Review by Cullen Toner.
Nuclear War Now! Productions has re-released Demoncy‘s hypothermic Within the Sylvan Realms of Frost, continuing the independent metal label effort to repackage every outstanding death and black metal classic into commercialized fodder for every awkward hipster deadbeat lurking online. While clearly this reissue CD is a cash grab from Ixithra (You can still find the Faustian Dawn / Within the Sylvan Realms of Frost anthology CD for under ten bucks on Discogs) marketed towards recent nu-metal drop outs who never heard the original, revisiting of Demoncy’s most mysterious full length is certainly worth a listen as it benefits from a much improved sound quality. Since every re-release inadvertently strips the original album of its cult status and lore let’s make the most of our opportunity to embark on one more journey through the frigid tundra of Demoncy’s best kept secret.
Whenever approaching Demoncy’s early catalog it is best to understand the time when two very different incarnations of the band existed concurrently. While the most known and beloved version specialized in a slow, crushing, foreboding death metal rituals delivered solely by the band’s cornerstone Ixithra, there also existed the four piece Demoncy effort to deliver a more melodic and instrumentally varied interpretation of the band’s occult vision. This often caused confusion as delays led to releases by these very different Demoncys to happen in a convoluted order. Therefore, while Within the Sylvan Realms of Frost was the second full length recorded in 1996 and the first to feature the expanded lineup, many mistake it to be the first album due to Joined in Darkness seeing public release in the same year despite being recorded a year earlier in 1995.
Musically, Within the Sylvan Realms of Frost features the band’s most diverse riffing and instrumentation as it guides the listener through a dense forest maze of long form black metal hopelessness almost entirely devoid of the death metal of its predecessor. The approach is more akin to the hypnotic entrancement of the early Russian black metal scene’s Branikald and Forest but most closely resembles first-era Gorgoroth with a slightly less neoclassical slant. Frantic and unpredictable, the album is a vast departure from the infernal embalming that was Joined in Darkness as Demoncy goes all-in on a pneumonia-inducing atmosphere that slowly bleeds out the listener instead of destroying them with a decisive blow. Keyboards are used to great effect and offer a peaceful break in the wilderness of blizzard riffing, giving the narrative an illusion of hope before it again finds itself entombed in infinite wintry desolation. The classic Demoncy atonal breakdown is still lurking somewhere in this wild… carefully camouflaged but prepared to suddenly savage its prey when least expected. Unfortunately, the adventure is heavily marred and almost completely derailed by the first moments of “Abysmal Shores of the Dark Lands Beyond” which features an ugly plagiarism of the Gorgoroth classic “Ritual” (a.k.a. Sexual Bloodgargling). Matching almost every note of the latter’s opening riff, it’s one of the most obvious ripoffs in underground metal and is a major distraction from an otherwise quality work.
The Nuclear War Now! reisse makes Within the Sylvan Realms of Frost much more enjoyable as the original saw many great moments completely lost in a burial of heavy hiss and analog static. Thanks to this refined remaster, the listening experience is much less demanding as the improved sound gives just enough clarity while still retaining enough low fidelity barrier to intimidate anyone not willing to embark on a courageous foray into the album’s frigid soundscapes. It will be interesting to see if Ixithra decides to give this album the Enthroned is the Night style rerecording update we recently saw applied to the polarizing Empire of the Fallen Angel. By doing so, he would not only fully discredit this album’s lineup but also further their obliteration from all memory.