HELLHAMMER - DEMON ENTRAILS
Originally recorded: 1983 - Officially released: 2008
As I'm writing this, we are only 4 months into the year of 2008. There are no doubt 1000's of Metal albums that will be released in the coming months, but I have to say here and now that it is highly unlikely that there will be a release this year that comes close to matching the sheer quality of this package!
HELLHAMMER's DEMON ENTRAILS is an awesome release in so many ways. Lets start with the musical side of things...
 
DEMON ENTRAILS consists of three sets of demos recorded by HELLHAMMER in 1983. These demo's were never officially released, but since they were recorded all those years ago, they were available through the tape trading days of the 80's, through to the compact disc trading / illegal downloading days of the twenty-first century. They have always remained a huge cult in the underground metal world, until now in 2008, where they have become available for the first time officially. Put together by TOM GABRIEL FISCHER (or SATANIC SLAUGHTER as he was known in his HELLHAMMER days) and MARTIN ERIC AIN (then called SLAYED NECROS), DEMON ENTRAILS contains the demo's DEATH FIEND, TRIUMPH OF DEATH and SATANIC RITES. As you listen to these recordings, it is obvious DEATH FIEND comes from a group of kids who were not long started making music, and it is easy to notice the progress HELLHAMMER were making which each new demo. But HELLHAMMER was never going to be about highly polished music, played to perfection by musicians of high ability - but it sure does score high in the cult and over the top factors!
 
The songs still do not sound dated, despite the obvious lack of technology or production when they were originally recorded. Another fascinating aspect of these demo's is not only are you listening to the evolution of HELLHAMMER, but you are also hearing the beginnings of CELTIC FROST, which emerged from the HELLHAMMER grave. Many riffs featured on these demo's would later appear on the early CELTIC FROST albums...
 
As these recordings were never officially released, it would have been very easy to just throw them together and make a quick buck. Thankfully that was not the case, and TOM and MARTIN obviously decided if it was worth doing, it was worth doing right. And the results are stunning. Not only do you get all the HELLHAMMER artwork from the good ol' days, but you get the lyrics too, and lots of really fuckin' cool and high quality photos taken back in 82 and 83. DEMON ENTRAILS has been made available in 3 different packages; a deluxe 2CD boxset, a digipac 2CD, and a triple vinyl LP. Each version has it's own layout, and all three are real quality and look mega-cool!! Congratulations to TOM and MARTIN and everyone involved in putting DEMON ENTRAILS together. DEMON ENTRAILS serves as a real Thank You to all the people who have kept the HELLHAMMER name alive through all these years. And yes, before you ask, we did indeed buy all three versions of DEMON ENTRAILS...
Words by nhoJ - April 2008
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