithra (Profane Grace) when living in North Carolina. Since I know very little about the original proposed line-up of the band and their Beherit (or, Blasphemy)-style stage names I will suggest that even from the earliest rehearsal track (“Impure Blessings“, 1991) the general imprint and core traits of the artist were already well formed. The major proof of their conception came in the form of their album-length debut demo tape (‘Faustian Dawn‘, 1993) wherein the first full picture of the artist’s intent made itself clear as occult black metal in a style which was hypnotic, low-fidelity, and concerned with making otherworldly sounds to accompany blasphemic spirituals. Some of the most under-appreciated “USBM” remains tucked away in the demo-era recordings of the artist throughout the 90’s. The “death metal” dirging quality of their rhythms was still evident on my personal favorite tape (‘Hypocrisy of the Accursed Heavens‘, 1994) before they’d begin to more completely infuse keyboards, crisped and cold recording into their work (‘Ascension of a Star Long Since Fallen‘, 1995) wherein each tape began to produce quite advanced, original work. The natural peak of this “album readiness” was the frankly somewhat more typical guitar work and rhythms of ‘Commencement of the Dark Ages‘ (1996), the suggested precursor work for their debut LP (‘Within the Sylvan Realms of Frost‘, 1999) wherein small labels began to show interest. I’d found it important to highlight the amount of original work done by Demoncy in the 90’s and deliver this sense that yes, their work was necessarily rough in quality as demo-level craft but the impossibly dark feeling and persistence should’ve inspired much more confidence in the underground spaces, and certainly overseas.

DEEPER LISTENING: [x]

Darkened Skies: A black metal project featuring the Atlanta-based lineup of ‘Ascension of a Star Long Since Fallen‘ (1995) tape in a somewhat different style for a one-off tape (‘Commencement of the Dark Ages‘, 1995) which I particularly like for its slower, funereal moments.

Profanatica: Ixithra joined this band in 1992 and kind of famously left, citing poserdom among their ranks as his issue, and the big rumor that will never die is that he’d magnetized a recording they’d done that was sub-par. I don’t really care about what part of that legend is true but moreso that the reputation of the artist was always very serious about authenticity and concerned with being misrepresented by anyone who wasn’t. Pick up the first two Havohej recordings, which also rule, and get a sense for the destroyed sessions.

Archgoat: I figure if you already know all there is to know about Demoncy and Beherit, and of course you know ‘Drawing Down the Moon‘ (1993) by heart, but I’d say fewer folks take the time to investigate the early works of this Finnish monstrosity, specifically their ‘Angelcunt (Tales of Desecration)‘ EP from 1993. The perfect guitar tone for their purposes at the very least and one a few tangential comparisons to be made with the grinding gloom of early Demoncy.

Profane Grace: A dark ambient project from Ixithra. Those seeking additional atmospheric context or experimentation we find the same soul in these recordings which tend to coincide with Demoncy releases.

As it turns out that debut LP was recorded around the same time (1996) as their prior two demos and as we would soon find they’d not only been harried in their output during that time but it wasn’t released in chronological order. This means ‘Within the Sylvan Realms of Frost‘ (an inconsistent classic per my opinion) will appear to be quite a great leap into vision for the band which made sense for 1999 and beyond ‘Ascension of a Star Long Since Fallen‘ but then their best-recognized opus ‘Joined in Darkness‘ (1999) was recorded in 1995 and features the primitive, downtuned and bass heavy cacophonous bevvy which made it sound like a direct follow-up to ‘Faustian Dawn‘, which most consider the band’s first full-length in spirit nowadays. At some point Killjoy‘s (R.I.P.) Baphomet Records put out a 2CD collection of everything excepting ‘Joined in Darkness‘ and it wasn’t until then that I’d understood Demoncy‘s timeline. I’d never personally bought into the childish ‘Scandinavia versus the world’ false black metal ideology and always pointed to this band’s 90’s output as one of many examples of United States black metal bearing a largely unique, serious soul. The greatest point of momentum for the band would quickly fall off for many and it’d all come down to the knots they’d tied prior with the timeline of releases/recordings.

The hinge-point for many fans is of course the years-removed ‘Empire of the Fallen Angel‘ (2003) which has been made difficult to find in its original form. The album was presented in a style which I’d liken moreso as a follow-up to ‘Within the Sylvan Realms of Frost‘ and the ‘Commencement of the Dark Ages‘ era which’d been tinged with Scandinavian riffcraft and pacing. This meant a very primitive and doomed record (‘Joined in Darkness‘) was followed by a rapacious, loud and professional sounding release which was recorded eight years later. Folks said it didn’t sound like the band, and, fair enough but I’d have liked that version preserved since I’d enjoyed it at the time. Years later it was expanded, re-recorded etc. for ‘Empire of the Fallen Angel (Eternal Black Dominion)‘ (2015). Now, as a fan I’d simply picked up CDs from distros (probably Deathgasm?) over the years and did my best to keep up with obscure groups like Demoncy but it wasn’t until ‘Enthroned is the Night‘ released in 2012 that I’d been better documenting my experiences and took quite a lot of time to investigate the group beyond a viably ‘evil’ and particularly dark sound, setting it as #24 on my Top 30 Albums of 2012. So, as strong as my memory is of those old compilation CDs and 2003 and such it was that record that’d set my expectations high for this band. It was maybe a very long walk to get here and star into the abyss for a decade but ‘Black Star Gnosis‘ arrives with the expectation of sincerity, mayhemic occult sounds, and a hissing orator directing it all.

If the extant fandom the world over wants more ‘Joined in Darkness‘ style reaping, the original and enduring dark pulse of Demoncy, as a point of pure underground stubbornness then our exit from anno MMXXIII will indulge per two triumphant falls from a high place. This latest full-length, ‘Black Star Gnosis‘ is the primacy with about ~35 minutes of dark ambient-set cavernous occult black metal and in a couple of weeks their ‘Diabolica Blasphemiae‘ mLP will release in a similar style but, I’ll do my best to stick to the album at hand. Expect a cavernous expanse, a subterranean black metal rift which is immediate in its vocal presence yet coursing downward within its bramble-like curls of riff and abysm bound descent but before we can begin to dive into the black pool of gravity-stricken melt it’d only make sense to state some obvious notes on what a new listener can expect from Demoncy. First, hissed/whispered vocals which aren’t likely to be everyone’s taste dominate this recording as an important signature which fans more often than not’ve preferred when it comes to the band’s output. Second, we find the addition of VJS (Nightbringer, Sargeist, et al.) as both performer and engineer vital to realizing a new realm of atmospheric possibilities here as it seems this album was created/recorded as a duo.

The listener with a delicate attention span should consider that this release is nearly half comprised of dark ambient pieces. If you are already familiar with ‘Faustian Dawn‘ and/or the daimonian possessions which feed into Profane Grace the type of dark ambient which frames the start, middle, and end (“Across the Setian Planes”, “Syzygy of Unholy Trinity”, “Occultation of Typhon” respectively) of the experience will feel familiar in their techniques which may involve machine-like whirring, progressions played at a half-mile distance, all at a looming pace with various types of vocalizations. While these are vital in setting the scenery available to this album they leave roughly ~24 minutes of black metal to thumb through on this thirty-five minute LP and this’d inadvertently left me wandering over to finish the thought on ‘Diabolica Blasphemiae‘ as those sessions feature similar recording quality and ratio of dark ambiance to black metal.

We follow the gravitational pull of the growls… into “Ipissimus of Shadows” a three minute vacuum of riff and hissing dread, a blasting embodiment of the hidden corridors and pitch black side of the self and no doubt if you’d followed the journey with me to the point only now are you prepared to see the lens from 1993 ’til 2023 where we find the dark soul crystallized and resplendent between ages. That is to say that Demoncy still sounds like the version folks seem to like best, the Ixithra-only vision and I believe the black metal zeitgeist is wizened and readied enough to appreciate the tics and character of his work rather than banish them. His work is yet simple in meter, complex in its conversational drift, presented in verbose throngs and yet intense in its atmospheric presentation. In fact each core ~12 minute block of pieces on each side of the LP follows a fairly well connected tunnel of riff and rant which is classic in its movement and style. The nuance of this tunneling, the lyrics and the riffs in concert, can potentially be sidestepped for a quick and eventful ride otherwise but I figure the right fan of this type of black metal will quickly grasp for the lyric sheet.

As we flip over to Side B we find absolute consistency with the first half of the experience with “De Mysterium Noctis” taking a few broader strokes on its verse riffs as the intensity of the progression builds its sinister rise, another fairly quick three minute grind through an idea which never overstays its impact. What’d been missing for my own taste were those songs like “Joined in Darkness”, one of the more doom-oriented pieces on the same-titled album, and we finally land in said realm with “Performing the Ceremonies of Tragedy” as it opens. This generally opens up some of the drum work beyond its hunkered down, blasted-at presence otherwise. Once again we can take this half of the album in as a continuous, intently connected throughfare wherein the final piece could easily cycle back to the first and echo with the same amount of black thunder in its ouroboric form.

The listening experience which ‘Black Star Gnosis‘ presents is tightly wound when we consider the black metal pieces are necessarily framed into space by large atmospheric chunks which separate bursts of violent energy in potent interval. It does feel short but not necessarily lacking in substance despite the ratio of guitar music to ambiance and how these connections are made. What I would ultimately suggest is supplementing this release with the ‘Diabolica Blasphemiae‘ mLP as I’d found having access to both releases at once helped to round out the impression of each, however related/unrelated they are on the timeline. The existing Demoncy fan should find enough substance to make them whole within the core six pieces of this album. While I do think this will be a challenging record for the wilted attention span to start its short length and dense riff-focused primitivity will nonetheless prove an exciting, largely unheard-of form of black metal guitar music, an experience which stretches back to the very roots of the second wave as well as death metal adjacency for impact. A high recommendation.

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