BAPHOMET
(1989) Morbid Realities
DEMO
Hailing from tech death capital, New York, Baphomet is a hardly talked
about death metal group; several demos and a full length under their
name before changing to Banished. I found a few of these demos and
decided to start with that, hearing their early career change and
eventually maturing into full lengths. Morbid Realities is apparently
their longest demo with 3 songs and an intro song made up of noises and
sounds of people digging up a grave and then screaming.
Baphomet play low fi, shitty production quality (well this is a demo in
1989, but whatever), pummeling death metal. Inferno Invocation starts
off somewhat at a slow and begrudging mid tempo death metal pace and
moving nicely into a more frantic and upper tempo pace when the guitar
solo comes in shredding moreso without structure than trying to have
one. The production is terrible, but doesn't really hinder the overall
impact, but I can only imagine how it would sound with a halfway decent
job. One thing I always find annoying with shitty productions as in the
mixing is done terribly and having one aspect (usually drums or vocals)
way too high and preventing me from enjoying the music. Here, the drums
are somewhat tame, keeping the heavy pace and blasting only in the
faster tempo paces keeping a decent rhythm with double bass.
Sanguinary is keeps the mystically evil and ominous sound that opened up
with the intro and makes it into a better song with great lead work and
more chaotic vocals; the opening bass adds to the heavy evil. The
vocals stick out as being primative death metal growls, something found
in a lot of early death metal bands' demos, harsh yells and something
akin to Possessed or Venom. Sanguinary sticks out for having the most
memorable riffing and is the best found on this demo.
For some reason everytime I hear the beginning of Unexpected Internment
with the slow and ever ominous guitars, I feel as if I'm watching that
show with the scary host who wears the trenchcoat and speaks of people
who have been kidnapped or gone missing and the even scarier theme
song... Anyway, the song picks up speed and really starts to fucking
slay, being the fastest parts and song here, taking in a lot of
Possessed influence and having some great lead work; full of Kerry King
type insanity and more heavy bludgeoning riffing. The vocals still reign
overhead with a morbid harshness and looming havok. This is early death
metal chaos and is full of classic death metal influence; something old
schoolers shouldn't miss out on.
This is my first introduction to Baphomet and a good one at that, with a
lot of classic death/black metal bands I find it interesting to go and
listen to their early demos as my very first listen. Morbid Realities is
one of Baphomet's forgotten early work and will surely make a worthy
addition to any classic death metal fan's collection. There are
complaints to be found, I stated earlier the low fi production doesn't
exactly hinder the sound, but really doesn't help it either... I'd much
prefer be listening to something a lot more clear, without that fuzz,
and something where the vocals were a bit more distinguishable. The demo
starts off rocky but ends off great, so keep that in mind.
